Make a risograph or screen-print look with Effects and the Editor

Risograph and screen prints have a look people love: a few flat inks, visible dots, colours that overlap and darken, layers slightly out of line, and paper showing through. This recipe builds that look from live filter layers, so every part stays adjustable, and at a size you can print.

You will need#

• A photo with a clear subject and strong light and shadow. Flat, grey photos make muddy dots.
• Two ink colours and a paper colour. Classic riso pairs are a fluorescent pink with a blue, or a red with a teal, on warm off-white.
• A short headline.

Result#

An A4 design built from the photo, a Halftone filter, a Duotone filter, overprinting type in two inks and a grain layer, exported as PNG for screens or PDF for printing.

1. Find the look in Effects#

Effects is the fastest place to try things: one photo, every effect, instant preview.

1. 1Open Effects and drop in your photo.
2. 2In the Effects panel, choose Artistic, then Halftone.
3. 3Under Parameters, move Dot Size until the dots read as dots at the size you will see the design. Raise Contrast until the shadows fill in and the highlights open up.
4. 4Try Woodcut or Stipple too. Both suit print looks. Note down the numbers of the one you like.

2. Choose your route into the Editor#

Open in Editor sends the photo with the effect as a live filter layer. Effects previews at up to 1200 px on the long side, and the photo goes over at that size, so this route suits a social post, not print.

For print, start at the print size instead:

1. 1Open the Editor. Under Print, choose A4 flyer (2480 × 3508 px).
2. 2Choose File > Place image as layer… (Ctrl+Shift+P), pick the original photo and scale it into place with Ctrl+T. On a Mac, use Cmd for Ctrl.
3. 3Choose Filter > Artistic > Halftone. A Halftone filter layer appears. In Properties, under Filter settings, enter the numbers you noted.

Filter layers preview at the same 1200 px working size that Effects uses, so the settings look alike. When you export, the filter runs at full size with the dot size scaled up to match, so the result looks the same, only sharper.

3. Prepare the photo underneath#

Filters affect every layer beneath them. That means an adjustment placed below the Halftone layer changes what the halftone sees.

1. 1Select the photo layer and add Image > Adjustments > Curves…. Pick More contrast in Properties.
2. 2Check in the Layers panel that the order is: photo, Curves, Halftone. Drag to fix it.
3. 3Watch the dots: more contrast gives you solid shadows, clean paper in the highlights, and fewer grey mid-dots.

4. One ink on paper#

The halftone gives black dots on white. A real print is one ink on coloured paper. Duotone maps dark to one colour and light to another, which is exactly that.

1. 1With the Halftone layer selected, choose Filter > Colour > Duotone. Make sure it sits above Halftone.
2. 2In Filter settings, set Shadow Color to your first ink and Highlight Color to your paper colour.

5. Overprint type in a second ink#

Riso inks are translucent: where two overlap, you get a third, darker colour. Multiply does the same on screen.

1. 1Select the top layer, press T and type the headline. Set it large and bold, in your second ink colour.
2. 2Keep the text layer above the filters. Filters only change layers below them, so the type stays crisp and solid like a flat ink.
3. 3Set the text layer's blend mode to Multiply in the Layers panel. Where it crosses the first ink, the colours darken together.

6. Knock it out of register#

On a real press each ink is a separate pass, and they never line up perfectly. A small offset is what makes it read as printed rather than digital.

1. 1With the headline selected, press Ctrl+J to duplicate it.
2. 2Change the copy's colour to the first ink. Keep it on Multiply.
3. 3Nudge it with the arrow keys, 3 to 6 px. Shift with an arrow moves 10 px, which is usually too far.

Keep the offset small. At 300 dpi, 6 px is half a millimetre: enough to feel, not enough to look like a mistake. For a colour fringe over the whole image instead, try Filter > Distort > RGB Shift at a low Shift Amount.

7. Add grain over everything#

1. 1Select the top layer and choose Filter > Enhance > Film Grain.
2. 2Set Amount low and adjust Grain Size. Moving the Randomize slider gives a different pattern.
3. 3Lower the layer's Opacity if it is too strong. Filter settings have no opacity of their own, so use the layer's.

Because grain sits at the top, it textures the photo, the ink and the type alike. That shared texture is what makes separate layers look like they were printed on the same sheet.

8. Check and export#

1. 1Hold the backslash key (\) to see the design without filters and adjustments, then let go. It is a quick check that the photo underneath is doing its job.
2. 2Press Ctrl+E. Choose PNG for screens or PDF for print. An A4 design is over 2000 px on its long side, so the PDF is set up at 300 dpi.
3. 3Click Download. Filters render at full size on export, so it can take a few seconds.

Faster: the Halftone quick tool#

For a single image with no type, the Halftone Generator is quicker. Drop an image in, set Dot size and Contrast, and click Download PNG. Send to Layer Stack opens the original in the Editor with a live Halftone layer on top, ready for stages 3 to 8.

Common problems#

• Dots are too fine to see. Raise Dot Size. Remember a phone shows the design far smaller than print.
• Everything is grey and muddy. Add more contrast below the Halftone layer, or raise its Contrast.
• The type got halftoned too. It is below the Halftone layer. Drag it above the filters.
• The Editor feels slow. Filters recompute as you work. Hide the filter layers while you set type, then show them again.

Try the Halftone tool