Dad Uses AI to Turn His 5-Year-Old’s Drawings Into Stunningly Realistic Creatures
What started as a game has become a family ritual filled with tenderness and creativity. A father, known on Reddit as RudeAndReckless, came up with the original idea of using ChatGPT and AI image generation to transform his 5-year-old son’s quirky drawings into stunningly realistic creatures. The result? A surprising blend of childlike imagination and cutting-edge technology that quickly went viral.
It all started out of simple curiosity. The father used a very specific AI prompt to faithfully transcribe his son’s drawings in a realistic or 3D style, without smoothing out any imperfections, and then shared them on Reddit.
A child’s imaginations, brought to life like never before
The idea was to remain faithful to the proportions, irregular features, and spontaneous details of the original drawing while giving them the appearance of a very real creature—with skin, scale, or metal textures, natural lighting, and a suitable background. The result? The visuals are stunning—sometimes funny, sometimes unsettling, but always deeply moving.
A shared passion that goes viral
Very quickly, this game turned into a daily moment of exchange between the father and his son, who drew new creatures every day at school, eager to see them “come to life” at home. Even the three-year-old sister started participating, laughing with them at the results.
The post shared on Reddit sparked massive interest. Between wonder, humor, and nostalgia, many Internet users praised the idea, some going so far as to say that these creations deserved to be featured in a video game or an animated series. One of them joked, “Hurry up and patent this before Pokémon steals it!”
A controversial idea
While the project has received widespread praise, it has also sparked plenty of discussion. Some internet users have wondered: might AI stifle children’s creativity by replacing their drawings with an “idealized” version? Others, on the contrary, see it as a modern and inspiring way to encourage imagination, enhancing the original drawing without altering it.
Despite some criticism of the growing use of AI, the majority agree that if it stimulates creativity and the parent-child bond, then it is successful.
