Photoshop Tutorial: Torn Paper

Image © Richard D. LeCour

Here’s a quick-and-easy Photoshop tutorial that, if nothing else, reminds me how to create the look of torn paper.

1. Create a layer of your paper.
2. Select the entire layer with the rectangular marquee.
3. Use the lasso tool to deselect the area to be torn off.
4. Add a layer mask.
5. Smudge the mask edges with a one-pixel brush.
6. When the edges look sufficiently rough, apply the mask to the layer by trashing the mask.
7. Apply a drop shadow to the layer to add depth.

Voila!