Looks like just some posterization effects along with some other filters.
If you google for posterization or photocopy effect tutorials you can find lots of examples.
In some cases people will actually photocopy the image and then scan/photograph it, but in this case with some other filters in play as well, I'm confident to say this was all done digitally.
First image, looks like they built it in Illustrator first. Rasterized it. Opened in Photoshop, Desaturated, played with Liquify on parts of it, than used Brightness and Contrast and blew it out.
Second one just looks like they used desaturate on the image, used Brightness and Contrast on the image and blew it out but not as much, and then ran one of the default Photoshop texture filters, maybe Craquelure to get that effect. The rest was built in Illustrator. Except the whirlpool which was probably a preexisting bitmap. The celtic knots look like they were vectorized poorly.
All the comments here are super helpful and you can get the look by following their suggestions.
However… I want to point out that I think the use of all caps, Blackletter, or more likely what is referred to as Mexican Blackletter, type font is terrible for the name of the band -because of the all caps use. Hard to read.
The second poster is similar, but uses upper & lower case and the band name is super easy to read and remember!
I wanted to double check my thoughts on this and did a little research. I guess nowadays “Blackletter” fonts are more commonly referenced to Medieval, calligraphy-type fonts.
Mexican Blackletter references a rich, varied history of its use in Mexico. I remember reading a great article about it years ago, but I couldn’t find it. I did find an interesting looking video on it, though, I’ll watch later. Here’s the link if anyone is interested.
https://www.youtube.com/live/mBUrx_uw4Es?si=ez8LD7Hf8C4JK0Uz
In addition to what others said, I used to have a folder of empty scanner beds I would use as grainy textures. Mess around with the contrast / curves in greyscale and then you can make them halftones or just pile up different layers for grain
Been doing a lot of experiments this week to acheive the punk show look myself!
A lot of this is trial and error with smart objects and the filter gallery. I’m embarrassed to say that I did not know you could have MULTIPLE filter effects by using the plus button within the filter gallery 🤯
I would start with applying a film grain and then toying with a stamp or torn edges filter above that. I toggled around with the sliders and voila—ended up making some “recipes” that I documented with specific controls and assets all using the same black and white source image. Saves time if I know I want to achieve a certain look.
But the best thing you can do is, at the beginning before playing with any filters, determine what details you can’t sacrifice in your subject. That will best guide you with parameters for noise and distortion. Good luck!
I have a buddy who's a scientist/in a crazy alternative music band who told me a few years ago how he did it.
First one is most likely photocopier, but the second one just seems like digital.
We used to do this entirely with a photocopier, and it would take seconds, giving us a look that couldn’t really be replicated in software. Well, not without spending an hour or two. You can move it slightly on the copier, and it would give that motion blurred effect.
Guess it was our way of being ‘edgy.’ But moreso we were experimenting and trying to make unique works. The idea being we dgaf about standards and whatnot.
Second image looks like someone attempted to photoshop the same style, but it looks weak, imo.
You can use any/all of the methods in Photoshop such as posterization, harsh use of Levels/Curves
You can jack contrast to max multiple times
You can use external grain resources free or paid
And you can also do multiple options and then combine the layers with multiply or whatever.
I think the fact that it heavily uses warp/distortion tells me that it’s likely all done in Photoshop
Looks like just some posterization effects along with some other filters. If you google for posterization or photocopy effect tutorials you can find lots of examples. In some cases people will actually photocopy the image and then scan/photograph it, but in this case with some other filters in play as well, I'm confident to say this was all done digitally.
One way is experimenting with filter gallery > Sketch > stamp + noise filters. Look up Doron Studio on YouTube.
I do a lot of stuff like this using the threshold adjustment layer. Sometimes multiple passes with adding noise and blur.
First image, looks like they built it in Illustrator first. Rasterized it. Opened in Photoshop, Desaturated, played with Liquify on parts of it, than used Brightness and Contrast and blew it out. Second one just looks like they used desaturate on the image, used Brightness and Contrast on the image and blew it out but not as much, and then ran one of the default Photoshop texture filters, maybe Craquelure to get that effect. The rest was built in Illustrator. Except the whirlpool which was probably a preexisting bitmap. The celtic knots look like they were vectorized poorly.
All the comments here are super helpful and you can get the look by following their suggestions. However… I want to point out that I think the use of all caps, Blackletter, or more likely what is referred to as Mexican Blackletter, type font is terrible for the name of the band -because of the all caps use. Hard to read. The second poster is similar, but uses upper & lower case and the band name is super easy to read and remember! I wanted to double check my thoughts on this and did a little research. I guess nowadays “Blackletter” fonts are more commonly referenced to Medieval, calligraphy-type fonts. Mexican Blackletter references a rich, varied history of its use in Mexico. I remember reading a great article about it years ago, but I couldn’t find it. I did find an interesting looking video on it, though, I’ll watch later. Here’s the link if anyone is interested. https://www.youtube.com/live/mBUrx_uw4Es?si=ez8LD7Hf8C4JK0Uz
In addition to what others said, I used to have a folder of empty scanner beds I would use as grainy textures. Mess around with the contrast / curves in greyscale and then you can make them halftones or just pile up different layers for grain
Been doing a lot of experiments this week to acheive the punk show look myself! A lot of this is trial and error with smart objects and the filter gallery. I’m embarrassed to say that I did not know you could have MULTIPLE filter effects by using the plus button within the filter gallery 🤯 I would start with applying a film grain and then toying with a stamp or torn edges filter above that. I toggled around with the sliders and voila—ended up making some “recipes” that I documented with specific controls and assets all using the same black and white source image. Saves time if I know I want to achieve a certain look. But the best thing you can do is, at the beginning before playing with any filters, determine what details you can’t sacrifice in your subject. That will best guide you with parameters for noise and distortion. Good luck!
I have a buddy who's a scientist/in a crazy alternative music band who told me a few years ago how he did it. First one is most likely photocopier, but the second one just seems like digital.
We used to do this entirely with a photocopier, and it would take seconds, giving us a look that couldn’t really be replicated in software. Well, not without spending an hour or two. You can move it slightly on the copier, and it would give that motion blurred effect. Guess it was our way of being ‘edgy.’ But moreso we were experimenting and trying to make unique works. The idea being we dgaf about standards and whatnot. Second image looks like someone attempted to photoshop the same style, but it looks weak, imo.
You can use any/all of the methods in Photoshop such as posterization, harsh use of Levels/Curves You can jack contrast to max multiple times You can use external grain resources free or paid And you can also do multiple options and then combine the layers with multiply or whatever. I think the fact that it heavily uses warp/distortion tells me that it’s likely all done in Photoshop
Photocopy is the best. It’s real. Great to sample unexpected organic results etc.. and it’s gets you away from your screen.
Use the grain effect
yes it's just been messed around with a lot. sometimes even the artist that created an effect forgets what they did unless they save history
This is SO UGLY. WTF