Subtle Grunge

I have been trying to mimic the style of Ashley Wood... he is an illistrator and has done many comics like Spawn and Popbot. He has a really subtle grunge effect to his works. They have a sort of washed out look. Here are two examples...

http://www.ashleywood.com/praxis2/img/gallery_images/43.jpg
and
http://www.ashleywood.com/praxis2/img/gallery_images/46.jpg

My attempts so far have not been very good... they usually end up looking too grunged and doctored.

If anyone has some ideas on how to get this kind of look, please share.

Those are drawings. I don't think he used photoshop for any of it. It's just the style he draws.

I believe some to most of it is drawn and painted but I know he touches it up in PS afterwards. I am trying to get the same texture.

Originally posted by luckyGeraldo
I believe some to most of it is drawn and painted but I know he touches it up in PS afterwards.

do you stalk him him now? :D

it is a painting technique, much easier to do it by hand than on the computer. maybe he touches the pictures up in the areas of removing unwanted splotches of ink or changing brightness, etc.

Nope those effects are easy enough in PS - what you need is some kind of sample - I mean of a blotched, scanned piece of paper.

Even brushes can be used to score across and stain the canvas.

The secret is in keeping everything minimal and at a low opacity. Use Hard Light at lets say 5%

thanks...