# How do I add some "texture" to a tikz fill?

I want to create something like this:

By filling a rectangle.

NOTE: Ignore the borders of the image, I just want to give that texture to a tikz rectangle.

• I haven't tried anything, I have no idea in how to make random colors over the fill... I saw examples where you can place lines or stars Jan 7 '15 at 22:24
• Maybe you could use $\pgfmathrnd$ (see the TikZ/PGF manual, section 90.2.6) to create random coordinates on which you draw the details of the papery pattern? At the end you can clip it with a path (which may be random as well). Jan 7 '15 at 22:30
• I'll take a look... Hmm, is there a way to create a grain or noise effect over a fill? Jan 7 '15 at 22:34
• As a short way, clip the texture image with rectangle: tex.stackexchange.com/a/167568/31034
– user31034
Jan 7 '15 at 22:57
• Do you know the cicada principle? Jan 8 '15 at 12:26

A brute-force attempt with pgfplots: there are surely better ways. :-)

The "coarseness" of the texture can be adjusted using the samples key value. For this fine of a texture, LuaLaTeX must be used (dynamic memory allocation). For samples=100 or fewer, any modern engine can be used.

\IfFileExists{luatex85.sty}{%
\RequirePackage{luatex85}%
}{}
\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.12}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
view={0}{90},
hide axis=true,
samples=200,
colormap={papyrus}{
cmyk(0cm)=(0.00,0.08,0.24,0);
cmyk(1cm)=(0.00,0.08,0.24,0.05)
},
]

• @MrSelberg you probably have an older version of pgfplots installed than 1.12. Sep 23 '15 at 19:52