Retro Prints 2: 12 Photo Styles and Their Prompts
Explore graphic portraits influenced by printed color, visible grain and deliberately reduced shading. The examples vary in palette, edge treatment and the way printed texture is distributed.
Make your look in Vidream
- Open Cartoon and choose Retro Prints 2.
- Browse the examples below and select the filter with the matching name.
- Upload a clear photo with the face and main subject fully visible.
- Generate your image, then check the face, hands, outfit and background before saving it.
Choose your photo: Photos with strong silhouettes, distinct clothing colors and a composition that remains readable when simplified.
How to use the prompts
Each prompt below is a self-contained recipe for one uploaded photo plus written style instructions. Use it in an image-editing tool that accepts a photo and a text prompt. No second style image is needed. In Vidream, choosing the named filter uses its preset treatment.
The gallery shows the current Vidream filter examples in a 3:4 display crop. The written recipes describe those looks; a new generation can vary in fine detail and likeness.
All 12 looks
1. Showa Retro Girl Illustration
Look for: Faded mid-century picture-book printing, warm red, grass green and cream, large dark graphic eyes, fine short outlines and aged paper grain.
Copy this prompt:
Restyle the uploaded photo using this visual treatment: Faded mid-century picture-book printing, warm red, grass green and cream, large dark graphic eyes, fine short outlines and aged paper grain.
Keep the original people, facial identity, age, skin-tone relationships, hairstyle, pose, clothing, objects and setting. Translate the same facial features into this treatment while retaining their proportions and emotional intent. If the photo has no people, apply the treatment to its existing scene and objects.
Apply the described look consistently across the subject and background. Preserve the main spatial relationships and keep the face and important details fully visible in a single 3:4 vertical composition. Do not add people, props, text, logos, watermarks or panels.
2. Chinese Retro Lianhuanhua
Look for: Vintage serial-comic printing, fine black lines on warm yellow paper with muted green-red overprints, small gentle facial details and fine paper grain.
Copy this prompt:
Restyle the uploaded photo using this visual treatment: Vintage serial-comic printing, fine black lines on warm yellow paper with muted green-red overprints, small gentle facial details and fine paper grain.
Keep the original people, facial identity, age, skin-tone relationships, hairstyle, pose, clothing, objects and setting. Translate the same facial features into this treatment while retaining their proportions and emotional intent. If the photo has no people, apply the treatment to its existing scene and objects.
Apply the described look consistently across the subject and background. Preserve the main spatial relationships and keep the face and important details fully visible in a single 3:4 vertical composition. Do not add people, props, text, logos, watermarks or panels.
3. Cantonese Dim-Sum Guochao
Look for: Vintage commercial illustration, red-green and warm gold flat color with fine black lines, cheerful round graphic eyes, ink-paper texture and clear decorative color shapes.
Copy this prompt:
Restyle the uploaded photo using this visual treatment: Vintage commercial illustration, red-green and warm gold flat color with fine black lines, cheerful round graphic eyes, ink-paper texture and clear decorative color shapes.
Keep the original people, facial identity, age, skin-tone relationships, hairstyle, pose, clothing, objects and setting. Translate the same facial features into this treatment while retaining their proportions and emotional intent. If the photo has no people, apply the treatment to its existing scene and objects.
Apply the described look consistently across the subject and background. Preserve the main spatial relationships and keep the face and important details fully visible in a single 3:4 vertical composition. Do not add people, props, text, logos, watermarks or panels.
4. Shanghai Calendar-Poster Retro
Look for: Vintage calendar-advertisement painting, warm cream and faded red-green, soft semi-realistic facial modeling, fine eye detail and aged printing grain; use its rendering, not its depicted ethnicity.
Copy this prompt:
Restyle the uploaded photo using this visual treatment: Vintage calendar-advertisement painting, warm cream and faded red-green, soft semi-realistic facial modeling, fine eye detail and aged printing grain; use its rendering, not its depicted ethnicity.
Keep the original people, facial identity, age, skin-tone relationships, hairstyle, pose, clothing, objects and setting. Translate the same facial features into this treatment while retaining their proportions and emotional intent. If the photo has no people, apply the treatment to its existing scene and objects.
Apply the described look consistently across the subject and background. Preserve the main spatial relationships and keep the face and important details fully visible in a single 3:4 vertical composition. Do not add people, props, text, logos, watermarks or panels.
5. Republic-Era Advertising Redesign
Look for: Finely painted vintage calendar illustration, cream and pale teal-green, extremely fine contours, soft facial light-dark modeling, faint aged paper and diffuse light.
Copy this prompt:
Restyle the uploaded photo using this visual treatment: Finely painted vintage calendar illustration, cream and pale teal-green, extremely fine contours, soft facial light-dark modeling, faint aged paper and diffuse light.
Keep the original people, facial identity, age, skin-tone relationships, hairstyle, pose, clothing, objects and setting. Translate the same facial features into this treatment while retaining their proportions and emotional intent. If the photo has no people, apply the treatment to its existing scene and objects.
Apply the described look consistently across the subject and background. Preserve the main spatial relationships and keep the face and important details fully visible in a single 3:4 vertical composition. Do not add people, props, text, logos, watermarks or panels.
6. Red-Blue Riso Guochao
Look for: Red-and-blue two-color risograph, warm white paper, coarse ink grain, rounded expressive facial marks, slight registration offsets and transparent ink overlap.
Copy this prompt:
Restyle the uploaded photo using this visual treatment: Red-and-blue two-color risograph, warm white paper, coarse ink grain, rounded expressive facial marks, slight registration offsets and transparent ink overlap.
Keep the original people, facial identity, age, skin-tone relationships, hairstyle, pose, clothing, objects and setting. Translate the same facial features into this treatment while retaining their proportions and emotional intent. If the photo has no people, apply the treatment to its existing scene and objects.
Apply the described look consistently across the subject and background. Preserve the main spatial relationships and keep the face and important details fully visible in a single 3:4 vertical composition. Do not add people, props, text, logos, watermarks or panels.
7. Mid-century Deadpan Ink Mascot
Look for: Vintage thick-outline cartoon printing, limited cream, green and rusty red, long oval graphic eyes and a simple mouth, aged ink grain.
Copy this prompt:
Restyle the uploaded photo using this visual treatment: Vintage thick-outline cartoon printing, limited cream, green and rusty red, long oval graphic eyes and a simple mouth, aged ink grain.
Keep the original people, facial identity, age, skin-tone relationships, hairstyle, pose, clothing, objects and setting. Translate the same facial features into this treatment while retaining their proportions and emotional intent. If the photo has no people, apply the treatment to its existing scene and objects.
Apply the described look consistently across the subject and background. Preserve the main spatial relationships and keep the face and important details fully visible in a single 3:4 vertical composition. Do not add people, props, text, logos, watermarks or panels.
8. Eastern Aesthetic Commercial Illustration
Look for: Vintage decorative commercial flat printing, red, teal-green and cream with sparse aged gold, flowing fine contours and faded granular paper ink; no borrowed cultural objects or facial identity.
Copy this prompt:
Restyle the uploaded photo using this visual treatment: Vintage decorative commercial flat printing, red, teal-green and cream with sparse aged gold, flowing fine contours and faded granular paper ink; no borrowed cultural objects or facial identity.
Keep the original people, facial identity, age, skin-tone relationships, hairstyle, pose, clothing, objects and setting. Translate the same facial features into this treatment while retaining their proportions and emotional intent. If the photo has no people, apply the treatment to its existing scene and objects.
Apply the described look consistently across the subject and background. Preserve the main spatial relationships and keep the face and important details fully visible in a single 3:4 vertical composition. Do not add people, props, text, logos, watermarks or panels.
9. Retro Pop Illustration
Look for: Vintage black-ink flat illustration with teal-green and orange on cream, coarse ink grain, large graphic eyes and slightly irregular print registration.
Copy this prompt:
Restyle the uploaded photo using this visual treatment: Vintage black-ink flat illustration with teal-green and orange on cream, coarse ink grain, large graphic eyes and slightly irregular print registration.
Keep the original people, facial identity, age, skin-tone relationships, hairstyle, pose, clothing, objects and setting. Translate the same facial features into this treatment while retaining their proportions and emotional intent. If the photo has no people, apply the treatment to its existing scene and objects.
Apply the described look consistently across the subject and background. Preserve the main spatial relationships and keep the face and important details fully visible in a single 3:4 vertical composition. Do not add people, props, text, logos, watermarks or panels.
10. Quirky 60s-70s Retro Storybook Illustration
Look for: Mid-century folk-art flat printing, limited yellow-orange-green-brown inks, long parallel texture lines, dot eyes, rough pigment grain and decorative color planes.
Copy this prompt:
Restyle the uploaded photo using this visual treatment: Mid-century folk-art flat printing, limited yellow-orange-green-brown inks, long parallel texture lines, dot eyes, rough pigment grain and decorative color planes.
Keep the original people, facial identity, age, skin-tone relationships, hairstyle, pose, clothing, objects and setting. Translate the same facial features into this treatment while retaining their proportions and emotional intent. If the photo has no people, apply the treatment to its existing scene and objects.
Apply the described look consistently across the subject and background. Preserve the main spatial relationships and keep the face and important details fully visible in a single 3:4 vertical composition. Do not add people, props, text, logos, watermarks or panels.
11. New Chinese Gongbi & Shanghai Vintage Fantasy
Look for: Meticulous vintage calendar painting, warm brown paper and teal-green and rusty red mineral color, fine contours, soft semi-realistic facial planes and matte aged printing grain.
Copy this prompt:
Restyle the uploaded photo using this visual treatment: Meticulous vintage calendar painting, warm brown paper and teal-green and rusty red mineral color, fine contours, soft semi-realistic facial planes and matte aged printing grain.
Keep the original people, facial identity, age, skin-tone relationships, hairstyle, pose, clothing, objects and setting. Translate the same facial features into this treatment while retaining their proportions and emotional intent. If the photo has no people, apply the treatment to its existing scene and objects.
Apply the described look consistently across the subject and background. Preserve the main spatial relationships and keep the face and important details fully visible in a single 3:4 vertical composition. Do not add people, props, text, logos, watermarks or panels.
12. Chinese Ink Travelogue & Woodblock Collage
Look for: Woodcut-ink collage texture, warm yellow paper with gray-blue and rusty red, broken printed edges and fine carved lines, irregular ink registration within the original layout.
Copy this prompt:
Restyle the uploaded photo using this visual treatment: Woodcut-ink collage texture, warm yellow paper with gray-blue and rusty red, broken printed edges and fine carved lines, irregular ink registration within the original layout.
Keep the original people, facial identity, age, skin-tone relationships, hairstyle, pose, clothing, objects and setting. Translate the same facial features into this treatment while retaining their proportions and emotional intent. If the photo has no people, apply the treatment to its existing scene and objects.
Apply the described look consistently across the subject and background. Preserve the main spatial relationships and keep the face and important details fully visible in a single 3:4 vertical composition. Do not add people, props, text, logos, watermarks or panels.
Refine the result
Begin with the palette and edge treatment in the recipe. Add grain lightly enough that the face and main color shapes still read at a small size.
Avoid covering the whole image with the same noise. Printed texture should support the forms rather than obscure them.
Keep the same source photo when comparing recipes. Change one style instruction at a time so you can see what actually changed.