Today we're going to have some fun creating a trendy glitch effect, that we'll apply to
a photo some accompanying text.
The effect combines digital distortions such as screen tearing, RGB splitting and scanlines
to simulate the visual errors associated with digital video footage.
Much like how analogue effects help to give your artwork a retro look, this glitch effect
I'll be using this free image from Pexels, but the effect can be applied to any image.
Begin by converting the image from colour to black and white. The easiest method is
to simply Desaturate via the Image > Adjustments menu.
Make a duplicate of the layer by dragging it onto the New Layer icon in the Layers panel.
Double-click the new layer to edit its Layer Style settings. Click the icon for the Red
channel to deselect it.
Hold the Shift key and nudge the layer left or right using the keyboard cursor keys, to
offset this layer from the original. As the layer shifts, you'll see an anaglyph effect
emerge where the channels are split.
Select the marquee tool and draw a rectangle across a portion of the image.
Switch back to the Move tool, then nudge this selection left or right to offset it.
Go to Select > Deselect to remove the selection and repeat the process elsewhere.
You can speed things up by incorporating keyboard shortcuts. M activates the marquee tool. V
for the Move tool, then CMD (or CTRL on Windows) and D for Deselect.
Mix up the direction you offset these selections, and create large and small selections that
capture a small area or the full width of the image.
Add a new layer, then fill it with white using the CMD+Backspace shortcut.
Right-Click this layer and choose Convert to Smart Object, before going to Filter > Filter
Gallery.
Under the Sketch category, choose Halftone. Change the Pattern Type to Lines, then max
out the Contrast. Configure the size to create a scanlines pattern.
Because we turned the layer into a Smart Object. If you didn't quite get the sizing right for
the scanlines, you can double-click the smart filter to edit its settings.
Change this layer's blending mode to Overlay to allow the image to show through. Reduce
the Fill value so the scanlines are less prominent. I went with 20%.
To add some colour to the image, we could use a Gradient Map, but I have some free Film
Dust textures available at Spoon Graphics that incorporate vibrant hues with tiny particles.
Download the pack, then open up a texture of your choice.
Select All with CMD+A, Copy with CMD+C, close the image with CMD+W, then Paste the texture
into the main document with CMD+V. Use CMD+T to Transform and scale the texture to fill
the canvas.
Change the blending mode to Overlay.
I wanted the turqoisey colour of this texture to cover the top portion of the image, so
I gave it a quick Flip Vertical command via the right click menu.
Reduce the Fill value of this layer to tone down the colour cast. I went with 50%.
Add a Levels Adjustment Layer, then bring in the Shadows slider to darken the blacks.
Move the Output levels slider to shift the black point to a dark grey.
This series of adjustment gives the image a cool digital glitch effect. We can also
apply similar adjustments to a text layer to complement the art style.
Use the Type tool to enter some text. I'm using a thick geometric sans named Proxima
Nova Extrabold. You can activate it for free from the Adobe Fonts library via the link
in the description.
Placing this text above the image layers, but below the scan lines and texture layers
in the Layer stack will ensure that those same effects are also applied to this text
too.
Before processing the text, the layer first needs to be rasterized into pixels via the
right click menu.
Duplicate the text layer, then uncheck the Red channel just like we did with the image
layer.
When the text is offset, only the blue portion of the RGB split is visible. Double click
the original text layer and turn off both the Blue and Green channels.
Select the top text layer again, then use the Marquee tool to distort it.
Offsetting a large portion, then tearing thinner sections can generate good results.
To enhance the effect, double-click the layer and add an Outer Glow layer style. Configure
the settings to white, Normal, 100% opacity, then adjust the Size to produce a subtle glow.
Bring the opacity back down to tone down the effect.
Add the same glow effect to the other text layer.
The final result is a cool glitch effect with a high-tech, futuristic vibe that would be
a great fit for an electro or new wave album cover or movie poster art.
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As always thank you very much for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.