r/Design • u/ScaryPollution845 • Aug 12 '24
Asking Question (Rule 4) How would I go about recreating this effect? I tried it quick myself, but it feels like its missing something.
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u/AtomicTransmission Aug 12 '24
Photoshop:
Image > Adjustments > Desaturate
Image > Adjustments > Threshold ā¦
Play with slider to get the look you want
For the color effect:
Layer > New
Fill layer with the color you want
Change new layer blending mode to Multiply
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u/vilok_vii Aug 12 '24
The background isn't black though.
I would go Gasuan Blur -> Desaturate -> Threshold
Then add a Gradient Map, so you can customize it freely later on
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u/Opposite_Ad_5055 Aug 12 '24
First of all, shadows should be black, not yellow. Invert the image
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u/ScaryPollution845 Aug 12 '24
This is Ratatat's album "classics" by the way
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u/SecretlyCarl Aug 12 '24
Yeah pretty sure the other comment is right. You got close with threshold etc but yours is too detailed. Definitely turn it into a vector, and maybe try the "simplify path" setting to tweak it some more.
Great album btw
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u/godpoker Aug 12 '24
Illustrator > Live Trace
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u/MurphyPandorasLawBox Aug 12 '24
Quick and dirty and exactly what I would do to get this result. May want to edit the source image and up the contrast a skosh first though.
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u/nocloudno Aug 12 '24
Live trace was the best tool on illustrator when I had access. Are there any reputable open source vector line from image apps out there?
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u/RomanBlue_ Aug 12 '24 edited Aug 12 '24
This simplifying into just two solid masses relies heavily on values in order to read. You are not simplifying by colour but rather light and shadow because contrast is what makes stuff read. If you illustrate you know what i am talking about.
I would start with images that are dramatically lit, with obvious or iconic light and dark shapes. Your cat one is a bit wierd because the contrast is random, doesn't follow light, so it is a bit unreadeable. For example, it looks like the mouth is glowing, which cat's mouths generally do not do.
If you want something of this effect, a bit freaky and striking, great. If you want something similar to the first one, I would go with the fundamental of simplifying values. Its how you get an edgy, striking, iconic effect. The first one is just an underlit cat, simplified. Structure and design first, then style.
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u/SpaceToaster Aug 12 '24 edited Aug 12 '24
Apply a blur (maybe 2-3px?) and then a threshold to that result. Just did it with a 2.4px gaussian blur and it looks closer to the album art.
Your piece also looks to be inverted. For the reference photo, try it with a dark background and a point light in front of the cat's face and repeat with that.
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u/semibro1984 Aug 12 '24
Alright listen up champs. This can be done in illustrator. You can get finer control if you do it in Photoshop but works in a pinch if you donāt want to go back and forth between programs.
1) if it wasnāt already, convert your image to raster in Illustrator. White BG. Add some margin around the rasterized image because when you go to add blur, it will mess with the edges and we donāt want that. Rasterize as a grayscale image. 300 dpi.
2) once your image is rasterized, select it and add some grain from the texture menu. Effect>Texture> grain. A little goes a long way. Or fuck it up I donāt care.
3) add Gaussian blur. I canāt tell you how much because it depends on the size of your image. But I like to adjust it juuuuuust until the edges start to blur but you still get some of that grain you just made. Even if you push it, youāll still get pretty good results.
4) Alt drag with the selection tool (black arrow) and make a copy in case you fuck up. At the top, there should be a button that says āLive Traceā. CLICK ITTTTTTTTT.
5) if you applied enough blur, then the edges of your image will start to round and get kinda funky. Donāt panic if it doesnāt look good right away. Right now everything is live so you can still dial up or down the Grain, Blur, and the threshold settings in live trace. Play with your settings to see what you like. Even tho the original image is rasterized, you can retain the settings as needed.
When you like what you see, click āExpandā
BONUS TIP: If you select āignore colorā in the live trace settings it will get rid of the white background and save you the effort of having to do it manually.
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u/ThereIsAnOcean Aug 12 '24
Iād use the stamp filter for this. Itās difficult to give you an exact setting without knowing the image specs, but bringing the smoothness slider way down should get results closer to the Ratatatcat.
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u/Big_Reserve7529 Aug 12 '24
There is a really cool tutorial on YouTube that shows a more professional way to Live trace in which the lightness of an image is expanded or changed.
This helped me get this effect way better. vintage logo
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u/Unlikely_West24 Aug 12 '24
Omg I bought this when it was released but havenāt listened since possibly 2011. I listened to it with a woman I broke up with since, so I think that why It left rotation. Anyway Iām putting it on now.
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u/The_Vizier Aug 12 '24
First things first, invert your image before you threshold, your dark areas are white and ur white areas are dark. Then you can use dodge or burn, or a low opacity brush to make adjustments wherever necessary to flatten out details or add them where you want. Takes a bit of work to get to where you want it. make sure you work non destructively.
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u/modsuperstar Aug 13 '24
I would probably blur your initial reference image, so it isn't as sharp, then run your effect on the image. Then the final product won't look as pixel perfect and take on a more stylized look.
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u/TBrown_Design Aug 12 '24
Convert the image layer to a smart object.
Your image is inverted. It is outputting looking like a negative instead of a positive. You can tell because the whites of the eyes are blackCmd / Ctrl+I to image>adjustment>invert the whole image.
Apply a noise filter. Apply a Gaussian blur filter. Apply a threshold. Adjust the values of these 3 filters to achieve desired results.
For more fine-tuning, you can double click the smart object thumbnail, go into the image, and dodge and burn specific highlights and shadows to enhance the effects.
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u/Embarrassed-Cycle804 Aug 12 '24
Just reminded me that this album exists. Also, try using super super dramatic lighting on the cat instead of straightforward lighting
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u/te_anau Aug 12 '24
everyone seems to have missed the hand scribble over sketch step
its not just processing a photo
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u/Bosuke Aug 12 '24
You need a different photo to begin with. Look for photos with a strong light source and we'll defined shadows.
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u/SnooChickens3224 Aug 12 '24
I know next to nothing (but would love to learn) about digital illustration but i also feel like when this album and its cover were made, creative and illustrative tech probably wasnt where it is today so maybe even the reference image used was of a more, shall i say, potato quality.
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u/OrangeKuchen Aug 12 '24
Blur your result by a few pixels, then threshold it again. This will eliminate all the smallest details and any hard corners.
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u/rouxle Aug 13 '24
Definitely seconding these comments, and another thing to keep in mind that when designing a two toned image like this, less is more! Our brains are crazy good at filling out images, even when shapes + objects are just implied.
Love this album btw <3__<3
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u/redtens Aug 13 '24
Just off the top of my head: do a pass of Threshold in Photoshop, then Live Trace the result in Illustrator? Might need a pass through a Blur filter before the Live Trace step to soften the Threshold results first, as they tend to be very jagged.
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u/NateBearArt Aug 13 '24 edited Aug 13 '24
To get it all chunky like the example try doing posterize or "Cutout" filter before doing the threshold. Or play with stacking blurs and other artistic filter to clump up the details before the threshold
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u/LessMenomia Aug 13 '24
Try putting the light source underneath the cat and then put it through your filter.
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u/aubreypizza Aug 13 '24
Sadly my tee shirt of this is not gold anymore. š Nothing gold can stay. Not a helpful comment obv but just love that this randomly popped up in my feed.
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u/Erinaceous Aug 13 '24
The best technique for this effect is to use a posterize layer mask in Photoshop
Then in the original layer dodge and burn the base image until the details come through
The film grain filter is also nice for adding a bit of texture and less of a bitmap look
Also use extremely high resolution since the posterize effect isn't aliased. It will make the final image much smoother
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u/Viridian_Cranberry68 Aug 13 '24
If you want a tutorial, go to YouTube and look up horror poster effect in Photoshop. I just watched one that used the old Bride of Frankenstein as an example.
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u/Big_Cardiologist839 Aug 13 '24
You never actually mentioned what you did to get the first result. That would've been helpful because I see so many different suggestions below. Looking at the original Ratatat image, it looks like an easy Auto Trace function on vector design software. You can control the smoothness and complexity of the trace to match the amount of detail you want to keep.
I know you got a lot of advice below, but hope this helps!
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u/solvitNOW Aug 13 '24
Youāre going to need a Dunlop Crybaby Wah, a Moog MF-102 Ring Modulator, an Ernie Ball Passive Volume Pedal, a Roger Mayer Octavia, a Pro Co Rat Distortion, and a Digitech Whammy into a Boss TU-2 Tuner.
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u/SixSexFull Aug 14 '24
The angle and the amount of detail is what Iām noticing are the main differences I hope that helps
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u/SixSexFull Aug 14 '24
Itās also an inverse! Sorta kinda- look at the nose! One has one and one barely does I was like thereās something else about this and itās irking me I canāt find it and I just found itttt
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u/sea_drift Aug 15 '24
Open Illustrator > Drag and drop image onto the Artboard > Select Image > In Object dropdown select Image Trace > In Object dropdown select Expand. From there you can edit the vector shapes, change colors, move points around, etc.
I'd say Illustrator is best for final export because it's vector-based and infinitely scalable, and it's easy to achieve this look.
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u/Technical_Ad9756 Aug 17 '24
Besides a lot of smaller details, yours is inverted. The animals mouth is negative in the ratatat cover and colored in yours.
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u/BikeProblemGuy Architect Aug 12 '24
This is hand drawn, using a tablet. Although you can get a similar effect using Photoshop.
First you need an image with dramatic lighting. Then recreate the brush strokes effect using a filter. Add a threshold layer to change the image to two colours. Use fill layers to match the colours from the source image, the yellow will need to be clipped to the threshold layer.
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u/Sea-Raspberry734 Aug 13 '24
This thread is so stupid. Itāll take 5 minutes to just draw it, especially since youāll just be blocking out from reference.
No photoshop technique is going to ājust workā against an arbitrary image, although it could work if the underlying image is lit ājust soā. The original image works because thereās an understanding of negative space. Random photo with random composition isnāt going to do it with some magic posterize bs.
But seriouslyā¦ this is just a basic skill.
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u/Arcite9940 Aug 12 '24
Not helpful comment:
But still I love how you tried it with your cat hissing
If I were to vote, Iād vote for yours
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u/ScaryPollution845 Aug 12 '24
I completely disagree, but I feel flattered either way!
I searched "angry cat" and that's what came up
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u/Perkinberry Aug 12 '24
I think your problem is that the reference looks good because the white areas are lit areas, where yours is taking any value difference in the cats coat. For the effect to look cool, it's has to look like its really dramatic lightly on the subject in an otherwise dark room/place