What is this stone/stain-like method?

Question

I'm looking to identify some kind pattern used on a background, I'm not sure what it is. Reminds me of some kind of stone-like pattern, or perhaps even "stains".

You can find this in the navigation as well as in the boxes for "login", mostly at the top of it.

Is the author of this using some kind of pattern method/effect or is it simply just done by hand, manually?

Answer 1

That looks like rust or dirt to me. And the style is grunge. I think what you're after. I'm pretty sure there're lots of video tuts how to make it. I'd search a b&w background pict and change to desired colour.