All tutorials

Photoshop tutorial

How to Make This Glitch Effect in Photoshop

Turn a flat logo into a scanline glitch that looks like it is burning through a monitor. The effect is built entirely from stock Photoshop tools: a scanline overlay, a Threshold adjustment, two passes of the Wave filter, and a stack of coloured Drop Shadows on a group. A Printer Grain texture on top adds the colour separation.

  • 6 steps
  • Printer Grain Texture Pack
How to Make This Glitch Effect in Photoshop

Step 1

Bring in the logo

Bring your logo into a 16 bit, 300 dpi Photoshop document. My document size is 16 in x 20 in.

Bring in the logo

Settings

  • Size 16 in x 20 in
  • Resolution 300 dpi
  • Bit depth 16-bit

Step 2

Scanlines and Threshold

Create a solid black layer underneath your logo. Then add a scanlines layer above your logo, set the blending mode to Multiply. I found this scanlines image on Google.

Finally, add a Threshold adjustment at the top.

Slide
Slide
UI — Layers
UI — Layers

Layer stack (top to bottom)

  • Threshold 1 Adjustment layer, top of stack
  • scanlines Blend mode Multiply
  • LOGO Your logo artwork
  • Background copy Solid black

Step 3

Wave filter, twice

Apply the Wave filter twice from Filter > Distort > Wave. Use these settings.

Slide
Slide
UI — Wave (first pass)
UI — Wave (first pass)
UI — Wave (second pass)
UI — Wave (second pass)
UI — Layers (Smart Filters)
UI — Layers (Smart Filters)

Wave (first pass)

  • Number of Generators 24
  • Wavelength Min. 1 / Max. 171
  • Amplitude Min. 1 / Max. 6
  • Scale Horiz. 100% / Vert. 1%
  • Type Square
  • Undefined Areas Repeat Edge Pixels

Wave (second pass)

  • Number of Generators 24
  • Wavelength Min. 1 / Max. 171
  • Amplitude Min. 1 / Max. 7
  • Scale Horiz. 100% / Vert. 1%
  • Type Sine
  • Undefined Areas Repeat Edge Pixels

Step 4

Group and Blend If

Group these layers and remove the black values of the group using Blend If in the layer styles.

Slide
Slide
UI — Layers (Group 1)
UI — Layers (Group 1)
UI — Blend If
UI — Blend If

Blend If

  • Blend If Gray
  • Current Layer 15 — 255
  • Underlying Layer 0 — 255

Step 5

Layer styles on the outer group

Put this group into another group and apply these layer styles. Ensure Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow is unchecked for all Drop Shadows.

UI — Layers (Group 2 effects)
UI — Layers (Group 2 effects)
UI — Inner Glow
UI — Inner Glow
UI — Drop Shadow 1
UI — Drop Shadow 1
UI — Drop Shadow 2
UI — Drop Shadow 2
UI — Drop Shadow 3
UI — Drop Shadow 3
UI — Drop Shadow 4
UI — Drop Shadow 4
UI — Drop Shadow 5
UI — Drop Shadow 5
UI — Drop Shadow 6
UI — Drop Shadow 6
UI — Drop Shadow 7
UI — Drop Shadow 7
UI — Drop Shadow 8
UI — Drop Shadow 8

Inner Glow

  • Blend Mode Normal
  • Opacity 100%
  • Noise 0%
  • Fill Gradient (white to transparent)
  • Method Smooth
  • Technique Softer
  • Source Center
  • Choke 0%
  • Size 9 px
  • Contour Linear
  • Anti-aliased Off
  • Range 50%
  • Jitter 0%

Drop Shadow 1

  • Blend Mode Normal
  • Color Salmon red
  • Opacity 100%
  • Angle 117
  • Use Global Light Off
  • Distance 0 px
  • Spread 0%
  • Size 4 px
  • Contour Linear
  • Anti-aliased Off
  • Noise 0%
  • Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow Off

Drop Shadow 2

  • Blend Mode Normal
  • Color Salmon red
  • Opacity 100%
  • Angle -86
  • Use Global Light Off
  • Distance 0 px
  • Spread 0%
  • Size 16 px
  • Contour Linear
  • Anti-aliased Off
  • Noise 0%
  • Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow Off

Drop Shadow 3

  • Blend Mode Screen
  • Color Salmon red
  • Opacity 100%
  • Angle -86
  • Use Global Light Off
  • Distance 0 px
  • Spread 0%
  • Size 43 px
  • Contour Linear
  • Anti-aliased Off
  • Noise 0%
  • Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow Off

Drop Shadow 4

  • Blend Mode Screen
  • Color Salmon red
  • Opacity 100%
  • Angle -86
  • Use Global Light Off
  • Distance 0 px
  • Spread 0%
  • Size 101 px
  • Contour Linear
  • Anti-aliased Off
  • Noise 0%
  • Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow Off

Drop Shadow 5

  • Blend Mode Screen
  • Color Salmon red
  • Opacity 100%
  • Angle -86
  • Use Global Light Off
  • Distance 0 px
  • Spread 0%
  • Size 150 px
  • Contour Linear
  • Anti-aliased Off
  • Noise 0%
  • Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow Off

Drop Shadow 6

  • Blend Mode Screen
  • Color Salmon red
  • Opacity 100%
  • Angle -86
  • Use Global Light Off
  • Distance 0 px
  • Spread 0%
  • Size 210 px
  • Contour Linear
  • Anti-aliased Off
  • Noise 0%
  • Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow Off

Drop Shadow 7

  • Blend Mode Normal
  • Color Green
  • Opacity 100%
  • Angle -95
  • Use Global Light Off
  • Distance 5 px
  • Spread 0%
  • Size 8 px
  • Contour Linear
  • Anti-aliased Off
  • Noise 0%
  • Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow Off

Drop Shadow 8

  • Blend Mode Normal
  • Color Magenta
  • Opacity 100%
  • Angle 40
  • Use Global Light Off
  • Distance 7 px
  • Spread 0%
  • Size 8 px
  • Contour Linear
  • Anti-aliased Off
  • Noise 0%
  • Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow Off

Step 6

Printer Grain texture

Apply any texture from the Printer Grain Texture Pack for the color glitch effect. Set the blending mode to Soft Light.

Slide
Slide
UI — Printer Grain Texture Pack
UI — Printer Grain Texture Pack
UI — Layers (texture Smart Filter)
UI — Layers (texture Smart Filter)
UI — Hue/Saturation
UI — Hue/Saturation

Texture layer

  • Texture Printer Grain Texture Pack (texture 05)
  • Blend mode Soft Light

Hue/Saturation

  • Channel Global Colors (Master)
  • Hue 0
  • Saturation +72
  • Lightness 0

Finish

Result

Done. Get the Printer Grain Texture Pack for the same high quality grain.

Result

Get the plugin used in this tutorial

More tutorials