The look
- Two opposed colored key lights, typically magenta and cyan.
- Deep blue or near black shadows with almost no neutral gray.
- Thin glowing lines and rim light along the jaw and shoulder.
- A dark background carrying out of focus sign lights.
- Wet, reflective surfaces catching color.
Where it comes from
Cyberpunk began as a science fiction subgenre. Britannica traces the term to a 1982 story title and defines the genre by countercultural figures inside a dehumanized high technology future. Its visual identity arrived with the films and comics that followed, built out of night cities, dense signage and saturated artificial light, and the BFI's survey of Japanese cyberpunk notes that foundational works of the genre drew heavily on Japan and its urban landscapes for inspiration. The portrait version borrows the lighting rather than the plot: colored sources from two sides and no daylight anywhere.
What it suits
- A striking gaming or streaming avatar
- Music and club event artwork
- Dark mode profile pictures
- Poster prints for a desk setup
How to shoot for it
- Shoot at night or in a dark room; the style replaces your lighting entirely.
- A three quarter head turn gives the two colored lights somewhere to separate.
- Dark clothing keeps the rim light as the brightest edge in the frame.
- Avoid bright daylight backgrounds, which fight the neon palette.
This look is not in Toonsta today. It is described here so you can recognize it; the closest Toonsta styles are listed below.
Related styles
- 3D cartoon avatar: A 3D cartoon avatar rebuilds your face as a smooth sculpted character lit like a studio render.
- Pixel art filter: A pixel art filter rebuilds your photo on a coarse grid, a few hundred squares across at most, using a deliberately small palette.
- Anime style filter: An anime style filter redraws your photo as a cel painted frame.