The film Scanner Darkly, has not just an engaging storyline, but also great animation. Its unique look is what many viewers enjoyed. But some artists took the next step forward. They attempted to convert the Scanner Darkly dynamic look from the film to a static style of two dimensional portraits. Here is more.
Story line of the film
This is a cult film, based on a futuristic story of a drug epidemic and how an undercover cop in the future gets involved in it and starts losing his identity. The story is based in the year 2013, when America loses its war to drugs and a substance D affects many people across the country. The plot showcases the use of high technology surveillance systems that are created to tackle this drug epidemic.
Unique style of the film
Based on a popular science fiction book, the movie has a unique futuristic style. The characters of the film appear much different and have a distinctive look about them. The new graphic look they have, has been achieved by first filming digitally and then animating the film by using interpolated rotoscope. Tracing was done over the film, frame by frame. The disheveled drug-addict look of Keanu Reeves is cool and was achieved after hours of frame by frame repainting. Other characters of the near future Orange County also appear different.
More about this pop art form
Because popart refers to popular art, proponents of the same made their efforts in translating the look of the film on to canvas. After various structure and colour combinations, a desirable look was achieved. The Scanner Darkly pop art comprises of backgrounds and characters like in the film. Heavy black lines and solid colour shapes are used. Each image is transformed to look like it is a part of the cult film. For this digital photographs are taken and then altered to give the solid colours animated feel. Professional artists finally retouch the photo by hand to give a realistic look.
Suggested printing mediums and gifts
The style looks great not just on canvas, but also on a range of other mediums. Buyers can thus opt to have portraits printed on mugs, t-shirts, bags, clocks, cushions and other items of décor. Natural slate is another great medium to have these portraits on. Pictures done up in this style can be great as corporate or personal gifts. These can enhance the look of corporate décor and are suitable for both indoors and outdoors. The fresh, unusual and appealing elements of this style make it a wonderful piece of contemporary art.
The look of the Scanner Darkly cult film portraits is new and appealing. The portraits appear in a realistic background and the colours are more subtle than loud. Though many online sites today show step by step processes of how to convert photos to scanner darkly art, the results are often not good. To have a good picture, with great finish, opt to work with professional artists who can create perfectly wonderful portraits.
Ronan Le Breton, is passionate about pop art over all things. He has travelled across the world, experimented with various art styles and has been instrumental in bringing them together at Personal-Art, a pop art studio in Bali. Today he works with his team to create high-quality personalized pop art in various disciplines. You can view the website at http://www.personal-art.me.uk/.
