Ode to the 80s – Photoshop Tutorials

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By Miif Plus

- November 28, 2020

- in Design

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Last weekend while surfing the web I discovered this image of a classic 80s style logo. I noticed the option to buy the effect, amazed that nowadays we can simply buy something to streamline the process. I love this idea but I also feel that it’s important to try to recreate sans short cut in an effort to learn something new. Of course you need time, but that was something I sort of had so I decided to take a crack. So on this post I will share a bit of my process using Illustrator and Photoshop.

Step 1

To create the 3D effect I used Illustrator’s Blend Tool. I feel that it might be the quickest way to get a nice extrusion, especially for this particular type of graphic. CGI in the 80s was still evolving and playing with basic geometries.

Step 2

Now in Photoshop I created a document and the background I set to black.

Step 3

Paste the vector in Photoshop, make sure you use Smart Objects. It’s always good to be able to make mistakes and just change fix it withouth much hassle.

Step 4

Now for the top part let’s add some nice gradient from blue #0000ff to a very light blue.

Step 5

Duplicate that layer and then add some Layer Styles to create the bevel and stroke effects. The images below show the values.

Step 6

For the complementary text I used a font that I found on DaFont, a super cheesy one that has all of that 80s feeling. The font is Las Enter Font (http://www.dafont.com/lasenter.font). Just add your text and with Layer styes add 2 drop shadows. The first one white and the second black, that will create a nice bevel effect.

Step 7

Now for the background let’s apply a gradient. Get some of the colors from the logo to make it look like the logo is sort of illuminating the background.

Step 8

Select the 3D extrusion layer and add an Adjustment Layer Hue and Saturation. The idea hear is to add a bit more Saturation, Brightness and Hue.

Step 9

The classic reflection of the 80s, you can do that very easily by creating a sort of wavy selection and then create a layer to apply the same gradient that the text has.

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Step 10

Now it’s that time, the little flares that are part of that beautiful decade. To do that is quite easy, create a new folder on your layer palletes and add a new layer in this folder. Change the folder Blend Mode to Color Dodge. Then select the layer inside and with the Brush Tool and a very soft brush you can just create some dots with white color. The result is a quite awesome light effect.

Step 11

To add a bit more mood to the scene I just added some smoke using the Render>Clouds. Then change the Blend Mode to Linear Color Dodge. Also add a Layer Style with a Gradient Overlay. Use Linear with blue at the top and purple for the bottom.

Step 12

It would not be an 80s graphic without the classic scanline effect. I created a pattern with 2 rectangles, a black and an white. Then I filled a layer with this pattern and placed on top of all the other layers using Soft Light for the blend mode. I also applied a super soft blur.

Step 13

To add a bit more texture I added a new layer and then filled it with white. After that I went to Filter>Pixelate>Pointilize. Then just change the Blend Mode to Overlay at 10%, it’s very subtle but you can notice the difference.

Step 14

I always like to add a bit of a warm feel to the image. For this particular one I just added an adjustment layer Photo Filter on top of all the other layers.

Step 15

To finalize the image I added some lightning bolts. I used an image I found on Google Images. I also adjusted the flares to match where the bolts intersect with the logo.

Step 16

The last thing I did here was just to duplicated all layers and merge them onto a new one. Then I applied Gaussian Blur with 20px for the amount and after that I just changed the Blend Mode to Hard Light at 60% Opacity.

Conclusion

Here’s the final image. I added a grey solid layer on top at 10% Opacity to create a little Fade effect and that’s it. As you can see, it’s not a really complicated effect, it just require some trial and error and time to go through all steps. I even played with some color variations like an all red one.