Inspiring Art

The Monster Engine is based on the idea of creating realistic paintings from children’s drawings. All inspired from the idea that sometimes artists just happen to get to one point where their imagination stops. But not children. Children have no filters which allows their minds to go wild. Its truly a great concept and has seemed to go over well with both the adult and children audiences.

The creator Dave DeVries, 33, said the idea came to him while simply watching his niece Jessica doodle. “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?”

I love this idea because when I look at the finished realistic paintings I can still see the underline “kid” in them. Dave has done a good job at not loosing the inspiration behind it. THE MONSTER ENGINE also does workshops at schools where they do a short 30 minute presentation for the kids and take one kid from the class’s drawing and transform it before his or her eyes. “Its great for them because the kids really feel like they are being listened to.” Dave stated. It’s also a good way to show kids how their artwork can advance over time.