Creating a Rad Screen Printing Design with Hand-Painted Letters, a Photo, and a Crumpled Paper Distress Overlay

If you want to make a streetwear design that feels raw, grungy, and totally original, this method is one of the quickest and most fun ways to do it. All you need is some paint, a sheet of paper, your subject photo, and Photoshop. No fancy brushes, no expensive overlays, none of that. Just straight creativity and hands-on style. And if you’re planning to get the final design screen printed in OKC, this workflow gives you clean, bold artwork that prints beautifully on tees.

Start by painting your letters. Don’t worry about being perfect. Messy looks better. Let the paint streak, splatter, and break up a little. That’s what gives your final design that street-level energy. While the letters dry, grab a plain sheet of paper, crumple it into a tight ball, flatten it back out, then crumple it again. This beat-up paper is going to become your distress pattern. Snap a picture of it or scan it so you can bring it into Photoshop later.

Now upload your three pieces: your hand-painted letters, your crumpled paper texture, and your subject photo. Create a 20 by 20 inch artboard at 300 dpi. Bring in your subject first and scale it to size. Use Select Subject to cut the person out, then copy that selection to a new layer. Add a Threshold adjustment layer and copy that result to a new layer too. Use the mask from your subject cutout to shape that layer, then use Color Range to grab the black areas. Turn it to black and white, push it around, and get it grungy. This is where the streetwear vibe really starts to show, and this high-contrast style is perfect for apparel graphics and Oklahoma City screen printing projects.

Do the same thing with your hand-painted letters. Threshold them, push the contrast, use Color Range to pull your blacks, and turn that paint texture into something bold and gritty. Because the letters came from real paint, they’ll always look better than digital fonts and they translate extremely well when you’re prepping art for screen printing in OKC.

Now bring in your crumpled-paper distress. Add a Threshold adjustment layer to it and copy that to a new layer. Use Color Range again to pull the black. And just like that, you’ve got your very own custom distress overlay. No buying overlays. No searching marketplaces. Yours is free, unique, and totally different from anything anyone else has.

From here the fun begins. Layer everything together. Try different blend modes. Add blur to soften or sharpen certain areas. Duplicate things and offset them. Push the grunge as far as you want. Photoshop gives you so much room to play, and this technique leaves you with a real streetwear look built from your own hands, not a preset or a template.

If you’re getting your shirt made locally, this style is perfect for any OKC screen printing shop because the artwork is clean, color friendly, and super bold on tees.

Go create something rad. And when you’re ready to print it, you already know where to go. Check our free stuff page for ideas and tools like overlays! https://www.okctshirts.com/free-design-tools