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50 Popular Cartoon Characters Reimagined As Modern-Day Adults By Isaiah Stephens
Interview With ArtistHave you ever wondered what some cartoon characters would look like as modern-day adults? Well, not to worry, because an artist by the name of Isaiah K. Stephens decided to start a series where they turn cartoon characters from old shows into modern-day adults.
Many of us must have grown up watching nostalgic cartoons such as Doug, South Park, and Rugrats. The artist Isaiah Stephens drew what some "grown-up" characters would look like and the result speaks for itself.
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Dexter From Dexter's Laboratory
Bored Panda reached out to Isaiah with some questions! First, we wanted to know how the artist got started on the illustrations, and here's what he said, "I’ve been drawing since I was a very young child. Drawing was always my way to escape all the negative things going on in my life and in the world. I always used it as a form of therapy."
Jessie From Pokémon
Dorothy Ann From Magic School Bus
We were also wondering whether the artist was self-taught or studied his craft.
"I’m mostly self-taught. Outside of art classes in high school and college, I haven’t really had any formal training. I did go to school for animation, though. The focus there was more on movement and acting as opposed to creating still images."
Kenny Mccormick From South Park
James From Pokémon
With all of that being said, we were curious how the artist got the idea for the series.
"I’m in this weird stage in my life where nostalgia means more to me now than I think it ever will. I’m officially in my 30s and looking back on my childhood, I can say that was the happiest time of my life and a big part of that is the media that I consumed as a child. All of the cartoons, TV shows, movies, and all those things still mean so much to me because of the people I got to share those experiences with.
My siblings, my family, and my old friends. So these pieces, in a way, were a celebration of those characters that I grew up with and of those shows that help me through some pretty serious times in my life. These pieces were always meant to be fun and a love letter to these shows, movies, and TV shows that I hold so close to my heart."
Keesha Franklin From The Magic School Bus
Don't know her but she looks beautiful and classy. I love that she was not "sexyfied", if you know what I mean
Judith Anastasia "Judy" Funnie From Doug
Drawing is no easy feat so we asked the artist how long it takes him to finish off one artwork.
"I actually can complete these pretty quickly, especially because they base them off of the already established character design. So I’d say each piece takes roughly between 2 to 4 hours."
Following the conversation earlier about the childhood series, we asked Isaiah which of the childhood series was his personal favorite.
"I love all of the pieces that I’ve done through this collection. But if I had to choose ONE favorite, I’d say it was the Rugrats. The Rugrats were always my favorite TV show growing up and I still hold all of those characters near and dear to my heart. So for more reasons than one, the Rugrats are my favorite of the set."
Sam From Totally Spies
Arnold Perlstein From The Magic School Bus
Lastly, we couldn't help but ask if the artist had any plans in the near future for some other series, and here's what he said, "Oh, I have tons of ideas for projects to do. Too many, if I’m being completely honest! I just have to find the motivation and time to complete them all, so stay tuned!"
Gretchen Grundler From The Recess
Kuki Sanban From The Codename: Kids Next Door
Cosmo From The Fairly OddParents
Wanda From The Fairly OddParents
Alex From Totally Spies
Ed, Edd n Eddy
Ash Ketchum From Pokémon
Kanker Sisters From Ed, Edd n Eddy
Numbuh Five From KND Code Module
Number 5 is definitely one of my favorite knd characters. (Same for Kuki
Trixie Tang From The Fairly Oddparents
Brock From Pokémon
Dil Pickles From Rugrats
William Chad From The Fairly OddParents
Chuckie Finster From Rugrats
Clover From Totally Spies
Dijonay Jones From The Proud Family
Angelica Pickles From Rugrats
Kyle Broflovski From South Park
A.j. From The Fairly Oddparents
Misty From Pokémon
Did anyone else find it kinda creepy how they sexualized her in the show? She was ten ffs
Dee Dee From Dexter's Laboratory
Poof From The Fairly Oddparents
Reggie Rocket From The Rocket Power
Ralphie Tennelli From The Magic Bus
Lila Sawyer From Hey Arnold!
Lillian Deville From Rugrats
Philip Tad The Fairly Oddparents
What a High-School-Football-Quarterback-Football-Team-Leader-With-A-Red-Convertible looks like:
Nigel 'Numbuh 1' Uno From The Knd Code Module
Patti Mayonnaise From Doug
Francis From The Fairly Oddparents
Sarah From Ed, Edd n Eddy
Kimi Finster From Rugrats
Helga G. Pataki From The Brum & Bot
Beebe Bluff From Doug
Lillian Deville From Rugrats
Doug Funnie From Doug
Jonny 2x4 From Ed, Edd N Eddy
Carlos Ramon From The Magic School Bus
Macie Lightfoot From As Told By Ginger
Nadine From Hey Arnold!
Courtney Gripling From The As Told By Ginger
Did anybody else notice that most of the bodies were the same per their gender? Face shapes, too. Interesting idea that feels *almost* complete.
Yeah very generic bodies, facial features homogenized. Not a lot of character in these characters. Especially the girls. Everything unique was smoothed over and over sexualized
Load More Replies...Where is this planet where everyone gets to grow up to be a freaking fashion model? I'm not mad, I just want to go there too. Speaking of models, when you use a 3D modeling base you gotta change more than boob size between characters. There's a loooot of same body / same face syndrome happening.
-sigh- If only they had Courage the Cowardly Dog, but it's only to realize that Courage would be an adult, already, Eustace, and Muriel are also elderly. If only we were able to see them just a little bit younger😞
This artist seems like they are scared of drawing ugly characters, and they whitewashed all the Asian characters
You realize it's the artist's choice of who/what to draw, right?
Load More Replies..."Modern Day" = let's see how we can sexualize these innocent kids characters. This is a stupid post.
I agree with a lot of posters here. My critique would be, technically they are good, but conceptually they miss the mark on the spirit of the characters
Overly sexualized and just bad art in general. I would have enjoyed it more if they looked like adults in their own universes rather than this digital video game style the artist has copied for every single character. Also, maybe know more about the cartoons you're drawing or at least make an attempt to label them correctly. I think the lack of knowledge in the cartoons themselves is very obvious in your art.
I will actually be impressed when someone will show us characters that they created from their own imagination.
Might have to look on artstation for that rather than bp.
Load More Replies...Read the whole thing looking for Gravity falls, Owl House, something *slightly* new and got sim-looking stuff. Waste of time.
Love 90's cartoons but jebus looking back....they all had really bad art style. It's like people making them purposely drew the worst the could, and the color tones are just so off lol. Again love them but damn
Did anybody else notice that most of the bodies were the same per their gender? Face shapes, too. Interesting idea that feels *almost* complete.
Yeah very generic bodies, facial features homogenized. Not a lot of character in these characters. Especially the girls. Everything unique was smoothed over and over sexualized
Load More Replies...Where is this planet where everyone gets to grow up to be a freaking fashion model? I'm not mad, I just want to go there too. Speaking of models, when you use a 3D modeling base you gotta change more than boob size between characters. There's a loooot of same body / same face syndrome happening.
-sigh- If only they had Courage the Cowardly Dog, but it's only to realize that Courage would be an adult, already, Eustace, and Muriel are also elderly. If only we were able to see them just a little bit younger😞
This artist seems like they are scared of drawing ugly characters, and they whitewashed all the Asian characters
You realize it's the artist's choice of who/what to draw, right?
Load More Replies..."Modern Day" = let's see how we can sexualize these innocent kids characters. This is a stupid post.
I agree with a lot of posters here. My critique would be, technically they are good, but conceptually they miss the mark on the spirit of the characters
Overly sexualized and just bad art in general. I would have enjoyed it more if they looked like adults in their own universes rather than this digital video game style the artist has copied for every single character. Also, maybe know more about the cartoons you're drawing or at least make an attempt to label them correctly. I think the lack of knowledge in the cartoons themselves is very obvious in your art.
I will actually be impressed when someone will show us characters that they created from their own imagination.
Might have to look on artstation for that rather than bp.
Load More Replies...Read the whole thing looking for Gravity falls, Owl House, something *slightly* new and got sim-looking stuff. Waste of time.
Love 90's cartoons but jebus looking back....they all had really bad art style. It's like people making them purposely drew the worst the could, and the color tones are just so off lol. Again love them but damn