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2022 and The Rebirth of Cyberpunk Images in Photography

The first thing we envision when cyberpunk images or design is mentioned is dystopian backdrops, skyscrapers, and neon lights. Click to learn more.

What is Cyberpunk?

The first thing we envision when cyberpunk images or design is mentioned is dystopian backdrops, skyscrapers, and neon lights. Even though this is true, there’s still a lot to know, as cyberpunk is way more than that.

Cyberpunk is a rich and diverse culture movement that spans design, film, and fashion, all created from a science fiction sub-genre. A lot of people today describe cyberpunk images as “low life high tech,” which is basically an advanced world that is inhabited by individuals that can’t afford the luxury. Like so many other design trends in the past, cyberpunk photos have flowed and ebbed. However, it has continuously enjoyed a huge resurgence over the past few years.

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The year 2022 plays a key role for cyberpunk. Most Cyberpunk games and novels today are set in our current times. Examples of this include the cyberpunk manga classic Akira in 2019, the classic eighties game Cyberpunk 2020, and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner in 2019. Today, cyberpunk is embedded in different contemporary films, fashion, and design.

Brief History of Cyberpunk

Modern life started after the second world war, and this was accompanied by the use of different electronics. It was easy for people to start looking at the future and also imagine what the world would be like with a lot of inventions, including robotics, which became advanced. This was the main inspiring factor for writers, especially sci-fi artists and writers, and predicting the future was easy. It all started with Philip K Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

There are so many seminal pieces of cyberpunk images over the past decades, and it would be rather impossible to mention them all. However, we will cover a few of this art to give you a detailed idea of its development through time to help us understand the importance of cyberpunk images in photography and contemporary design.

Philip K Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep? -1968

As mentioned earlier, this is the first cyberpunk literature, and it was the main turbo and catalyst that kicked off this sci-fi subgenre.

Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner – 1982

A few years later, Ridley Scott released his masterpiece Blade Runner, but this was also based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Sheep. Ridley’s Blade Runner is gritty and dark, featuring the glittering lights of skyscapes.

William Gibson’s Neuromancer – 1984

This is one of the most popular cyberpunk fiction to be ever written, and it was the brain behind the term “cyberspace.” Neuromancer also played a major role in the 1999 blockbuster The Matrix.

Akira – 1988

Over 30 years after its release, Akira is still a visually impressive and rich cyberpunk fiction. It was originally created by Katsuhiro Otomo but later influenced by different artists, including Wes Anderson and Kanye West.

Snatcher – 1988

This cyberpunk piece was also inspired by Akira, and it’s a graphic adventure game with references from anime, cyberpunk design, and cyberpunk plots.

The Matrix – 1999

As mentioned earlier, Neuromancer was the main influencing factor of the Matrix. The Matrix release was during the time of the Millenium Bug conspiracy, which was a belief among programmers and computer users that computers would seize to work on December 31, 1999.

Mondo 2000 Magazine – 1980s to 1990s

This is a California cyberculture magazine that was published in the 1980s and 1990s. It featured a myriad of cyberpunk topics, including virtual reality, playful typography, 3D design, and more.

Cyberpunk in Contemporary Design

Following the turn of the millennium, the design world started to consider cyberpunk images and cyberpunk designs as rather kitsch. However, the past few years witnessed a huge cyberpunk renaissance, which continues in 2022 as cyberpunk aesthetics is making a significant and relevant comeback.

Evidence of this is following the release of Elon Musk’s Cybertruck, as well as Keanu Reeves’s lead role in Cyberpunk 2077. In addition to these, you’ll notice today that neon green is almost on every design. One thing to note is that as a growing design trend, it does not necessarily need to include conventional tropes like flying cars and urban dystopias. Designers today now use different cyberpunk ideologies like a springboard in influencing their designs.

It also extends to unconventional graphic design layouts as they now feature bold color schemes, and digitally enhanced typography, a blend that gives an idea of what the future brings.

Here’s an overview of a few contemporary artists of our time, with different cyberpunk images and cyberpunk influences:

Michel Clansen

A German graphic designer boldly utilizes different cyberpunk tropes like empathy dystopias and proleptic designs, as explored in the Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep piece. Today, Michel is at the forefront of exploring contemporary cyberpunk designs by using a blend of futurism and 90’s cyberculture in his designs.

Braulio Amado

Known for his digitally enhanced typography, which you can see in almost every graphic design piece today, as well as cyberpunk images.

Hui Yeon Hwang

Another cyberpunk designer utilizes neon a lot, with her focus on the emergence of technologies and how they affect politics, economy, and culture. Her graphic designs have been widely recognized since 2018.

Vinne Art

You might have already seen the stunning illustration of Billie Eilish, which was released by Vinne Art, and this is a cyberpunk image of the superstar.

John Baiatul

Another artist utilizes glitch effects in amazing ways, with the aim of bringing futuristic feeling to different designs and also adding texture and depth to designs.

There are a lot of cyberpunk artists today, and at every slightest turn, you’ll easily see cyberpunk photos everywhere. These are only a few of these cyberpunk designers of our time, with remarkable work and pieces that have left an unforgettable mark.

The Return of Cyberpunk Images in Photography

As mentioned earlier, cyberpunk is a science fiction sub-genre, and it also refers to an urban and futuristic society that is dominated by different advanced technology. A lot has been mentioned about cyberpunk above, and even though it experienced a slight decline over the past few years, with the release of the fourth version of The Matrix movies in 2021, and the Cyberpunk 2077, it’s clear that cyberpunk is back.

At photoAC, we also have different cyberpunk images and cyberpunk photos, most of which are trendy designs for the year 2022. Continue reading to find out more about these designs.

Cyberpunk has come to life today, and the genre has become a lot more relevant today than it was years ago, despite the progress that has been recorded in science and technology. We are currently in a world of widespread crime, social and economic inequalities, rampant pollution, and political unrest. However, the resurgence of cyberpunk is backed by a lot of promises. It is mostly associated with dystopian backdrops, neon lights, and futuristic cityscapes.

We’ll take a closer look at these designs, as well as some of the cyberpunk images you’ll find on photoAC.

Emerging Technologies

A vast majority of the futuristic advancements that were predicted in the 1980s have already been achieved, and this includes artificial intelligence, augmented reality, social media, virtual reality, and even the metaverse, as seen in 2022.

These technologies are rapidly becoming prominent and are now a major part of our daily lives. It is also graced with so many cyberpunk images and designs.

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Glitch Effects

A popular design that you’ll find on photoAC is the ominous visual glitch, and it serves as a representation of the real-life glitches that we experience daily. We live in a world with different simulated realities, as seen in the Matrix movies, and even though this may not be as clear as it may seem, visual glitch effects create a futuristic feel to cyberpunk images, and neon colors that are used also create an underground feel too different cyberpunk designs.

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Pandemic Parallels

The past few years experienced a major pandemic that crippled different activities globally, and the effect is still being experienced in different parts of the world today. The series of events that have occurred over the past few months are vastly and creatively represented in cyberpunk images today, including some of the images you’ll find on photoAC. You’ll also find futuristic structures in these designs, and this may serve as a representation of the cyberpunk world we live in today.

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Digitally Enhanced Typography

Unlike the old tradition, digitally enhanced typography is a lot different from what’s obtainable today. You can see this in the myriad of examples in contemporary designs today, most of with are cyberpunk designs. The designs are rugged, distorted, jagged, textured, grainy, and are not always easy on the eye. However, their bold and edgy appearance is what delivers the cyberpunk appeal. This is also now widely embraced in pop culture, as seen in the Cyberpunk 2077.

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3D Elements

3D elements have been widely used for many years now, and the distinguishing feature of these elements are the futuristic components that they add to different designs. 3D elements have a way of pushing the way we imagine things, as well as our perspective towards different things. It’s not surprising that today these elements are widely embraced in different cyberpunk images and designs.

Even though we don’t currently live in a world where robots are everywhere on the street, and fly cares are not the trend, it’s clear that we are in cyberpunkian times, and 2022 is a year where algorithms play a key role in the way we see things, as well as our every move. The bottom line is that cyberpunk today is more relevant than it ever was, and its resurgence also makes it possible for designers to inspire change, as well as challenge the status quo.

What’s certain is that the impact of cyberpunk in design and photography will continue to grow and expand, and people across different parts of the world will embrace this design even more in the year 2022. You’ll also start to find more cyberpunk images on different websites and platforms in the year 2022 and even in the coming years. Cyberpunk is the next big thing, and its resurgence is evidence of this claim.

Best Place to Get Cyberpunk Images

As mentioned earlier, cyberpunk plays a vital role in our daily lives today, and there are different ways people use these images today. Whether it’s for your website, social media platform, or even for your business. Using these images is a great way to embrace change and move along with technological advancements in different fields.

You might be wondering where you can get these cyberpunk images to use in different ways. While there are different places to find these images, the best place you’ll want to begin with is photoAC. Before now, you may think photoAC is only for regular and conventional images, but that’s not entirely the case.

On photoAC, you’ll find different cyberpunk images, which are a representation of different areas of life and different events. There are currently over 500 Cyberpunk images and free stock photos available on photoAC, with more of these images being uploaded daily. You’ll also find cyberpunk illustrations, free vectors, and cyberpunk free silhouettes on photoAC. What’s more is that these images are available for free download, and you can use them in different ways, depending on your preference.

Whether it’s for a personal project or for a business project, all the cyberpunk photos you need are available for you to download on photoAC.