I was curious to find out how Ard decides what image to work on. He revealed that current events can influence this. "Sometimes, I react to a news item, a birthday, or day of death and then post an edit of that celeb as an honor or celebration," he shared with Bored Panda.
What's more, the graphic designer gave Bored Panda a sneak peek into his work process and how various stars have reacted to his compositions. Ard told me that, on average, he spends an hour on any particular image. However, that time can decrease or increase depending on the complexity and type of the photos used. Sometimes, the time can drop down to half an hour or rise to two or even three hours. "That depends a lot on the photos. Sometimes it takes me longer to search than to make it."
Ard noted that he makes all of his images with Adobe Photoshop which he learned to use all by himself. "You have to buy that software and just begin and try and practice a lot until, in my case, you have the luck that a lot of people like it," he shared some advice with those of you Pandas who might want to follow in his footsteps.
"I love the reactions from all over the world and see and read how it can make people smile and make them even emotional sometimes," Ard said that he adores how his images affect people. "Also the list of celebs who shared my work is getting longer and longer. The biggest stars like Madonna, Sylvester Stallone, Tom Jones, Michael Douglas, Tina Turner, Rob Lowe, Gary Barlow, Ricky Gervais, and Snoop Dogg have all shared my creations and that also keeps me excited and gives me the energy to keep on doing this."
This isn't the first time that Ard spoke with Bored Panda about his project. “The 'Then and Now' series is quite old when you consider that me and my brother made the first image for it about 10 years ago," Ard told Bored Panda in an earlier interview. After a successful debut in the Netherlands, Ard widened his gaze and set his sights on celebs who are known all around the globe.
"About 5 years ago, I edited pictures for a lot of Dutch celebrities and it was a success, so I then started working with foreign celebrity photos. The first one was Madonna, and she even posted my image on her own Instagram."
You’d be hard-pressed to find a celebrity that Ard hasn’t photoshopped yet. I know that he’s done a few of my favorites already: Keanu Reeves, Matt LeBlanc, Daniel Radcliffe, and others. "When I think about it, the list is quite impressive," the graphic designer said.
When it comes to deciding what kind of pose Ard wants the celebrities to be in, he considers a wide variety of factors. “I'm trying to find one where they're standing next to each other,” he said that he prefers the younger and older selves to be closer together.
According to Ard, his project resonates with so many people because people enjoy getting nostalgic and thinking about the old days when their fave stars were still young.
Earlier, I’d spoken about actors aging gracefully with LA-based celeb expert Mike Sington. He told Bored Panda that celebrities ought to embrace the changes that come with time and should strive to age naturally.
“I’ve said this a million times, and I’ll say it again. The best way to age gracefully is to just age gracefully! Once an actor starts with facial cosmetic work, whether it is surgery or fillers, it physically affects their ability to work as an effective actor. An actor needs natural facial expression, and once that’s altered, it’s almost always noticeable and can actually end a career,” Mike told me.
