Thomas Romain is an animator based in Tokyo, Japan with his two sons. He's worked on anime such as Macross Delta and Space Dandy, and created work for games studios.
Romain told BuzzFeed News that he noticed his sons producing fun, creative drawings just before Christmas. Inspired and wanting to get back into drawing with pencils and watercolor, he decided to turn one of their doodles into an illustration.
原案:息子 イラスト:パパ 親子共同作品が楽しい。子供のアイデア発送が素晴らしい。
The first illustration was hugely successful, and retweeted over 2,000 times. Encouraged by the response, Romain continued the project, turning more and more of his sons' drawings into fully realized pictures.
親子イラスト[その2] 原案:次男 イラスト:パパ 1980年代っぱいサイボーグ。懐かしい感じ。 Cyborg. Concept design : son Illustration : father
"As a designer I’m used to work with recurrent shapes and patterns, but children don’t possess this kind of mental library and have to find graphic solutions by themselves," he said.
親子デザイン工房 (No.04) スチームパンクの医者 原案:次男 イラスト:パパ Steam punk doctor Original design: son Illustration : dad Have a nice,… https://t.co/66PdkeMWGI
"Often those solutions are kind of weird, awkward, and they don’t embarrass themselves with logic or balance. Using kids' drawings as original design material to create, I can get results I couldn’t achieved by myself."
親子デザイン工房(その3) マジックナイト🌟 原案:長男 イラスト:パパ Magic Knight🌟 Original design : my oldest son Illustration : father The next… https://t.co/sDeUn3lhJY
Romain and his sons have received a huge amount of positive comments about the project — so much so that the designer hopes to turn the illustrations into a book.
@Thomasintokyo don't stop making these ! this is too good
@Thomasintokyo This is equal parts charming and really cool.
And now, fanart of the illustration inspired by my 8 year old son's drawing! https://t.co/bJRH6URjzl
"It will be inspiring for the people who like to draw, and it would be also a great book for parents and children to look at together," he said. "We will need more support to make it happen."
