Retro Futurism is the term used to describe artwork depicting a view of the future, from the eyes of the past. The artwork itself also has the appearance of something old and vintage, basically blending both past and future into one style of artwork that blows your mind! Digital artists are creating their own modern interpretations of the retro futurism style, often taking inspiration from the game covers of retro consoles such as the Atari or Commodore. Check out this collection of some amazing examples of contemporary takes on the retro futuristic style, and continue on to a bunch of handy tutorials giving tips on how to create a stunning design of your own.

Hannibal Chew

Retro futurism design example

Sakke Sioni

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Pablo Alfieri

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Joao Oliveira

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

James White

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Nicolas Alexander

Retro futurism design example

Alex Beltechi

Retro futurism design example

Peter Nudo

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Retro futurism design example

Pinar Demirdag

Retro futurism design example

Stefanie Kegel

Retro futurism design example

Niko Vartiainen

Retro futurism design example

Matthew Tabor

Retro futurism design example

A Message

Retro futurism design example

Create your own

Fancy giving it a go yourself? Read through these handy tutorials. Each one covers the steps involved in creating your artwork with a mix of Photoshop and Illustrator, and highlights the important ingredients for creating the cool retro-futurism style.

Create A Retro Cosmic Design in Photoshop

Retro futurism design example

Design a Retro Futurism Space Scene

Retro futurism design example

Creating the New Retro

Retro futurism design example

Design a futuristic abstract poster

Retro futurism design example

Retro Geometric Vectors in Space with Illustrator and Photoshop

Retro futurism design example

Retro light effects – Pixelmator Tutorial

Retro futurism design example

Create a Trendy Galactic Poster Design in Photoshop

Retro futurism design example

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61 Comments

  1. Pretty cool. I think I will have to go through the tutorials and learn some of the techniques. Seem a few similar illustrations in websites recently and wanted to try my hand at replicating them… Thank you =D

  2. The grids, the triangles, bright colors, and unicorns – it all reminds me of growing up in the 80’s. I remember Trapper Keepers with the unicorn running on the grid. Good stuff.

  3. Yeah this isn’t retro-futurism at all. Think of the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, or old diners, or even the McDonald’s arches. Read up on Googie (not a Google typo)… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googie_architecture …The Jetsons were a parody on Futurist art. So retro-futurism is more like Dexter’s Lab, or of course, Futurama.

    The gorgeous art above is probably best term Retro-Prism-ism. The Dark Side of the Moon cover should get credit for inspiring the trippy-space style above.

  4. Pretty cool collection. These have a very artistic approach and who knows how far creativity can go. We should have to keep pushing to see what we can come up with.

  5. Sakke Sioni and James White define this movement! There is some great art here, particularly the new Tron Legacy poster by Mr. White. Thanks Chris!

  6. Noooo! I’m too young for what I grew up with to be trendy again! Very reminiscent of the 80s, but with a certain Photoshop polish to them.

    So where’s the Lisa Frank inspired art?? Coming soon perhaps, huh?

  7. Thanks for including PSDFAN’s tutorial Chris! This is one of the better roundup posts I’ve seen recently, some really excellent work here.

  8. Cool list! The thing I like best about Retro Futurism design is the way they use the colours. I tend to struggle with colour combos but these dudes get it so right.

  9. very inspiring! guys.. i am pretty blank in subject. i know it is all starts inside head first but which software is used to put this final touch into it?
    Sakke Sioni works with this slight fogg on top..

  10. Thank you for sharing the phenomenal talent of these graphic artists. The work is truly amazing. You got a Clipmark, an Amplify, a DIGG, and a blog post out of me! Great work.

    Being 41 years old, I’m a child of the 80’s. The images brought back memories of posters and black lights. Awesome!

  11. Wow .. some pretty neat stuff here! retro is gaining so much more momentum this year .. I am loving it! Thanks for sharing some amazing talent :-)

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  13. Great list!
    Love some of the ways that colors are applied to keep nice feel to the works.

    Nice site, as well, Chris. I’ll definitely be reading around here more!

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