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80s Throwback with Netflix's Stranger Things 2 Tribute Posters
How was your Weekend? Did you get to watch the anticipated comeback from the Netflix's Stranger Things 2 for their Second Season? I did, until the very wee hours of this morning so I can go to bed in peace. No spoilers will be revealed in this article! On ABDZ, we love the 80s! We decided to pay tribute to this series by sharing what they have released in the past weeks in tribute to the 80s as well. Let's take a look! Set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana in the 1980s, the second season is set a year after the first season where everyone tries to deal in many ways to return to normal life and living the consequences from what happened. More Links Give it a watch now on Netflix Follow Stranger Things on Twitter Via @Stranger_Things 5 days. #StrangerThings pic.twitter.com/2Qo5okOJgm— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) October 22, 2017 Trick or treat. pic.twitter.com/77LMRPzdex— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) October 1, 2017 Will is not alone. pic.twitter.com/kp1YmEZgU1— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) September 22, 2017 Join the adventure. #StrangerThursdays begins now. pic.twitter.com/TmIN58L6uT— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) September 21, 2017 You’ll never go in the Upside Down again. #StrangerThursdays begins now. pic.twitter.com/5Q6JmasZQL— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) September 14, 2017 The Ultimate Experience in Grueling Curiosity. #StrangerThursdays begins now. pic.twitter.com/x6c9NC0ZwL— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) September 7, 2017 Normal in every way but one. Will Eleven have the power...to survive? #StrangerThursdays begins now. pic.twitter.com/hzR20qONQ2— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) August 31, 2017 This is Will Byers. Only survivor of The Upside Down. Signing on. #StrangerThursdays begins now. pic.twitter.com/o80kd7DKMA— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) August 24, 2017 A Nightmare in Hawkins. Join us all day for #StrangerThursdays as we relive Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street. pic.twitter.com/j5wf6bU2bT— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) August 10, 2017 Stand by us. Join the #StrangerThursdays party as we relive the highlights and secrets from Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers. pic.twitter.com/T9sioU9F0g— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) August 3, 2017 Don't walk. Run to #StrangerThursdays. It begins now. pic.twitter.com/riLo7KVSbb— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) August 17, 2017
80s-Inspired Abstract Illustrations
Hah! The 80s, a beautiful era that never ceases to come back and to bring us back memories from the past, where everything was wildly different. Let's take a look at France-based visual artist/art director named Quentin Deronzier. His art is a mixture of a trippy colour palette and yet abstract to make us feel like we are in a middle of sci-fi world, like the Omni Magazine. I just love his style and can't help to appreciate the level of experimentation, hope you will like it too! Behind this art is the work from Quentin Deronzier who is a visual artist and art director based in Annecy, France. You should definitely check out his Behance where you can see more of his latest experiements/work. Photo Gallery More Links Check out Quentin's Personal Site: quentinderonzier.tumblr.com Follow Quentin on Instagram Check out also his Tumblr
Tsuvatt Run of Fury Game Design
The 80s are definitely back after the amazing Stranger Things Netflix show. For some it never went away and some of the designers that I admire the most are masters at keeping the style of that decade alive. One of the cool things about it is of course the video-games. The pixelated badass action games like Double Dragon. We used to play that like crazy. Tsuvatt Run of Fury mobile game design is a project that brings back the 80s in style. Tsuvatt Run of Fury was created and shared by Roman Sokolov a design and illustrator from Minsk, Belarus. For more information make sure to check out his Behance profile.
Trials of the Blood Dragon
BEWARE, overload of 80s inspiration in this feature from our mighty friend James White that recently released his participation as an Art Director consultant for the game Trials of the Blood Dragon developed by RedLynx and Ubisoft. It's NITRO interesting to dig through his process and the many many ULTRA amount of design and illustration work involved to MAXIMUM accomplish this project. We are such fans of the 80s that is purely a joy going through it all and feasting our eyes! Hope you will enjoy! I was hired for a full year as an art director consultant on the 'Trials of the Blood Dragon' game developed by RedLynx and Ubisoft. Shown here are lots of the design and illustration work I developed for the project, both conceptual and in-game elements. About James White James White is an (kickass) artist, designer and speaker based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (Canada). Focusing his art into neon-infused projects that reflect his childhood from the 80s. You should definitely check out his Tumblr dedicated to inspiration downright to the badassery from that era called: Uzicopter. More information: http://www.signalnoise.com.
Ode to the 80s - Photoshop Tutorials
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. 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. Download Photoshop file Download Photoshop file used for this tutorial
Chapter V - "Retro"
I love retro futuristic artwork, it has been my favorite style since the beginning of my career and it's always cool to see more people exploring that. Today I share the work done by the Sense Collective for their new chapter, the Chapter V - "Retro". We present our ensuing chapter, titled "Retro". Inspired by the Retro futuristic art of Syd Mead. Within this chapter we wanted to realize the old-world society's views/interpretations of the future, sci-fi and distant modernism Sense is an aspiring collective filled with talented artists. They've been able to work with truly interesting people. When it comes to design, they judge success by the number of people positively touched by their work. Craftsmanship plays a big role, of course, but in the end design should make people happy or, at the very least, not to upset them. Sense On: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sense.Collective YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/SenseDigitalArt Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/sensecollective Behance: https://www.behance.net/SenseDesign
Undiz - Illustration
I love neon style illustrations, especially the light effects created by the blue and pink color tones. The work of Patrick Seymour created for Undiz exemplifies this in mixing more handcrafted typography. The combination of both retro and modern results in a style that is super appealing to the naked eye. Patrick Seymour is an art director from Montreal, Canada. For more information visit http://cargocollective.com/patrickseymour
The Karate Kid: Final Fight
Karate Kid is a classic from the 80s, with memorable passages like the training Karate by polishing cars, or catching flies with chopsticks. Besides that there was Cobra Kai and their sensei. So many memories and inspirations from that beautiful decade. PJ McQuade captured that amazingly well in his illustration titled The Karate Kid: Final Fight. Wax On, Wax Off. Show me paint the fence. Mercy is for the weak. What is the problem Mr. Lawrence? I want him out of commission. Sweep the Leg. Finish him! You're all right, LaRusso! The Karate Kid is a classic. I recently created a print for the Bottleneck Gallery's It Came from 1984 show depicting the final fight between Johnny Lawrence & Daniel LaRusso. I wanted it to convey that dramatic hold your breath tension of the moment. For more information check out http://www.pjmcquade.com/ Via Behance
Uzicopter: 80s Inspiration by Signalnoise
Uzicopter is a Tumblr dedicated to personal and downright inspiration from badass visuals from the 80s. Curated by James White from Signalnoise, it is to us a real pleasure seeing such goodness hand-picked by James. That's inspiration! Here's some of them and follow his Tumblr for more to come. Find out more about Uzicopter by Signalnoise at Uzicopter.Tumblr.com All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter All Rights from Uzicopter Links More info about Uzicopter: http://uzicopter.tumblr.com More on James White from Signalnoise: http://blog.signalnoise.com Follow Signalnoise on Twitter: https://twitter.com/signalnoise
The Punk Movement’s Influence on Photography and Fashion
In honor of this year’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s “Punk: Chaos to Couture” Gala taking place tonight in New York City we felt appropriate to pay homage to punk inspired fashion including a few iconic photos taken by famous punk scene photographers Edward Colver and Roberta Bayley. The classic punk rock look among male American musicians harkens back to the T-shirt, motorcycle jacket, and jeans get up favored by American rebels of the 1950s and by British rockers of the 1960s. The cover of the Ramones' 1976 debut album, featuring a shot of the band by Bayley, spotlighted the basic elements of a style that was soon adopted by rock musicians worldwide. This trend within music culture soon would have a grand influence on fashion as well. Such designers as Vivienne Westwood, Rodarte, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, Gianni Versace and this year’s host Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy have been well known to draw inspiration for their seasonal collections from the punk movement. - Wikipedia Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. Punk bands created fast, hard-edged music, typically with short songs, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk embraces a DIY ethic; many bands self-produced recordings and distributed them through informal channels. The term "punk" was first used in relation to rock music by some American critics in the early 1970s, to describe garage bands and their devotees. By late 1976, bands such as the Ramones in New York City and the Sex Pistols and The Clash in London were recognized as the vanguard of a new musical movement. The following year saw punk rock spreading around the world, and it became a major cultural phenomenon in the United Kingdom. For the most part, punk took root in local scenes that tended to reject association with the mainstream. An associated punk subculture emerged, expressing youthful rebellion and characterized by distinctive styles of clothing and adornment and a variety of anti-authoritarian ideologies. - Wikipedia For more information visit http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/press-room/exhibitions/2012/p…
80s New York City Subway Photography
This week I finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point for the second time, and certainly not my last. It's a great book with super useful and engaging insights about how little things can have a huge impact. One of the examples Malcolm uses is how the criminality in New York City tipped in the 80s and what caused this fad to decay. The first thing done to eradicate this problem was to clean up the subway as it was dirty and rife with graffiti. This post was inspired by Gladwell's study. To illustrate, we are pleased to feature a few images from Bruce Davidson's book Subway. You can also play Final Fight to have the same feeling :) Bruce Davidson's groundbreaking Subway, first published by Aperture in 1986, has garnered critical acclaim both as a documentation of a unique moment in the cultural fabric of New York City and for its phenomenal use of extremes of color and shadow set against flash-lit skin. In Davidson's own words, "the people in the subway, their flesh juxtaposed against the graffiti, the penetrating effect of the strobe light itself, and even the hollow darkness of the tunnels, inspired an aesthetic that goes unnoticed by passengers who are trapped underground, hiding behind masks and closed off from each other." In this third edition of what is now a classic of photographic literature, a sequence of 118 (including 25 previously unpublished) images transport the viewer through a landscape at times menacing, and at other times lyrical and soulful. The images present the full gamut of New Yorkers, from weary straphangers and languorous ladies in summer dresses to stalking predators and homeless. Davidson's accompanying text tells the story behind the images, clarifying his method and dramatizing his obsession with the subway, its rhythms and its particular madness. - Amazon Subway is Davidson's visceral take on the New York underground system of the 1980s complete with beleagured passengers, Guardian Angels, graffiti and a palpable, all-pervasive sense of fear. A glimpse of a New York that is already long gone. (Sean O'Hagan The Guardian 20111213)
80s Sexy Robots by Sorayama
We started the week with a little case study showing how to create a poster inspired by the Daft Punk, so nothing better than to end the week with an overdose of 80s robot inspiration. Introducing female robots created by Hajime Sorayama, a Japanese illustrator, known for his precisely detailed, erotic hand painted portrayals of women and feminine robots. In the late 1990s, Sorayama was approached by the Sony Corporation to design an organic robotic form. It became the famous "AIBO" dog, now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art and then Smithsonian Institute of Technology. Intrigued by the effects of light on various metallic surfaces, and always ready for challenges to his technique and imagination, he began to produce a series of female robotic figures in the late 1970¹s; anatomically correct in form, but appearing to have been fashioned of molten silver. The term "sexy robot" was coined to describe them. The term "Gynoids" was created by the female British SF writer, Gwyneth Jones, and developed by another British writer, Richard Calder. The word is a combination of "droid" (greek "in the image of") and "gyn" (greek "woman").These female cyborgs of Sorayama combine elements both human and mechanical. The soft, sensuous body parts are cleverly intertwined with inorganic, machine-like connections and protrusions to create entrancing images which embody complex and subtle tensions.
Top Gun F-14 Photography Inspiration
This weekend Top Gun is back to the movie theaters in IMAX and 3D and we can't wait. It doesn't get any better than Navy pilots and dogfights with F-14 Tomcats and MIGs. A generation got inspired by this movie and we here over at Abduzeedo, children of the 80s, cannot see an F-14 or beach volleyball without bringing back the memories of this movie. To celebrate that we put together a few gorgeous photos of F-14 for your delight. joabe_brill Dew's kecemplunglagi mdmo30 ZZ330 awee_19 gsb_viva dihe Timmeh! Jamie L Adams Other
What if Social Media were invented in the 80s
If Social Media was built in the days of DOS, 14.4 Kbps modems and Netscape Navigator, they would have looked very different. Well Kinna McInroe and Jo Luijten made this ambition from the past into a reality. This reality truly became a sensation and some of these videos were broadcasted on television and in the Nitehawk Cinema from New York City. After seeing the British BBC show 'Look around you', Jo Luijten was inspired by the idea of creating a nonexistent world in the past. Using old software, like QuickBASIC 4.5 and MS-Paint, he created several '80s and '90s versions of contemporary social media and video games. Jo Luijten's girlfriend Kinna McInroe is the voice-over of the 'Wonders of the World Wide Web' videos. For more information about Squirrel-Monkey, you can visit their website at Squirrel-Monkey.com and also check out their YouTube Channel. If Angry Birds were an '80s home computer game...
80s Christmas Artwork in Photoshop
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas and it's time for our holiday tutorial. For this year we will have a very 80s image inspired by the work of Arkuma using Photoshop CS6. So for this tutorial we will create a image using basic filters and effects to create a nice vinage effect. The fonts used are Avant Garde and FreestyleScrD. Step 1 Open Photoshop and create a new document. I am using 2880x1800 for the size so I can use it as a nice wallpaper for the MacBook Pro Retina. Then for the background layer use a radial gradient from #a4a4a4 to black. Then add another layer on top using purple (#8e70b2) for the color with Multiply for the Blend Mode. Step 2 Create a grid in Illustrator with the Rectangular Grid Tool. Copy it and then paste it in Photoshop. Make sure that your grid lines are white, then with Layer Styles use Outer Glow with Color Dodge for the Blend Mode, 75% for the Opacity, white for the color, 5% Spread and 10 pixels size. Step 3 Groupt the layer into a folder and change the folder's Blend Mode to Color Dodge at 60%. After that apply a Gaussian Blur to the grid layer. Step 4 Create a triangle and fill it with a dark purple (#191123). Step 5 Duplicate the triangle and then go to Layer>Layer Styles>Stroke. Use 5 pixels for the Size, Outside for the Position and white for the color. Step 6 Select Inner Glow and use the values below. Step 7 Select Outer Glow and use the values below. Step 8 You will have a triangle with some lights below it blending with the grid. Now let's add some text. With the Horizontal Type Tool (T) insert the work Christmas. Step 9 Let's apply some layer styles to this text. Go to Layer>Layer Styles>Bevel & Emboss. Use the image below for the values Step 10 Now let's add a chrome gradient. You can come up with your own but let's use the one available on Photoshop's presets. Step 11 After applying the layer styles duplicate that layer and then right click on the FX little icon in the layer in the layer panel. Select Create Layers. What that will do is that will create layers for each of the layer styles. The only one we will use is the gradient one. With the Stamp Tool (S) create some little peaks in the center of the gradient. Step 12 Add a layer on top of the others, the with the Brush Tool (B) and a very soft brush, start painting with cyan at the top, green in the center, and purple at that bottom. Step 13 Group the layer with the brush paints and then change the Blend Mode of the folder to Overlay. Step 14 Add the word Merry using #ff009c for the color. Step 15 Now let's add some more layer styles. First Inner Shadow. Use the image below for the values. Step 16 Select Inner Glow and use the values below. Step 17 Select Outer Glow and use the values below. Step 18 If you got all the way to this step, you will probably have something like the image below Step 19 Add a layer on top of the others and group this layer into a folder. With the Brush Tool (B) start painting some white spots with a very soft brush. That will create some nice light effects. Step 20 Select all layers and duplicate them. Merge the new layers into one and then go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Use 5% for the Amount, Gaussian for the DIstribution and select Monochromatic. Step 21 Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation. Use 0 for Hue, 1 for Saturation and 13 for Lightness. Conclusion You can add another layer with a purple to black radial graident on top with Linear Dodge for the Blend Mode. You can also add a layer on top with a scanline effect. To do that you just need to create a new document, like 4x4 pixels. Fill the half of the image with black and the other with white, so you have 2 lines. Go to Edit>Define Pattern. Go back to your design and add a new layer filling with the pattern you just created using Color Burn at 30% Opacity. That's the design is done, now it's up to you to add your own little touch. Other options Download Photoshop file Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial
A Tribute to the 80s by Arkuma
Most of the writers of Abduzeedo are from the 80s and we always expressed our love for that decade's style especially the neon lights, terrible VHS quality and the music. In terms of visual design, we can see the beginning of CGI and 3D animations, with simple forms but a lot of chrome and reflections. To illustrate that nothing better than showing some examples, in this case, the fantastic work of Arkuma. Arkuma is a motion graphic designer and illustrator from London, UK. He has been working with labels, DJs and artists on promotional material. As we can see, heavily inspired in the 80s. A Tribute to the 80s I've always enjoyed emulating the graphic style and feel of advertisments and animations from the 1980s. This is a compilation of all my past 80s inspired animations. All of the animations have been played and then rerecorded on actual vhs tape by Anton Bohlin to help get the authentic results. Chrome, VHS recordings and the Illuminati from Arkuma on Vimeo. AREA 51 Trailer Commissioned by Trashbags to create some promo material for the Area51 event which is carried out by Trashbags, Dead Eye Touring, D.F.B. and Fake Club. Area51 promo from Arkuma on Vimeo.
LCD Style Effect in Pixelmator
Digital LCD effects are very common but they still impress me especially in terms of light effects. The way the light gets blurry on the edges and super strong in the center is simply amazing. I have been doing this kind of effect for quite a long time but never shared exactly this one and using Pixelmator. So in this tutorial I will show you how to create a LCD style text effect using Pixelmator. The whole process is quite simple and won't take you more than 30 minutes. Step 1 Open Pixelmator and create a new document. I am using 1650x1080 pixels. After that fill the background layer with #191919 Step 2 Go to View>Show Gradients. Then add an new gradient preset by clicking with the right button of the mouse on an empty slot and select New Gradient. Create a gradient using black, dark grey, black, dark grey, black and dark grey like the image below. Step 3 Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 100 pixels for the Radius. Step 4 Add a new layer and using the Paint Bucket Tool (N) fill the layer with green (#3f7d00). Step 5 Change the blending of the green layer to Multiply at 98%. Step 6 Add a new layer and go to Filter>Generator>Stripes. Use white for the Primary Color and black for the Secondary Color. Also use 2.0 pixels for the Width and 0% for the Sharpness. Step 7 Rotate the stripes layer so you will have horizontal lines. After that change the blending to Color Dodge at 40% Opacity. Step 8 Time to add some text. I am using a font called DS-Digital. You can download it at http://www.dafont.com/ds-digital.font After that add the text you want. I am using 00:00:09 with white for the color. Step 9 Add a new layer underneath the text layer and with the Paint Bucket Tool (N) fill the layer with black. Step 10 Select the text and the black layer and merge them into one. After that go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 7.5 pixes for the Radius. Step 11 Change the Blending of the blurry layer to Color Dodge. Step 12 Duplicate the layer and change the Blending to Overlay. Step 13 Repeat the same process to add more text to your composition. Step 14 Select all layers and duplicate them. With the new copies selected, merge them into a new one. After that go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 10px for the Radius, then change the Blending to Screen at 50%. That will create a really nice and realistic glowing effect. Conclusion You can create different colors effects by simply adding different layers with different colors instead of the green one on step 4. This effect is simple but very cool for some more advanced compositions or even for some animations. Now it's up to you to come up with your own versions. Download Pixelmator File Click here to download the Pixelmator file used for this tutorial