French Street Artist Paints 3D Creature Graffiti And It’s Not For The Faint Of Heart

As lockdowns loosen, people start venturing out into the streets. We can once again appreciate fresh air, open spaces, and hopefully, some good graffiti on a wall rather than bad ones.

I know for sure that there’s at least one person that tips the balance of good-and-bad graffiti to the better side. He goes by the street name of SCAF (previously). What’s more, he isn’t a mere vandal: “I love to paint in all of these abandoned places. Above all, I like abandoned houses, manors, castles and factories.” By doing so, he transforms them and adds extra value to them, rather than the opposite.

More: Instagram, Facebook h/t: boredpanda

The French street artist’s trademark is his extremely detailed and realistic style. He portrays all sorts of animals like dinosaurs and snakes, skulls and bones, robots, and other cool stuff. By the time scaf is done, his work looks picture-perfect, as if he glued a print of a photo. Everything is there: details, shadows, highlights, gloss, and flair.

It makes one wonder where he acquired sick skills like that. One would assume that he went to art school, or something similar. It turns out his background is “the school of street,” as he jokingly said in his exclusive interview for Bored Panda. “I did not study art. I started 18 years ago in abandoned factories and the street. It was a school friend who transmitted this passion to me,” he told us.

But wait, there’s more depth to it than that. Literally. His other signature skill is his ability to draw from a perspective to create an in-depth optical illusion where the object seemingly pops out of the wall. I, for one, would die of a heart attack if I saw a dinosaur of his in an abandoned building. His 3D drawings are so lifelike, it makes one forget that dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago.

The artist even kicks it up an extra notch by striking often-hilarious poses that complement and play along with his drawings, making it real Instalicious eye-candy. It enhances the whole experience even more: it’s one thing to take a picture of your work, and another to have fun while doing it. He even dresses up accordingly for them.

Apart from his insane skills, this too must be the reason why his 120k followers on Instagram aren’t just an optical illusion. If you like them, check out his other works on his social media pages above. And if you go for a walk along the streets, make sure you appreciate all of the good works of art that are out there for everyone to see for free.

The artist has also opened up about what his quarantine experience was like: “Quarantine hasn’t changed my daily life much when I’m in my little town in france. Apart from the many staggered trips, I continued to paint alone in my abandoned factories. And if not I worked some painting on canvas, and I drew a lot. I am in my artistic bubble every day.”