50 Mind-blowing Retro-style Photoshop Illustrations

Feb 19th in Inspiration by Danny Outlaw

Graphic design from the 70s, 80s and 90s has plenty to offer modern-day designers. Here we introduce a bunch of modern-day graphic designers using the best of retro-styles to create incredible and original work that melds the past, the present, and sometimes, the future!

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Author: Danny Outlaw

Danny Outlaw is best known for his work at Outlaw Design Blog. Aside from blogging, he also works full time as a Wordpress designer. Danny has freelanced from all over the world and is working on a book and website in which he will share his experience about Freelancing Abroad. Danny also has an unhealthy obsession with toys, LOST, and Sharpie markers.

Nicolas Alexander

Nicolas is a freelance designer from Canada. He currently works for MuchMusic doing graphic design work.

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James White

James has been in the business for over ten years. During that time he has worked with a variety of clients and projects, from comic books, to posters and everything between.

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Defi the Norm

Defi the Norm is from Miami, Florida, and concentrates on vector and Photoshop design. They've created some stunning 80s style works.

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Jared Nickerson

Below is a picture the designer created for an album cover. Sadly, the design never made it to the cover and is now a T-shirt design.

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Sebastian Bentler

Sebastian is a graphic designer with a flair for all things retro. He likes to specialize in designs that mimic the styles of the 70s and 80s. The below projects are just a few from his portfolio that showcase hie abilities to put a modern twist on retro design.

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Felipe Rocha

Felipe is a designer and illustrator who can create a variety of styles in a variety of mediums. From standard illustration to create print design, Felipe can handle it all.

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Alexis Marcou

If the images below aren't 100% 80s, I don't know what is. These illustrations are a prime example of the illustration style that was so popular in the 80's that it was used in everything from print to motion.

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Ed Price

The flyers below created by Ed Price are another great example of adding modern day design elements to a heavily 80's influenced design.

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AJ Dimarucot

AJ is a graphic designer who's main focus is to create awesome T-shirt designs. Have a look around his portfolio and you'll see he is pretty amazing at it. This is especially true when it comes to creating retro designs.

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Sakke Soini

Last but certainly not least, I bring you the retro mastermind of Sakke Soini. We recently interviewed him here on Psdtuts+, so be sure to check that out. This designer's work is so amazingly retro that you would think his mind is stuck in some sort of time warp. Brilliant.

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User Comments

( ADD YOURS )
  1. PG

    alberto February 19th

    wow very inspirational

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  2. PG

    Mikhail February 19th

    Very nice :)

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  3. PG

    justin February 19th

    woo hoo!! first comment, and probaly the only time i will comment first.. woot! awesome work(s)

    ( Reply )
  4. PG

    justin February 19th

    damn, nevermind then..

    ( Reply )
  5. PG

    Sammo February 19th

    Some great pieces there. Really lovely use of colours and patterns that fit the 80’s themes well.

    ( Reply )
  6. PG

    Cameron February 19th

    Excellent light effects, awesome mixing of subject matter too

    ( Reply )
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    Cristhian Bedon February 19th

    Damn, these are some great Retro Pics. Loving the color scheme.

    ( Reply )
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    Tom Ross February 19th

    This style is relatively new to me, and whilst not always easy on the eyes it’s always striking.

    ( Reply )
  9. PG

    Dario Gutierrez February 19th

    I love it all, is very inspirational.

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    Geff February 19th

    I have to admit, these are some really interesting illustrations, though some of them push the limit. I am afraid I will now have to block psdtuts for the sake of my 11 year old son.

    ( Reply )
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    Aoiro Studio February 19th

    You guys forgot Scott Hansen. He’s the truly retro inspiration!

    http://blog.iso50.com/

    ( Reply )
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    Corey Marshall February 20th

    i am so sick of these compilations of illustrations and artists interviews. I come to psdtuts to see tutorials, not some interesting photos that I could find on deviantart. I really hope an admin hears this because this site has changed for the worst over the last few months.

    ( Reply )
  13. PG

    Chris February 20th

    The link for ed price is broken(leads to felipe rocha)! please fix!

    ( Reply )
  14. PG

    Odaddy February 20th

    Im totally inspired. Really COOL post Thanks :)

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  15. PG

    Joefrey Mahsuay February 20th

    Great Collection!

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  16. PG

    Bharath Kumar February 20th

    All the illustrations are really fantastic, the colour scheme is great and also the ideas.

    ( Reply )
  17. definitely one of my favorite style ;)

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  18. PG

    Mabuc February 20th

    All are Gorgeous and Fantastic!

    ( Reply )
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    Sune February 20th

    Wow, this is fantastic!

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    Vanhardisk February 20th

    Omg, I used the same girl model Defi the Norm used for one her designs!!!

    Now I don’t feel totally miserable knowing that I work with the same material as the pros ;)

    If you want you can check out my own retouched version of one of the models Defi the Norm uses.

    http://drvanhardisk.deviantart.com/art/Unwritten-101990181

    ( Reply )
  21. PG

    RONY February 20th

    I LOVE IT. WOW!! GREAT, FANTASTIC COLLECTION….

    ( Reply )
  22. PG

    James Hsu February 20th

    Very inspirational material.

    ( Reply )
  23. PG

    Crypta February 20th

    awesome!

    ( Reply )
  24. PG

    ~kitten February 20th

    Fantastic!

    ( Reply )
  25. PG

    Kevin February 20th

    Awesome illustrations. All of them are so good, I can’t even pick a favourite.

    ( Reply )
  26. PG

    gsenthil February 20th

    colorful and great

    ( Reply )
  27. PG

    Goshi February 20th

    Some of aren’t retro at all.

    nice selection tho.

    ( Reply )
  28. PG

    mr.zer0 February 20th

    amazing collection dudes! well done

    ( Reply )
  29. PG

    ivan February 20th

    i always love this but i never could succeed the effect

    ( Reply )
  30. PG

    Zayat February 20th

    Very, very nice ! Wonderful works !

    ( Reply )
  31. PG

    EdpeppeRs February 20th

    awesome, man! great collection!

    ( Reply )
  32. PG

    Timothy February 20th

    Great list! I love lists like these. Thank!

    ( Reply )
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    Jean Biscuiterie February 20th

    I agree with Corey Marshall… Stop that gallery stuffs and return to *real* psd tutorials!

    ( Reply )
  34. PG

    Luke's Beard February 20th

    I love this stuff , MORE MORE i say! Thanks for a great post.

    ( Reply )
  35. PG

    Chris Robinson February 20th

    some really nice work, I especially dig the “Rock 77″ poster by James White

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    RUGRLN February 20th

    Wicked stufff

    ( Reply )
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    RR Anderson February 20th

    Awesome!!!

    ( Reply )
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    Razster February 20th

    This is nice and all, but how come we don’t see some Tutorials on what they’ve created or at least some files of what is close to their work on member plus page?

    ( Reply )
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    pawel February 20th

    is there a chance to get a tut how to get effect like “gasoline morning”?

    thanks

    great compilation

    ( Reply )
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    Nadia February 20th

    Wow! These r inspiring me! lol <3 they’re competely amazing!! <3

    ( Reply )
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    Kid February 20th

    Very Inspiring

    Thank You

    ( Reply )
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    Brad Durham February 20th

    I absolutely love White’s work…never see anything quite like it. People try, but no one can nail it.

    Superb

    ( Reply )
  43. PG

    John Cartago February 20th

    Agreed – James White’s style is just awesome.

    ( Reply )
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    GORDE February 20th

    Veeeery very nice. i’m so impressed :)
    very inspiring!

    ( Reply )
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    Erik February 20th

    Where is Ronald Ashburn aka. Electrik Suicide :)

    Great stuff that retro.

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    Faysal aMir February 21st

    Excellent work buddy i really appreciate it .. gr8 job:0

    ( Reply )
  47. PG

    Zijkant February 21st

    Nice post, great inspiration!

    ( Reply )
  48. PG

    Matt February 21st

    Excellent illustrations. Thanks for the inspiring round-up!

    ( Reply )
  49. PG

    Mike February 21st

    Excellent list, love it!

    ( Reply )
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    Doug February 21st

    Where is Scott Hansen?

    ( Reply )
  51. PG

    White February 21st

    Awesome artists, awesome art :D

    ( Reply )
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    ivan February 21st

    i always wanted to learn this style with photoshop and illustrator

    ( Reply )
  53. PG

    jack February 21st

    Horrible all of them except Defi the Norm and James White…imho

    ( Reply )
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    Chaz February 21st

    ya gotta love Sakke Soini and Defi The Norm.

    dem galleries are so ill!

    ( Reply )
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    VietCung February 22nd

    So Great!

    ( Reply )
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    adam February 22nd

    amazing suff

    ( Reply )
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    Diego SA February 22nd

    My God!!!!!
    I’m having an overdose!
    Excellent stuff you have here! Thanks!
    It’ll be a new source of inspiration!

    ( Reply )
  58. PG

    Enk. February 22nd

    Yo, Lovely Collection there ! Awesome Art with awesome colors.. Love’em all.

    ( Reply )
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    Ludovic February 22nd

    HOLY SH*T I’M NOW BLIND BY THE AWESOMNESS OF SAKKE SOINI

    ( Reply )
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    SL05NED February 22nd

    MIND “BLASTING”!!

    ( Reply )
  61. PG

    Eric February 23rd

    Beautiful Work!

    ( Reply )
  62. PG

    M February 23rd

    Very Cool. I love the 80’s metal style logos.

    ( Reply )
  63. PG

    Brian February 25th

    There needs to be more tuts on this website showing how to do things similar to these great artists. The work shown is truly an inspiration.

    ( Reply )
  64. PG

    photofolio February 26th

    Interesting, from very cool to very wrong. Still, I don’t want to be remembered too much on the ’80s graphic design …

    ( Reply )
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    Parastratiosphecomyia stratiosphecomyioides February 26th

    Love this work

    ( Reply )
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    Joe Clay February 27th

    Soini’s robot ladies ARE from the 80s—and 70s and 90s. They’re appropriated from Hajime Sorayama. I’m surprised that none of you have ever seen them.

    I can’t be the oldest person on here. I’m only 24.

    http://hajimesorayama.com/01works_robot.html

    ( Reply )
  67. PG

    ProjectCenter February 28th

    Holy smokers! That is some cool work.

    ( Reply )
  68. PG

    franky March 2nd

    This stuff is awesome

    ( Reply )
  69. PG

    Rory March 2nd

    These are amazing, colours, textures, shapes its all going on..
    Sakke Soini is rockin and particularly James White’s stuff blows my mind

    Thanking you

    ( Reply )
  70. PG

    richard March 5th

    I think all the above artworks are based on the work of Scott Hansen (iso50.com) when I saw his website for the first time, no retro artwork on the net.

    ( Reply )
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    timebucket March 20th

    where can I buy posters of this stuff??

    ( Reply )
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    subin March 30th

    verriy nace

    ( Reply )
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    asis April 19th

    Great collection, congratulations, doing very good work here

    ( Reply )
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    Kovi April 23rd

    good style

    ( Reply )
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    raydesign April 28th

    What a great design collections…I don’t know when or how to make like that..

    ( Reply )
  76. PG

    dietchse May 7th

    cuuul stuff?sorayama great think

    ( Reply )
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