Chromatek is our brand-new retro color system for Affinity Photo — and using it is almost too easy. So easy, in fact, that writing “instructions” feels like a bit of a joke. Step one: drop your photo in. Step two: watch it self-destruct into glorious pulp-print chaos. That’s it. No sliders, no secret rituals, no late-night prayers to the CMYK gods. Just instant neon tabloid grime, ready for your next zine, poster, or mutant wrestling flyer.
But hey — if you’d rather have a more step-by-step guide, you’re in the right place. Let’s dive in!
Open any template in Affinity Photo. In this case I’m using Chromatek A.
TIP: Save a copy of this template so you won’t overwrite your original file in case you need to go back to the default settings.
Double-click the bottom layer (helpfully named <— DOUBLE-CLICK).
A new window will pop open — just drag or place your image inside. When you’re done, close the window. No need to save the embedded document; Chromatek will update automatically.
Watch it instantly transform into retro pulp chaos.
Chromatek doesn’t believe in one-size-fits-all chaos. That’s why you get three flavors of retro mayhem right out of the box — each with its own quirks and attitude:
Chromatek A (Mild) → A gentle nudge into pulp land. Subtle off-register CMYK separation with just enough grit to make your photos look like they came from a bargain-bin magazine. Perfect if you want the retro vibe without completely wrecking the original.
Chromatek B (Wild) → This is the full meltdown. Expect loud halftones, screaming neon shifts, and a glorious tabloid mess. If you want your work to look like it was printed on bad paper at 2 a.m. in 1984, this is your template.
Chromatek C (In-Between) → Not too clean, not too trashed. Balanced separation with controlled chaos — a sweet spot between Mild and Wild. Great for when you want the pulp-print vibe but still need the image to read clearly.
With these three templates, you can decide how far down the rabbit hole you want to go — from retro-cool accurate to print-shop meltdown artistic.
Each Chromatek template already comes loaded with its own seamless paper base — so you’ll get that baked-in retro print vibe right away. But if you want to push things further, that’s where the extra crumpled paper scans come in. Think of them as the bonus grit, wrinkles, and scars that give your work even more personality.
Just drop one of the crumpled textures on top of your image, scale it to fit, and start blending:
Tweak the opacity until it feels right, stack multiple papers if you’re feeling chaotic, and boom — you’ve gone from “retro” to authentically battered.
Chromatek takes your clean cut-outs and fuses them into raw, gritty pulp layouts in seconds. It smears them with off-register color, drenches them in halftones, and stamps them with the kind of dirt only a photocopier from 1983 could love. The result? Digital collages that look less “assembled on a screen” and more “ripped from the wall of a grimy punk club.”
Here’s a quick breakdown of the Chromatek layer structure so you know what each group does — and where you can poke around to bend it to your will:
Pro Tip: Want to change the size of your artwork? Use Affinity Photo’s Resize Canvas option. Go to Top Menu > Document > Resize Canvas… and set the dimensions you need. The original paper texture and analog grain will automatically adapt to your new canvas size, so you can resize freely without breaking the Chromatek look.
Don’t just drop in an image and call it a day. Open up the groups, play with opacity, and experiment with different blend modes to see how the colors and textures react. The more you tweak, the more unique your results will feel — from subtle wear to full-blown meltdown.
Pro tip: Always duplicate your template before experimenting. That way you’ll have a clean copy ready to go whenever you want to start fresh.
That’s all you need to get rolling with Chromatek. The real magic, though, starts when you begin experimenting — stacking textures, mixing templates, and pushing blend modes until your images look like they’ve lived three lives on a sleazy magazine rack. Don’t be afraid to break things, bend things, and have fun. Chromatek was built for chaos, so the wilder you get, the better it looks.
