Photoshop can create all kinds of magic. While everyone usually slams the photo editing software for helping people create a false sense of perfection, it also makes a lot of really cool stuff possible. Artists have utilized it to make many kinds of digital art.
Dutch artist Ard Gelinck is using it to mimic time traveling. He takes present-day photos of celebrities and Photoshops them with their younger selves, an extreme take on the recent 10-year challenge that swept the internet.
The pictures have proven to be very powerful. With some celebrities, it's fascinating to see how their styles have evolved. With others, it's a bittersweet testament to how time has passed. They can also be very emotional in the cases of celebrities who have passed away.
The combination of nostalgia and surprise that the photos evoke has made them very popular. Ard has over 100,000 followers admiring his timeline-bending artwork on Instagram.
The 10-year challenge recently had people seeing how time has treated them by comparing a photo of themselves in the present-day to one from 10 years ago. One artist has taken those kinds of comparisons and brought them to the next level with his favorite celebrities.
Ard Gelinck is an artist from the Netherlands. He's been creating these photos of celebrities and their past selves for years, but they've recently really taken off. It almost feels like the photos create the illusion of time travel.
For some celebrities, it's remarkable how time has barely changed them. Tom Cruise seems to have barely aged from his Risky Business days in the early '80s to today, save for a sparse few lines on his face.
With other celebrities, signs of physical aging are there. Even through a photo, though, you can tell that their spirit hasn't aged a day. Take Bruce Springsteen, for example. The Boss may look a little different, but he's still a rock star at heart.
Jennifer Aniston is pictured next to a photo of herself in the early Friends days. It's awesome to see how naturally and subtly she's aged, and yet she still looks totally fantastic. While in some ways she's come a long way from Rachel Green, in others she hasn't.
While the photos can produce good nostalgia, some of them are very bittersweet. There are quite a few child stars with their adult counterparts, and it's touching to see how they've grown.
It can also be really emotional to see celebrities who have passed away with their younger selves, knowing that they're frozen in time in the last photo. The photo of Robin Williams tugged at the heartstrings of many.
The photo of Amy Winehouse is another popular yet heart-wrenching creation. The soulful singer has been gone for eight years, but we will always remember her as she was.
A lot of the photos are more lighthearted. In celebration of the Jonas Brothers' first tour in six years, Ard posted a photo of the brothers with their Year 3000 era counterparts, and my, how they've grown.
With some of these photos, we can't help but wonder what the celebrities would say to their past selves. Imagine the wisdom that Will Smith could impart on his Fresh Prince counterpart from the early '90s.
It's only been three years, but do you think that Millie Bobby Brown could have ever known how big her career would get? Time is a funny thing.
We can't even begin to imagine what a conversation between the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's Full House selves and the super-chic fashion moguls they are today would be like. So much has changed, but some twinkle of their younger selves is still there.
Ard is truly capturing something special in these Photoshopped pictures. It's about more than aging and the passage of time. It's more about the evolution of a person and recognizing where you're coming from and where you've been.
Ard's photos may not have started off as such a statement, but they've taken on a life of their own. Whether it's celebrating someone's look or their lifetime of achievements, sometimes it's good to take a moment and look back.
