This Is What World Leaders Would Look Like As Wes Anderson Characters

A graphic designer has used AI technology to create a series of pictures that imagine political figures in Wes Anderson movies.

Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) software, Owi, who lives in Spain, used Midjourney V5 to create a collection of stand-out images that have gained viral attention.

From former President Barack Obama to French President Emmanuel Macron, the pictures that have gained viral attention on Twitter take well-known global politicians and place them in the unmistakable world of Wes Anderson.

Delving into the cinematic world of Wes Anderson has become popular online in recent weeks as people create their own content inspired by his classic style.

From Fantastic Mr. Fox to The Royal Tenenbaums, Anderson's creative style is characterized with bold color palettes, wide lens shots and symmetrical framing.

Often featuring characters with a flare of quirky and whimsical who are frequently seen wearing vintage fashion, notably from the 1960s and '80s. Playful proportions, eclectic patterns and mixed materials are often used to create a stand-out character whose personality shines through their style.

Owi asked an essential question: What if our politicians were the stars of a Wes Anderson film? And the results are stunning.

The brand and product designer told Newsweek: "I am a big fan of Wes Anderson, especially of the world he creates in his movies. I like it when a director manages to create a visual language that is completely their own.

"The option of placing political figures within this visual ecosystem appealed to me a lot, as it contrasts two completely different worlds—that of politics, serious, formal, with that of Wes Anderson, visual, aesthetic, and lively—was a really nice inspiration to create these pieces."

This isn't the first time politicians have had the AI treatment. Earlier this year, another artist used the same technology to imagine what U.S. presidents would look like with mullets.

Midjourney entered open beta on July 12, 2022. Led by David Holz, the program allows users to create artwork using Discord bot commands.

AI software like Midjourney requires a text prompt from a user, telling the program what to do. For example, a user may type "/imagine cats surfing pink clouds" and Midjourney would begin generating the image.

To create the prompt that would build the images of politicians as Wes Anderson characters, Owi explained that he split the process into three phrases.

"The first phase is to validate the idea, for which I use very simple and quick prompts, where I usually receive simple images with many errors, but where I can see that the idea is working," he explained.

Next, he works through the prompt, adding detail by editing the prompt and adding or removing small words. "The third phase is to take all these images into an editing program and work on the final touch up," he said.

In this process, he fixes any imperfections such as incorrect hands or oversized body parts. This is also where he adds any filters and the typography over the images. "All of this makes the final look more consistent and professional," he explained.

There is plenty of discussion around the potential impact of AI on art from music to photography and the potential threat of AI on jobs, national security and even public trust.

Owi himself believes that his profession will be forever changed by the technology. "The profession of a graphic designer is completely changing thanks to new AI technologies. In the coming years, the designer's capacity will become more creative and narrative and less technical. Our work will consist of ideating, thinking, and conceptualizing creative ideas to bring them to life, leaving AI to perform the technical and visual work," explained the designer.

"This will be quite a challenge, but at the same time, it is motivating to understand design and its adaptation to new artificial intelligence as just another tool within our work that will define the way we can create and define ideas."