The best adults are experts at feigning excitement over a toddler’s drawings. Kind, loving grown-ups know how to make a big deal about a tyke’s art so that children think they’ve made something genuinely good. Objectively, though, most drawings from youngsters are terrible. They hardly ever look like the thing they were trying to draw. A dog can look a lot like a spider. Or a garbage truck. Or a supernova. But while putting those adorable little attempts up on the fridge is nice, one dad has turned kids art into something unique we don’t have to pretend to enjoy. He reimagines those inane drawings into hilarious, surreal photos that show what they would “really” look like.
Tom Curtis
Tom Curtis has turned funny drawings by kids into his own incredible art form (which we saw at Laughing Squid). It all started with his own children. They’d draw something like an animal, person, or automobile in the way only a small child can—poorly but with a lot of enthusiasm. Then he’d take those drawings and show what they would look like if they were “real.” The results range anywhere from truly terrifying to absolutely hysterical. And frequently they are both.
Tom Curtis
In 2017 Curtis’s work was turned into a book, Things I Have Drawn at the Zoo. But with his sons getting older (and we imagine better at drawing), he has needed to find new inspirations, because the world needs as many wide-mouthed, Picasso-esque animals in can get.
Tom Curtis
He’s done that by taking submissions from other kids. Fortunately for all of us and these fantastic “real” photos, kids will never stop being bad at drawing.
You can see more of Curtis’s hilarious work at his official Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook pages. But really they should also be up on refrigerators everywhere, replacing all those terrible drawings we have to pretend to love.
Featured Image: Tom Curtis