Photoshop Tutorial: Airbrushed Film Poster Style Photo Effect

In today’s Photoshop tutorial I’m going to show you a mix of filters and adjustments we can apply to a photograph to mimic the retro style airbrushed painted look associated with classic film posters. Imagine the poster art for original Star Wars trilogy, the Indiana Jones movies, and pretty much any action/adventure film from the 80s! They all feature incredibly life-like depictions of the the actors and characters, which are almost like photos, but they have a clear hand painted appearance with subtle brush strokes, outlining marks and quite high contrast with vibrant colours.

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Western Cowboy Photo from Shutterstock –
Old Paper Texture from Pexels –

Adobe Photoshop & Adobe Illustrator design tutorials from Chris Spooner of Spoon Graphics. Subscribe to learn how to create stunning artwork as I share my tips and tricks in video format.

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30 responses to “Photoshop Tutorial: Airbrushed Film Poster Style Photo Effect”

  1. Remix Ranger Avatar

    where to get oil paint ?

  2. Garry Cheney Avatar

    Brilliant! Going to try this on a vehicle photo today!

  3. Ishmael Jaeger Avatar

    Awesome. Simple and effective.

  4. Francis DiBona Avatar

    What version of Photoshop do you use. Many of the steps you gave do not work on my version (CC 2015). For example, Filter >>> Styilize >>> Oil Paint is not one of the options.

  5. TheBombShhh Avatar

    looks cool, but not as cool as an 80s mixed media drawing

  6. JSD videos Avatar

    Da Bomb!! Amazing work Chris. Just what I've been looking for!

  7. shitchops Avatar

    Well no oil paint selection in ps cs5.. i think its time to upgrade Great tutorial. I thought soooo much more work would be invloved

  8. Barney Williams Avatar

    GREAT VIDEO! many thanks dude, huge huge help!

  9. Thomas Welander Avatar

    Great, just what I was searching for. Much obliged!

  10. Chase Hukill Avatar

    i have a problem where when i go to use the oil paint filter, it shows up as grey and i am not able to apply the filter. how do i fix this?

  11. emma lissette alvarado vasquez Avatar

    superb I suscribe in your channel

  12. NexusGamer Avatar

    Ah thanks so much! I always wanted to know how they made this in this way!

  13. afro symphony Avatar

    you conveniently chose an already well color processed photo, why not do this with an unedited photo and lets see then how good your skills are.

  14. Sarah List Avatar

    Love this tutorial, but i cant seem to achieve the same effect with photos of furry animals like my dog. any tips on adjustments that can replicate this with furry creatures, that have good varying contrasts? thanks

  15. Meira Vich Avatar

    I love Spoon Graphics, since you always make unique tutorial that others don't.

  16. 27 Gangtok Avatar

    can you edit my photo please… sir

  17. wsg4 Avatar

    Man I've been trying for hours to figure this out! All the tuts I found were using the CC Raw Image Filter (and I'm working with CS6). I knew that I could mimic the effect with a few filters and layer style changes, and your tut gave me the right direction to go! Thanks!

  18. TheIntrigue Avatar

    Thank you so much for this tutorial. Probably my favorite; I don't like it when work looks like a 3-click filter. The results from this tutorial legitimately look like an oil painting. Outstanding sir.

  19. Musiqalxchild Avatar

    I have cs5 is it possible for me to get the oil paint filter because I don't have it

  20. Sidetrax Avatar

    Short, simple, to the point and very clear. I came to learn how to do one effect and one effect only and I was shown in the time it took me to eat my sandwich. You have just earned yourself a subscriber.

  21. قناة مدرسة محمد جعفر الابتدائية. الجزائر Avatar

    Thank you sir for this wonderful explanation
    I Follow you carefully but when you reach the selection by channels
    The selection does not appear
    Please explain how you do this

  22. Indraja Salunkhe Avatar

    great video!!! thank you…

  23. James Harrison Avatar

    Great tutorial… inspiring. Can't wait to try it on my MacPro in the office. Sadly my MacBook Pro here at home doesn't allow for Open CL, so the oil paint filter is not available. Looking for a similar effect in the artistic filter gallery…

  24. effennekappa Avatar

    You're the best. <3

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