How to make a photocopy effect

Dense toner blacks, greys in scan lines and grey copier paper, from any photo.

4 min read · Updated 2026-10-30

What it is

A photocopy effect makes a photo look as if it went through an office copier, and then through it again. The machine can only print black toner or nothing, so the mid-tones fall away: shadows clog into solid black, highlights burn out to bare paper, and what is left in between breaks up into grit and the faint lines of the scanner. Each new copy of a copy loses a little more detail and picks up more dust, and the paper never comes out quite white.

It is the look of punk flyers, early zines, band posters taped to a lamp post and the fax that arrived half readable. Designers reach for it when a layout feels too polished: it adds urgency and a hand-made, low-budget honesty that clean photography does not have.

Where it is used

You see it on gig and club posters, zine covers, protest and community flyers, streetwear drops and album artwork — anywhere the message should feel loud, local and slightly rebellious. It also works as a texture layer in otherwise clean editorial layouts, where one copied portrait next to crisp type gives the page some grit.

Made in Paletoo with this mix:

A magazine cover: the portrait turns into copier toner while the yellow headline stays clean.

A podcast post: the host’s photo broken into toner grit, the green label and the type untouched.

A festival cover: the crowd photo copied down to toner and grit under a crisp white headline.

How to make it, step by step

Open your design in Paletoo, or start from a template with a strong portrait or a high-contrast object. Photos with a clear subject and a plain background copy best.
Select the photo and open the Effects tab in the right panel. In Mixes, press All to see every mix.

The poster open in Paletoo, the photo selected and the Mixes open in the Effects tab
Press Photocopy. Five steps go on at once and are listed under Applied: Basic turns the photo grey, Torn edges with its Photocopy preset cuts the picture into toner and paper, Grain runs toner grit through the greys, a Texture lays a copier’s lines over the sheet, and Levels sets the copy’s tones — dense blacks, light grey paper.

Photocopy pressed: Basic, Torn edges, Grain, Texture and Levels listed under Applied, the photo turned into toner
Click the Torn edges row to open it. Image balance decides how much of the picture turns to toner; Smoothness rounds or roughens the edge of the cut; Contrast hardens it; Grain, Grain size and Scan lines set the grit a copier leaves in the greys.

The Torn edges step open: its presets and the Image balance, Smoothness, Contrast and Grain controls
Try the presets at the top of the step: Torn is a cleaner ragged cut, Grunge a darker, rougher one with spatter in the shadows. Ink and Paper recolour the toner and the sheet.
When it looks right, press Export. The effect is live, so you can still replace the photo later and the copy follows.

Watch it

The one-click mix

In Paletoo the whole stack is one mix, Photocopy. One click puts every step on the selected object, one undo takes them all off, and each step stays an ordinary effect you can change, reorder or remove.

Its steps: Basic · grey Torn edges · Photocopy Grain Texture · Copier lines Levels

Open this mix in Paletoo

Make it your own

The single most important control is Image balance in the Torn edges step. Lower it and only the darkest shadows print, which gives an airy, overexposed copy; raise it and the subject fills in like a cheap copier on its darkest setting. Set it while looking at the face or the main shape, not the background.

If the copy looks too clean, raise Grain and Scan lines in the same step: the grit gathers in the greys, where real toner breaks up. If the edges look jagged, raise Smoothness; for a harsh, cheap copy, raise Contrast. The Levels step at the bottom decides the final tones — lift its white output for brighter paper, or its black output for faded toner.

For colour, keep the toner black and change the paper instead: set Paper in Torn edges to a warm off-white for old office paper, a pale yellow or pink for a coloured flyer. Put clean, sharp type on top — the contrast between perfect letters and a rough image is what makes the look feel designed rather than broken.