Attached Link: http://veredgf.fredfarm.com/vbrush/thearchives2.html

There is a wealth of tuts around. But photographing or scanning worn stuff will of course bring you the best results. I scanned the back of old book and used it countless times. There are also nice brushes around (look for 'grunge brushes') to make torn edges and to add spots, blemishes and other artefacts people are making a living off actually removing them. The secret of course is layering. Layer till the smoke comes out of your 'puter. As you can see in my example (i tried something for the cover of my band's new CD), using brushes from the likes of vered AND scanned textures (and photos from free-stock sites) results in something that looks rather worn. Which startes as crisp and clear Illustrator output. Experimenting with blend modes helps to create a lot of subtle effects that add to the overall feeling. A layer with dust particles can be used several times (flipped and scaled) in different blend modes, acting as dust that is ON the original image, as well as taking off ink, by creating lighter spots. It is fun dirtying up stuff. It takes the 'computer feel' off very easily.