1 Ridiculously Easy Photoshop Trick

Here is a handy little trick that can breath new life into your digital work.

I drew some zombies, inked over them, and scanned them into the computer:

Next, I applied a little color.  I used a basic, round brush set to "0" hardness and ~15% flow.  I went with a blue theme.

Next, I snooped around online and found a blood spatter texture.  FYI, if you decide to use photographs and textures in your work, be sure you have permission.  That means either you need to take the photo yourself, or you need to find a photo that is licensed for others' use.  Remember, also, that some photos and textures are licensed for personal use, but not commercial.  If you're going to sell your work, be sure you have permission to use the photo for commercial images.

I found a good blood spatter.

This is the same blood spatter applied 2 times.  Put these spatters in a layer above the colors, but below the line art.  I also used the Magic Wand to select all the white and delete it from the blood spatter image.  If you de-select the "contiguous" option at the top after you choose the Magic Wand, you won't have to click on every little white area.  One click in any white area will select every white area on the layer.  You're now going to change the blending mode to "Overlay."  You can find the blending mode option here:

I made the color layers invisible in that image above so you can more easily see what is being done.  Once you complete all the above steps, you'll end up with something like this:

As you can see, adding blood spatter with the overlay mode makes a huge difference.  Feel free to add textures of any kind to your digital artwork for some great effects.  For example, an image of textured paper can be lain on top of your digital painting.  Or an image of paint strokes.  Experiment with different textures and blending modes.  Have fun!