50 Free Rusted Metal Texture Backgrounds

Design, Inspiration, Resources, Web Design | Feb 11, 2009 | 53 comments

If you ever heard the phrase ‘you can find inspiration everywhere you look’, then this article is for you. Today we look at rusted metal textures as both an unusual source of inspiration as well as an option for unique backgrounds.

Textured backgrounds are a great way to add an extra dimension to any graphic design project. Magazines and printed media can resort to textured paper for added impact however, this is impossible to do on the web, and the closest we can do is adding texture to simulate this effect.

We’ve compiled a list of 50 free rust metal texture backgrounds that will really look great on your websites, blogs, Twitter backgrounds or even wallpapers. Most of these are available under a Creative Commons License requiring attribution however, check each source for any specific details.

Source: GrungeTextures

Source: Flickr

Source: GrungeTextures

Source: Flickr

Source: GrungeTextures

Source: Flickr

Source: GrungeTextures

Source: Flickr

Have you used textures like these in your projects? We’d love to see them, please post your links below…

Comments

http://desizntech.info desiztech

Nice find thanks for sharing…retwitted as well!
- http://www.webdesignerdepot.com Walter
  
  Thanks for that :)
http://we-design.it tobi

thanks! they’re grrrreat!
http://www.highresolutiontextures.com 2lip

great list! If you are looking for more, I have a nice texture pack with 9 colorful rust textures on my site:

http://www.highresolutiontextures.com/9-colorful-rust-textures
http://www.kaminholz-iserlohn.info Kaminholz

Hi!

Some very nice textures are with it! Also a very good source for high-res textures can be found here: http://cgtextures.com/. But i guess you know this page already :-)

Greetings from germany
http://www.thisinspires.me Brandon Cox

Rusty metal never looked so good – this is inspiring!
http://www.mankot.de Mankot

Nice Collections. Great for all kind of grungy layouts. I love this one http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrysti/2348621264/
Grungy elements with a clean metallic surface.

Thanks for sharing!
- http://chrysti.wordpress.com/ Chrysti
  
  Thanks! I appreciate it… love seeing how these are used, provided the terms are adhered to, I do offer a commercial license though.
http://www.pushingbuttons.net Timothy

The colors are amazing. Thanks!
http://www.joyoge.com/ joyoge designers’ bookmark

nice metal textures thanks..
http://www.minimalshowcase.com/ Lee Milthorpe

Fantastic collection!

I will definitely be using several of these!
http://webdesignsandiego.wordpress.com/ Jen Ruhman

Wow! These are so unique and amazing. These will spice up many designs.
Thanks, great find!
xxoo Jen
http://apps.facebook.com/rate_mylooks/ B3ckstage

Woww ! thats really help ful !
http://webitect.net Kayla

Wow, second freebie post I came across today! It’s amazing how just one material can take on so many different forms. I love working with metal textures.
- Zaibi
  
  hi Kayla …
  i also like such materials i am a graphics designer….
  will you mail me i wanna talk to you..
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http://www.logodesignguru.com LOGO DESIGN GURU

rust is a kind of scary looking sight, but you have demonstrated how it can also be beautiful. Thanks for the post. I think these would look great for some background options.
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http://loveby.me/ jesse

I love this type of collection, thanks! and keep up the good work:)
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http://www.inspiks.com loswl

WOW!!..those are some great textures, thanks for sharing :o)
Paul

I own at least one of those images. Honor the licenses, kids.
http://www.link-m-link.blogspot.com Jana

Great textures! But…. where is the zip file? :-(
- http://www.webdesignerdepot.com Walter
  
  Please click on the images to go to the author pages where you can download them. Please respect terms of use as set by each author.
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http://www.vmalni.com Buzzlair Voufincci

Great textures! But…. where is the zip file?

yea, please provide zip file. its tiring to donwload one by one :D
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http://socialnaming.info Michi

Great collection!
Thanks for the post.
http://www.thevideomarketingpro.com Paul

Just use my own rustic photo for twitter background which I took last week in Chicago.
http:www.twitter.com/paulsaunders
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Pff

This is pointless if your not going to provide any zips. n dont try n say we’re ungrateful b/c this post is misleading. i can put a post up too saying 1,000,000 free textures then put some links up, we’re all thinking there’s some kinda texture pack in a zip that we could download.
jisoo

thank you. great collection!
http://www.jilozinho.com Eliza Nunes

very coolll, thanks :D
http://www.myspace.com/zerdster ZeRd

Love the colours and textures….doesn’t bother me that there’s no zip file
http://chrysti.wordpress.com/ Chrysti

Thank you for NOT offering these as a zip file. As the owner of some of these, it would be against the terms of use & licensed they are offered under.

While linking to it is fine, distributing it is not. So those who are complaining, can go create their own textures :)
http://www.coverarts.com Eric

Great collection! Even more cool rust textures can be downloaded here:
http://bit.ly/2uSFap
http://texturezine.com/ texturezine

my rust textures:
http://texturezine.com/category/textures/rust
http://www.nilerbarcelos.com Niler Barcelos

Great collection!
http://www.ronarts.com Ron Arts Web Design

These textures are so unique and I really like the color schemes. Keep up the good work!!!!
http://webstandard.wordpress.com 30ML

great collection + supurb grunz
http://www.webbydesignguru.com Webby Design Guru

It is really inspiring to see that rusty metal can be used in such a nice way for backgrounds. Interesting work!!!
http://ramalhowebblog.blogspot.com Ramalho

Hi WEB Family,

Excellent Collections that we must have to improve our works. Are also nice for designers that love realistic art ou design.

Thanks for sharing
gary barber

amazing textures. thanks for sharing
http://www.socialjitney.com iPhone Developers

I really like these free rusted metal backgrounds. I wish to learn that how can i create this. Thanks for sharing.
http://www.eplywood.com plywood

wooowww great metalic texture…

great post
http://www.web-hosting-critic.net Jenna

Thank you for gathering all of these great backgrounds together and sharing them with us. They are fabulous! What a great way to enhance the fame for these background creators and help us web designers out at the same time!
Cheers!
Jenna
http://www.logoinn.com Custom Logo Design

wow, that’s amazing, wonderfully captured images.
http://www.mammut-medien.de Daniel

Thanks yo much for all these textures. They are amazing. I am looking forward to use them on my upcoming designs or 3D models.
Thanks so much.
Valid

One more: http://www.flickr.com/photos/herrhumi/5113434153/
http://www.neubauer-daniel.de Daniel

This is an awesome list of metallic textures. And I hope more people act like Valid here and post more and more. Thanks for the work to collect all these textures.

	Young, modern, I like them.
	Not sure, I hope they'll grow on me.
	Ugly, looks like a tie-dye T-shirt.