The Monster Engine is one of those projects that make me love the Internet for its ability to expose amazing creative talent to a worldwide audience. Illustrator Dave DeVries started with a simple question: What would a child’s drawing look like if it were painted realistically? In his own words:
It began at the Jersey Shore in 1998, where my niece Jessica often filled my sketchbook with doodles. While I stared at them, I wondered if color, texture and shading could be applied for a 3D effect. As a painter, I made cartoons look three dimensional every day for the likes of Marvel and DC comics, so why couldn’t I apply those same techniques to a kid’s drawing? That was it… no research, no years of toil, just the curiosity of seeing Jessica’s drawings come to life.
The Monster Engine is the 48-page outcome from that curiosity, and it looks wonderful. He describes the process as follows:
I project a child’s drawing with an opaque projector, faithfully tracing each line. Applying a combination of logic and instinct, I then paint the image as realistically as I can.
Below are some of my favorite illustrations from the project. Be sure to check out the whole gallery.
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So amazing. Think that last one was my favourite.
Really great idea!
- Allie x
Allie UK Blog
One of the most imaginatively best things I’ve seen. Beautifully scary artwork with its own unique cuteness. Would love repro/postcards/Xmas cards of these.
Tim Burton eat your heart out!
Absolutely amazing, never seen anything like this before, agree that would look fab as postcards!
Absolutely amazing, never seen anything like this before, agree that would look fab as postcards!
would love to hear the response from the children when they saw the recreation of their sketch?
As a teacher of young children who understands how a child’s self esteem is intricately connectected to your reactions to his/her art expressions I find this both disturbing and distasteful. I hope the children never saw the results.
I think you underestimate children’s desire for their view of the world to be respected. This project is immensely respectful of their work and imagination, and I think they would see that.
As a teacher, you oughta know that the art children create are that of their own imagination and world. Your comment itself already limits the expression that the children need when they draw things like this. It may be dark, and if that’s the case, change the color scheme. Really simple. Don’t consider yourself an “expert” on what children think and feel.
As a former teacher of young children, I must say that I agree with Lara on this. Children’s drawing ability develops naturally through a series of stages going from scribble through tadpole drawings and onto more realistic representation of what they see. Due to the fact that they are still developing fine motor control, they are not always able to draw what they intend to.
Kids’ drawings are fun to look at and the kids are using their developing skills in order to try to represent what they see or imagine. The fact that they are unable to render a true representation of this is what seems to have led to these slightly sinister paintings. They are not seeing or imagining such sinister things, they just do not yet have the skills needed to show us what they are seeing and imagining.
Yeah, the one with the skeleton on a crucifix was probably meant to be a bunny.
On a crucifix.
I’m guessing that you haven’t really looked into the Monster Engine project at all. The Monster Engine is set up so the kids do drawings of monsters, they have an interview with the Dave DeVries and they explain the concept of their drawing, and then he does the detail. He also works with kids in school rooms, etc. This isn’t him taking advantage, misinterpreting, or anything like that– its all completely aboveboard. I can understand why you might be concerned, but kids drawing Mom, Dad, and their family pet isn’t what this is about– it’s about them taking control over their fear of the monster under the bed.
There’s an interview on The Monster Engine website, themonsterengine.com. The website is a good place to learn more.
I think, again, that you are underestimating children’s imaginations. I think they were imagining monsters… and that’s what we see here. It is not comfortable for adults to see that children have a dark side, but as a kids’ writer who does lots of workshops with kids, I can tell you it’s there.
I think as a teacher you are patronising children. I think they ARE drawing what they see or what they imagine. They are asked to draw a monster, monsters don’t exist therefore what they draw IS a true representation of whats in their heads. All this artist has done is, as you put it used His fine motor control to make the representation more true by putting in colour details. Look at the pic with the child under the 4 armed monster, thats exactly how the child sees it. As for the monster on the cross, just because your pre judged adult brain turns that into a blissful Jesus doesn’t mean the childs brain does.
Mr. DeVries’ intentions are good, I’m sure. But I think a child would feel resentful and upset that a grown-up had appropriated his or her drawing and made it into something “better.”
So, the third one was originally done by Alyson DeVries and the illustrator is Dave DeVries … any connection I wonder?
So I guess all you killjoys actually ASKED the children who drew these pictures? No?
Or are you just making assumptions and being professionally offended on behalf of them?
I’m not being professionally offended – I’m just pointing out that young kids are not necessarily drawing monsters, they’re just not expert artists as yet.
Picasso once said ‘Every Child is born an artist. The problem is to remain one as we grow up.’
It depends on how you look at it. Drawing monsters is not sinister any more in this age. it’s not ‘dark’. it’s not bad. (Watch Monsters Inc., the film)
Assuming those drawings as not being what the children Really meant to draw is in fact wrong. Maybe sometimes they DO mean to draw stuff like that. We mustn’t be so narrow minded and limit the possibilities of what children can and can’t do or more over assume what they do and why. adults can learn more from children than they can from us. for many this idea is hard to believe and that’s because most people remain closed to newer and wider possibilities and ideas. grow up
But read the purpose of the project. These kids were asked to draw a monster. the artist also discussed his version of the drawing WITH each child. And just because the image you see appears to you to not be expert doesn’t mean it isn’t expertly drawn. In art perception is everything.
I would have been really flattered if a real artist had done this with one of my drawings as a child. I was perfectly well aware that my drawings did not look as I intended them to. If this had happened with one of my drawings I would have felt that the adult concerned was taking it seriously – not appropriating it or whatever. Lighten up, people.
Once in my mid-twenties, I wrote a poem and a friend wrote a response to it, which was a much better poem than the one I had written – but it was inspired by my poem, and I was really glad he did it.
Chill. I’d be more concerned if these fragile little children were spending time on the Internet and not playing outside. This site is for adults to have a giggle. Not one thinks their own childhood drawings were any better.
Keep it in perspective. No one is downloading these, finding the children, and laughing at them.
wow fantastic idea, they look amazing!
Rose
ohhh ive just scrolled up and seen that some people have left ridiculous comments..from an illustration/ art point of view this is a great idea, if anything i think it pays homage to the creativity of a child. an adult would probably find it impossible to come up with something so beautifully free and innocent- and an artist has been inspired by this and created something unique.
its just sad when adults generalise children into one big group and assume they will all be ‘upset’ or ‘offended’.. please this is an adult art project, did the artist hold the pictures up to the child’s face and say ‘ha ha ha im better than you!”- of course not! its an experiment in art, get a grip and treat children as individuals not as a group of people who dont know how to think, so you shoul just tell them how they should feel about this.
I loved art as a child and if a guy this talented chose to use my picture as a subject for this collection i would be pleased as punch!
I personally think it’s a fantastic idea. Keep up the awesome work. I’d definately hang this stuff on my wall.
One could look at it as the difference of becoming…
Honestly as a mother I know if one of my daughters pictures was taken and turned into one of these it would break her heart and shatter her dreams… I was drawing a bunny and she decided to draw one too, hers didn’t match up to the level of mine and that greatly upset her. If I try at all to help her she thinks her work is not good enough so I let her be and just encourage her the best I can. If she saw what in her head was supposed to be a bunny turned into a monster she would cry her eyes out and think she was so horrible of an artist that the person who corrected her art couldn’t see that what she was trying to convey. Yes I know this was for fun and a good laugh but I beleive that this is what these teachers are trying to say…
Again, I think you are missing the point. He wasn’t turning bunnies into monsters. The kids were drawing monsters to begin with.
that is because your daughter was trying to be as good as you were in the first place. it’s like giving yourself a task of painting like Da Vinci. unless you’re at that level you are going to end up disappointed in what you produce. simply cause its not going to be like da vinci’s paintings.
you dont have to help her draw.. you have to direct her in the right direction.. teach her different methods to draw starting from the easiest.. even if that doesnt work.. just provide her with nice and proper resources.. tools and books at the same time and she’ll teach herself.. all you will have to do is be supportive.
Good point Dhav. My 13 year old is a brilliant artist and I think he is in part because I never imposed a judgement on his early drawings. I offered what little technique information I had myself and asked him to discuss what he drew with me. He has taught himself many techniques since (The wonder of you tube! )
children should be told not to worry and that as they grow and learn their artwork will get better and better, of course an adult’s picture will be more visually advanced- we’re adults! I used to get really annoyed at my dad- who is an amazing artist- when he drew things better than me, but instead of getting upset and angry, i would just learn from it, and i was a sensitive competitive kid!
Anyone who takes offense to this is being ridiculous, and is probably less emotionally developed than the children whose artworks are shown above.
Someone below entirely missed the point when they touched on the fact that children’s fine motor skills are not as well-developed as adults’. So… what? Who cares? The illustrator obviously isn’t poking fun at the children [cf. Maddox's "i draw better than your kids" (or whatever) page)]. The illustrator was a child at some stage in his life, and I’m sure he knows this.
I would be disturbed if the hypersensitive offended parties below were to teach my children that reinterpreting others’ works is offensive. Are you the same people who vomit when they hear Godowsky’s transmogrifications of Chopin’s etudes, or projectile vomit when a remake of one of your favorite films dare be released in theaters?
Whether or not the child would be pleased with the outcome is solely determined by the nature of the child – a confident child would more than likely take great pride in having something so unique created from their original drawing, whereas a less confident child would perhaps be upset and believe that their drawing was inadequate.
There’s no reason for anybody to suggest that the children would or wouldn’t appreciate this art: It was created for older people to take an interest in, to see what is possible nowadays with the aid of technology. I personally find it fascinating.
What a wonderful project, teasing out a child’s imagination for an adult world. It only compliments not detracts from the originals
I was a kid a long time ago, before CGI. But I know full well that when I was tiny, if someone had said “draw me a monster and we’ll put it through this machine that makes it into one like in the films” I would have been over the moon with pride, excitement and joy. Kids love to feel professional!!
I was just scrolling through the comments and I’ve grown incredibly annoyed by all these people who are claiming this is some sort of tease to all the children who can’t yet draw expressively. It has been made clear that all kids partaking in this activity were aware of the aim of it- and their intentions were to create something sinister, so all this artist was doing was superpowering their creations.
You guys may work with children, but until you show them these amazing pictures, you’re unable to state their opinion for them
Thank you and goodnight
I can understand both arguments towards these works. However I am more biased against the teachers and such. A child’s mind is untainted and innocent. If they are asked to draw a monster and they come up with the devil and a skeleton on a crucifix you have to take it for what it is. No excuses. You can tell a lot from a child’s mind, whether that being their upbringing, things that make them happy and things that scare them. People are missing the point here, what these children create are things that raise questions like “how does this child know about the devil?” and “why depict the crucifixion of ‘Jesus’ in such a brutal way?”. It is a clear incite into
A child’s mind. However I’d be thoroughly interested if the artist asked them to draw what they want. Then you’d get a clearer message.
How wonderful and how validating this is for children. I too have read the comments of the scared adult children above who are still lost in the mist and can only be grateful that my own children have been validated as they are, where they are at, by most of their teachers and most of the “big people” in their lives, rather than having teachers or parents who try to cram them into neat little boxes of “how you’re supposed to be/draw etc”. My little ones would be grinning from ear to ear to see their “monsters” taken seriously and come alive like this.
The children’s drawings are wonderful. What is done with them here is at best mediocre.
I wish I still had them. From pre-school until my late 20s, I kept several dozen fingerpainted masterpieces on recycled paper. Every time I brought one home, my Mom (a non-artist) asked me what the title was and she dated them. I had one called “Disaster” – some sort of pumpkin explosion, as I recall – but the one I remember painting, at that young age – and mentally telling the teacher to stuff it – was “Snowflakes on the Graveyard”. While all the children were painting disorted puppies and kittens missing a limb next to a cyclops brother with dread locs – I had yellow snow sprinkled liberally over brown crosses on blue hills. I also have – still to this day, and snap a photo of it – a mother’s day plate where there is an odd creature that looks like a spider and a centipede had a love child. The teacher didn’t want me putting that on the plate, given the hearts and stars and crap – but Mom paid for the material and told the teacher “Whatever it is, let her put it on there.” I don’t know why I stuck that spider-centipede hybrid on there, perhaps it had to do with family troubles or maybe I was erasing a mistake and put decorative legs on it. The point is – I resented, and still remember to this day – in my 42nd year of life – the damn teacher’s trying to tell ME HOW TO DRAW. I was lucky I had a Mom who backed me up in this regard. So thinking back at that age – if Mr. Devries took my “Snowflakes on the Graveyard” and upgraded it – I’d probably wail to my Mom that I’d want a computer and a digital graphic’s pen so I could recreate it again. Heh. The kid who did “The Good Man” is probably going to be artist – since he or she put some detail into that sketch that some kids at that age tend to overlook. Like texture – I always remembered to put textures on my stick figures and poo poo’d the kids who kept their stick figures in the nude. I think it’s awesome and any child who has a well adjusted PARENT won’t be scarred for life by any conformists trying to make them draw “appropriately”.
Hi everyone,
This is not the type of comments I usually get on this blog, so I’d just like to make a couple of observations:
1. It’s ok to disagree and take different sides of an argument, but it’s not ok to call someone a retard or freak here. It’s just not how I roll. I’m going to delete those comments.
2. To those who are offended by these drawings, I get your point, but as others have pointed out, the artist did these in consultation with the children. I’m sure his purpose is to honor the drawings, not show the kids that they can’t draw. Also check out http://childsownstudio.blogspot.com/ – she takes drawings and turns them into soft toys. A wonderful project.
I’m going to close comments on this entry now due to the hostility. Again, I don’t have a problem with disagreements, I have a problem with being disrespectful to others.
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