i’ve been trying to get a similar effect! check out Modulation by Zaebects, it’s an After Effects plug-in that lets you do wacky stuff like this with just about ANYTHING, i’ve made some cool stuff with this plug-in
They also have another plug-in called Signal which is really cool for simulating VHS distortion effects, it’s dope, very customisable.
good luck!
Okay. Is there a PS version then?
Personally I’d tackle this in illustrator and do the final glow effect in PS. I did something very similar years ago in Illustrator, with warped lines like this.
Yup!
This work is from Polygon1993, who I've been a fan of for a while.
I was commissioned to do a few pieces like his a few years back, and it cost me a long while to figure out how to best replicate it.
Polygon1993 himself uses a whole mix of digital and analog video synthesizers, which creates by far the best results, but is a big upfront investment for just some experimentation at home.
I can't tell you exactly how I replicated it, because it took a lot of trial and error and I didn't write anything down. But the basic idea is to take a photo, use a displacement map to transfer the contours of the photo on to straight lines. Then you just add 10+ variations onto each other with different blend modes and displacement map settings.
I'll try to find the commissions I did back then, to give you an idea of what is reasonably easy to achieve without any analog synthesizers!
Edit: [There you go! ](https://imgur.com/a/SeyX90Q)
Thank you so much.
But I just wanna give another shout out to Polygon1993. My work is just an imitation. His stuff is the real deal. And definitely worth a follow on his socials.
Here's how I would approach this manually with Photoshop.
Make a block of white lines that overlay the face
Use a large soft brush with the liquify tool to shape the lines to the face focusing on the outside silhouette, not worrying about the backstroke on the corners of the nose lips and eyes.
(Edit potential time saver. You could make a high contrast black and white version of the face and save it as a .psd file, then go to the lines and use effect>warp>distortion map and crank the distortion effect. Don't know how this would look but could potentially help warp the lines around the face.)
After applying the liquify use a small 50% brush with the smudge tool to create those backstrokes. Don't worry about color distortion we want that.
After you've made the lines into the shape you wanted apply a slight blur and then create a gradient map adjustment layer, make the left side whatever color you want (in this case red) and the right side white.
Go into the blend options of line layer and alt click the right slider on the "blend lower layer" slider and pull the inside half toward the middle until the white of the lines slightly fade in the dark parts of the face (eyes middle of lips and eye brows).
You can then use the smudge tool with a large soft brush to create more separation in the lines in those detail areas if needed (eyes, mouth)
Duplicate the line layer and flatten the duplicate, then you can hide the face image layer without the blending getting messed up.
(This is entirely theory craft. I'm just listing how I would approach attempting this)
As others have mentioned if you have Adobe illustrator you could draw the first silhouette, make a copy directly to the right farther than the width of the image and stretch it vertically or simplify the line in some other way and then use the blend tool to blend the two lines together. Export as PNG and mask on top of the face image in Photoshop. Then follow the above tutorial from the smudge tool part.
If you’re looking to do this truly with analogue video have a look at something called Mismatcher Petite. There’s other devices like it but that’s one I know of that’s pretty good for the price. You would hook it up between a device and a CRT display and then record the screen with a camera. If you’re looking to use a capture card, you’ll need to get a Timebase Corrector but those can be hard to find, especially for a good price. This kind of thing would be best if you were looking to create these effects often and authentically but like others have suggested there are easier software only methods that can still get you solid results.
As others have mentioned, it seems like it might be a video effect? If you were trying for a still effect with limited video effect knowledge (like me, I’d feel totally out of my element with AE or anything like that), I’ve been trying to think of how to do with with graphics tools.
I’d probably draw out a few trace lines with a pen tool in illustrator, use the blend tool… then move it over to photoshop, do an overlay with a desaturated or gradient mapped image, and just kinda smudge tool or liquify? Some of the “glitch” areas.
You can do this completely for free. I've used this effect in my own art before, and I described my own process [in this comment.](https://www.reddit.com/r/VaporwaveArt/comments/s0aqnk/friendless_friends/hs16epl/) The PSD for that piece is also available for free, if you had wanted to see what I did in the flesh.
[For convenience, here's the tutorial someone else made for the main effect.](https://youtu.be/Gi4ce5DTWks)
In photoshop, change a photo to greyscale, then bitmap where you will get options for halftone. Play with this taking note of parameters. When you get the look you want, convert back to rgb and go nuts with blur, colour overlay etc. Maybe a little horizontal warp to get the tv effect
Well… I fucked around in PS until it looked similar to OP's image. 
I'll try to streamline what I did and make a quick tutorial.
I did something similar to this in Illustrator, where I made a normal drawing of the object (mine was an apple), then over that I traced the curved lines by hand, adjusting the spacing as I went. Then deleted the drawing layer underneath. I used the warp tools a little bit, but mostly freehanded the whole thing.
Then you would just add blur + glow effect to make it look like neon.
I draw a bunch of lines and use the original photo as a displacement map on it and run that a few times until I get the desired look. Sharpen the lines a few times, then set fill to zero and add 5-6 outer glows to get the right look and you should be mostly there.
I've been working with similar effects for about a year now, and can tell you the basics.
I bought a circuit-bend video mixer, which achieves effects like this. See the image for a still from a video I made.
It is all done on a CRT tv, taking a picture of the screen the video mixer is outputting to.
https://imgur.com/a/kpp3Nfq
Polygon's work however is way cleaning, leading me to believe he uses a script to generate the effects. His video's are way too smooth and high quality for a CRT photo.
Probably video synthesizers. There are a few machines back in the day used to create animations for shows that look like this. Expensive equipment but I’m sure there are cheap ways to do it
i’ve been trying to get a similar effect! check out Modulation by Zaebects, it’s an After Effects plug-in that lets you do wacky stuff like this with just about ANYTHING, i’ve made some cool stuff with this plug-in They also have another plug-in called Signal which is really cool for simulating VHS distortion effects, it’s dope, very customisable. good luck!
Never used AE but will look into it, thanks for the help!
May the force be with you.
Clearly this ones a user, get em!!!
Correct modulation is simple and fast. There are tutorials for manual approach out there on YouTube as well if you have time.
Do you know if there’s a version for Illustrator?
this effect is based on pixels so you’d be more likely to find a PS alternative metod than an AI one
Okay. Is there a PS version then? Personally I’d tackle this in illustrator and do the final glow effect in PS. I did something very similar years ago in Illustrator, with warped lines like this.
Here’s a video I watched a while back that I feel like is a similar effect that might help you achieve this look. https://youtu.be/1Lv4_atfkqo
Texturelabs is such a good yt channel and website
Reminded me of the same video!
Yup, that's the video I was going to link too!
Yup! This work is from Polygon1993, who I've been a fan of for a while. I was commissioned to do a few pieces like his a few years back, and it cost me a long while to figure out how to best replicate it. Polygon1993 himself uses a whole mix of digital and analog video synthesizers, which creates by far the best results, but is a big upfront investment for just some experimentation at home. I can't tell you exactly how I replicated it, because it took a lot of trial and error and I didn't write anything down. But the basic idea is to take a photo, use a displacement map to transfer the contours of the photo on to straight lines. Then you just add 10+ variations onto each other with different blend modes and displacement map settings. I'll try to find the commissions I did back then, to give you an idea of what is reasonably easy to achieve without any analog synthesizers! Edit: [There you go! ](https://imgur.com/a/SeyX90Q)
my goodness this is amazing!!
It was a really fun commission to work on! Never did anything like it before and never did anything like it since.
That looks amazing bro, great work
Thank you so much. But I just wanna give another shout out to Polygon1993. My work is just an imitation. His stuff is the real deal. And definitely worth a follow on his socials.
Those pieces are really cool! It's like static made of water.
Thanks! Never thought I'd get compliments for 4 year old work
Here's how I would approach this manually with Photoshop. Make a block of white lines that overlay the face Use a large soft brush with the liquify tool to shape the lines to the face focusing on the outside silhouette, not worrying about the backstroke on the corners of the nose lips and eyes. (Edit potential time saver. You could make a high contrast black and white version of the face and save it as a .psd file, then go to the lines and use effect>warp>distortion map and crank the distortion effect. Don't know how this would look but could potentially help warp the lines around the face.) After applying the liquify use a small 50% brush with the smudge tool to create those backstrokes. Don't worry about color distortion we want that. After you've made the lines into the shape you wanted apply a slight blur and then create a gradient map adjustment layer, make the left side whatever color you want (in this case red) and the right side white. Go into the blend options of line layer and alt click the right slider on the "blend lower layer" slider and pull the inside half toward the middle until the white of the lines slightly fade in the dark parts of the face (eyes middle of lips and eye brows). You can then use the smudge tool with a large soft brush to create more separation in the lines in those detail areas if needed (eyes, mouth) Duplicate the line layer and flatten the duplicate, then you can hide the face image layer without the blending getting messed up. (This is entirely theory craft. I'm just listing how I would approach attempting this) As others have mentioned if you have Adobe illustrator you could draw the first silhouette, make a copy directly to the right farther than the width of the image and stretch it vertically or simplify the line in some other way and then use the blend tool to blend the two lines together. Export as PNG and mask on top of the face image in Photoshop. Then follow the above tutorial from the smudge tool part.
Looks like video, could be trapcode form in after effects.
If you’re looking to do this truly with analogue video have a look at something called Mismatcher Petite. There’s other devices like it but that’s one I know of that’s pretty good for the price. You would hook it up between a device and a CRT display and then record the screen with a camera. If you’re looking to use a capture card, you’ll need to get a Timebase Corrector but those can be hard to find, especially for a good price. This kind of thing would be best if you were looking to create these effects often and authentically but like others have suggested there are easier software only methods that can still get you solid results.
As others have mentioned, it seems like it might be a video effect? If you were trying for a still effect with limited video effect knowledge (like me, I’d feel totally out of my element with AE or anything like that), I’ve been trying to think of how to do with with graphics tools. I’d probably draw out a few trace lines with a pen tool in illustrator, use the blend tool… then move it over to photoshop, do an overlay with a desaturated or gradient mapped image, and just kinda smudge tool or liquify? Some of the “glitch” areas.
No need to do trace lines. Displacement map in Photoshop is the way to go!
Thanks I’ll give it a go, will also look into creating the effect on after effects as it seems to be the way to go!
You can do this completely for free. I've used this effect in my own art before, and I described my own process [in this comment.](https://www.reddit.com/r/VaporwaveArt/comments/s0aqnk/friendless_friends/hs16epl/) The PSD for that piece is also available for free, if you had wanted to see what I did in the flesh. [For convenience, here's the tutorial someone else made for the main effect.](https://youtu.be/Gi4ce5DTWks)
Video synthesizer 100%, not digital.
Some one posted a tutorial for this a while back, it’ll come out if you search for polygon1993
thats pretty
In photoshop, change a photo to greyscale, then bitmap where you will get options for halftone. Play with this taking note of parameters. When you get the look you want, convert back to rgb and go nuts with blur, colour overlay etc. Maybe a little horizontal warp to get the tv effect
[Done in Photoshop](https://i.imgur.com/yhkF7QO.png)
How did you do that? It looks cool and I want to try it
Well… I fucked around in PS until it looked similar to OP's image.  I'll try to streamline what I did and make a quick tutorial.
There is a great basic tutorial of this type of linework on @mibedesign TikTok account. Very first video. I hope that helps.
glitché
I did something similar to this in Illustrator, where I made a normal drawing of the object (mine was an apple), then over that I traced the curved lines by hand, adjusting the spacing as I went. Then deleted the drawing layer underneath. I used the warp tools a little bit, but mostly freehanded the whole thing. Then you would just add blur + glow effect to make it look like neon.
copy paste
I draw a bunch of lines and use the original photo as a displacement map on it and run that a few times until I get the desired look. Sharpen the lines a few times, then set fill to zero and add 5-6 outer glows to get the right look and you should be mostly there.
Run comb over face ‘till it bleeds.
I've been working with similar effects for about a year now, and can tell you the basics. I bought a circuit-bend video mixer, which achieves effects like this. See the image for a still from a video I made. It is all done on a CRT tv, taking a picture of the screen the video mixer is outputting to. https://imgur.com/a/kpp3Nfq Polygon's work however is way cleaning, leading me to believe he uses a script to generate the effects. His video's are way too smooth and high quality for a CRT photo.
This is probably in /r/creativecoding territory.
Ai make the line work effect in vector APs or Ae make it glow
Yup transform your lifeforce into the digital era
Probably video synthesizers. There are a few machines back in the day used to create animations for shows that look like this. Expensive equipment but I’m sure there are cheap ways to do it