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Old School Filter Effect
Relive those old times when these old school filter effects were all the fad!
Category: Photoshop
Views: 20223

Intro

In this tutorial I'll be showing you how to make one of those old-school filter effects that you might have seen a few years ago!
These effects are useful for a couple of things, such as:
  1. Display pictures, avatars, wanting to start an avatar website? You can make a few hundred avatars from this effect.
  2. Simple forum signatures. I always love simplistic filter effects in forum sigs.
  3. Abstract headers/banners etc. You can use abstract effects for a quick header or ad banner.
Old School Filter Effect Tutorial Result

Step 1.

First start by making a new document of any size. I'll be using a document size of 400 x 300 pixels for this tutorial.
Find and get out the Gradient Tool.
Gradient Tool Icon
Reset your colors to black & white by pressing D on your keyboard, now make sure you have the following settings set for the gradient tool:
Gradient Tool Settings
Now start by dragging the gradient tool once on your background.
Gradient Tool Drag
Now drag the gradient tool over the canvas a few more times, smaller lengths though.
You should now have an effect like so:
Smaller Length Gradient Strokes

Step 2.

If you want you can duplicate the background layer, but it's not necesary.
Apply Filter > Distort > Wave to your main layer, use similar settings as these:
Filter Distort Wave Settings
Your image should now look something like this, though it will always turn out differently:
Filter Distort Wave Applied

Step 3.

Duplicate the distorted layer then press CTRL+F to repeat the last filter (Filter > Distort > Wave)
Filter Distort Wave Repeated
Change the layer mode for the duplicated layer to Light.
Layer Mode Changed to Lighten

Step 4.

Now you need to add some color to the effect. There are a few ways to add color, I used a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer to color mine orange.
To use a Gradient Map to color your image, follow these steps:
  1. First create the Gradient Map (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map), use a gradient of your choice.
  2. After making the gradient map, change the layer mode for your Gradient Map layer to Color.
After Adding Gradient Map

Step 5.

I think it needs a little more. So start by merging the layers together then duplicating the remaining layer. In the filters menu go to Filter > Distort > Displace, you can use the default settings. After you press OK, you'll have to choose a PSD file. I used this PSD file.
After Applying Displace Filter
Change the layer mode for that layer to Lighten.
Layer Mode Change
Duplicate the Displaced layer, change the layer mode to Soft Light and lower the opacity to about 75%.
After Lowering Layer Mode
Looks pretty cool doesn't it? :)
Thanks for reading this tutorial, we hope you enjoyed it! You can download the PSD file for this tutorial from here.

If you would like more help with this tutorial please register and visit the forum.



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