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Amazing Rick and Morty green-screen tattoo pops with moving images

Step into another dimension as a super creative Rick and Morty tattoo gets video effects.

Amanda Kooser
Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.
Amanda Kooser
2 min read

You don't have to be a Rick and Morty fan to have your mind blown over a tattoo that can turn into a portal of moving action shots from the animated Cartoon Network show. 

The tattoo shows mad scientist Rick and his grandson Morty staring into an open portal with "It's called a green screen Morty" written beneath it. 

When you view the art in real life, the portal is the bright color of a green screen. A video shared online shows the opening sequence from the show superimposed over the portal area. It was generated using a green-screen app.

The tattoo comes from the Instagram account of artist Lee Rowlett with Mama Tried Tattoo Parlour in Louisville, Kentucky. Rowlett originally posted just the video version and then later added a look at the pre-visual-effects green screen without the moving images.

Rowlett says the body art took less than two hours to apply and was his first green-screen tattoo. Now that the tattoo is spreading around the internet, Rowlett has already booked two more green-screen tattoo appointments and says "requests are flooding in."

The adventurous recipient of the tattoo is photographer and Rick and Morty fan Wayne Krauth, who had it inked on his leg. Krauth tells me he'd planned to put all his favorite cartoon and anime shows on his left leg, and that Rowlett had the idea for the green screen. "What better than the portal from Rick and Morty. It just made perfect sense," Krauth says.

The Rick and Morty tattoo is another example of how tattooists are creating clever body art with tech components. The augmented-reality app Skin Motion, released earlier this year, turns tattooed sound waves into actual audio you can listen to with your phone. 

The portal-themed tattoo caught the eye of the show, which shared it on its Facebook page and on Twitter with the message "Green screen technology at its finest."

The beauty of the green screen is that you could superimpose just about anything you want. It will never get old. Perhaps we can talk Queen Elizabeth into getting a tattoo like this. She's already the queen of green screens.

First published, Aug. 7, 11:24 a.m. PT.
Update, 2:49 p.m. PT: Adds comment from the artist. 

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