The Nano Banana trend (powered by Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash Image model) has taken over social media. People everywhere are turning selfies, pets, and ordinary photos into shiny, collectible-style 3D figurines with toy packaging, acrylic bases, and detailed realistic touches.

What is Nano Banana — and why people are ready for retro

First, a quick refresher:

• Nano Banana lets users upload photos (of themselves, pets, etc.) or use a prompt to transform them into miniature-figurine style images. The outputs are hyper-realistic, with shiny surfaces, toy-like characteristics, sometimes in packaging or with transparent bases.

• It’s widely popular because it’s simple, free (at least for basic usage), fast, and social-media friendly.

That said, many creators want something more nostalgic—for moods, aesthetics, or personal flair. That’s where retro portraits come in: vintage filters, film grain, faded colors, typography that harks back to earlier decades like the 70s, 80s, 90s, or even older.

How people are using Gemini to generate retro portraits

Here are the main techniques people are using to give AI-generated images a retro look, especially using Gemini:

1. Prompt design with vintage cues
   To get that classic or nostalgic feel, users insert keywords into their prompts: retro, vintage, sepia tones, grainy film texture, old poster style, 1980s vibe, 70s magazine cover, etc. When Gemini sees these cues, it adjusts color tones, shadows, textures to mimic film or print mediums.

2. Stylistic references to decades or media
   People are asking Gemini to mimic aesthetics of particular decades—like “a portrait in 1970s studio lighting,” “80s glam,” “90s pop cover,” or “mid-century modern poster.” Including details like hairstyles, clothing styles, makeup, background elements of those periods helps the AI place the subject convincingly in that era.

3. Texture, color, and lighting tweaks
   Retro images often aren’t sharp, high-gloss like modern digital art. Creators are using prompts that soften contrast, desaturate certain colors or push warm tones (yellows, oranges), introduce film grain, light leaks, sun flares, faded borders, polaroid frames or vignettes. These little imperfections make the AI output feel more authentic.

4. Mixing retro art styles with figurine / packaging elements
   Some are blending the figurine style of Nano Banana (toylike, miniature, packaging, acrylic base) with retro aesthetics. For instance: imagine a 1980s-inspired arcade game box design around your figurine, or a vintage ad poster layout. This fusion creates something both playful and nostalgic.

5. Experimenting with filters & post-production
   Once the initial AI image is generated, creators sometimes run it through additional filters or tools (even outside Gemini) to add film scratches, overlays, or to age the image further: like adding grain, or slightly blurring edges. Even small edits like faded borders or muted tones add big retro impact. (While specific examples for Gemini in this stage are less documented in articles, it’s a common creative step among digital artists.)

Examples & inspirations

• Users have been trying prompts like “young woman sitting at a desk, styled as a 1980s retro poster with warm sepia tones, grainy film texture, vintage aesthetic.” These produce images that feel like vintage ads or movie posters.

• Some creators combine the figurine aesthetic + retro art: using vintage typographic elements, or placing their 3D figurine in a mock ‘80s toy box cover. The packaging mockups help a lot.

• Also popular are decade journeys: people asking “make me look like it’s the 70s/80s/90s” with matching color palettes, outfits, backgrounds.