Funky Retro Icecream Effect!

I’m calling this effect the ‘IceCream Retro Effect’ because it reminds me of an icecream commercial I once watched, the colors also suit icecream in my opinion

1. Background / Canvas

First thing first, create a new document then fill the background with a  nice, soft color. I used a document size of 400 x 400 pixels then filled the background with #e2dfed.

2. Make Bar Shapes

Now get the Rectangular Marquee Tool -

Near the top of Photoshop change the Style to Fixed Size and set the width to 20 px and height to 400 px.

Click on the canvas and drag the selection to the far left. Now move the selection 10 pixels from the left. (hold shift+right key)

Create a new layer and fill your selection with a purple, I used #9e86f4. Now move the selection 40 pixels to the right and fill the selection with the same color, repeat this as many times as it takes to get to the end of the document.

3. Filter Effects

With the lines layer selected, go into Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates, use the following settings:

And now you have a cool starburst effect! Yay!

Next, go to Filter > Distort > Twirl, use an angle of about 100.

Lastly with the filters, apply Filter > Blur > Gaussion Blur, use a radius of about 1-2.

4. Layer Modes and Settings

Change the layer mode for the lines later to Color Burn and leave the opacity as it is.


Duplicate the lines layer then rotate it 180Ëš (Edit > Transform > Rotate 180Ëš)

Now lower the opacity to about 70% and change the layer mode to Vivid Light.

Awesome effect!

5. Finishing Touches

For a nice touch I added in some white grunge, I just used the Rough Round Bristle brush that comes with Photoshop.

The last thing I did for this tutorial was add in some nice text. For the text I used a free font called 4990810, if you do a quick Google search you’ll be able to find this font no problem.