Change beyond recognition Lucas Levitan and his noble “stealing” on the Internet
© Lucas Levitan
A Brazilian artist living in Spain is engaged in “stealing” photographs on the Internet, giving them a completely new story and taking this into account in children.
— You are very famous in the Internet. Your project, where you add personages to photos from Instagram, it became very popular. How did you get this idea?
— The addition of photographs with illustrations is a combination of my two hobbies: photography and illustration. I started with adding personages my own photos, but after a while I thought that it would be interesting to add photos of friends and other photographers. This is another way to see photo, always look for additional meaning besides the one that the photographer has already created. For me, this is a game.
© Lucas Levitan
© Lucas Levitan
© Lucas Levitan
© Lucas Levitan
— How did you designed the look of your personages?
— They evolved over time. This is a style that I like and I try to improve it constantly.
— With what criterias do you select photo from Instagram, and then add personages?
— I travel on Instagram, including fantasy. For me, it does not matter the professionalism of the photographer or the fame of the gallery. For me it is important that the photo awakened my imagination. I create collaborations with other authors, “stealing” their images. I use the word “steal” because it gives a better understanding of the process, and also creates an element of surprise. I never ask permission to take this or that photo.
I was lucky, I never received complaints from authors whose photos I used. On the contrary, some of them have become my friends, they are amazing professionals. I hope they all see it as a “noble kind of robbery”.
© Lucas Levitan
© Lucas Levitan
© Lucas Levitan
— How long do you need to create one picture?
— It depends on the number of illustrations that I embed and the original photo.
— Do you have any generate revenue with this project?
— Yes. I get money from brands that want me to add their images on Instagram. Quite often I paint something for newspapers and magazines.
— What kind of programs and devises do you use for painting and why you chose these?
— I use Photoshop on my laptop and Procreate on my iPad. For animation I use ToomBoom in 2D and Premiere for editing videos.
© Lucas Levitan
© Lucas Levitan
© Lucas Levitan
— From your personal site we find out that you make advertisement. Tell us about this.
— Quite long time I work as creative director in advertising and graphic design. Advertising still takes up most of my life, but I'm trying to spend more time on my own projects.
— Please, tell us about the biggest project in making advertisement and how it was created.
— One of the most interesting project was for Snickers company. We invited football fans to break the record for the longest football match in history. It lasted 42 hours and 5 minutes. We hit the Guinness Book of Records! It was a very fun project.
— Workshops for children. What you do and how it are they going?
— At these workshops, we are trying to see new stories in the already created photographs with children. I am always inspired by the creativity of children. And it also makes me feel sad when I watch adults loose this potential over the years. Usually I learn from children more than they learn from me.
© Lucas Levitan
© Lucas Levitan
© Lucas Levitan
— Have you ever been to Ukraine? Would you like to make some exhibitions here?
— I have never been to Ukraine, but I would like to show my works in this country. Please find interesting gallery and invite me! It would be great.
© Lucas Levitan
© Lucas Levitan
© Lucas Levitan
— What do you advise to watch, read for young artists or people who want to develop creativity?
— These are books, and first that started to occur: 'Deep Work' by Carl Newark, 'When Nietzsche Wept' by Irvin D. Yalom, 'On the shortness of life' by Seneca.