If you grew up watching Nickelodeon and spent your childhood exploring Bikini Bottom and going on jungle treks with the Wild Thornberrys, you may have daydreamed about what your favorite cartoon characters would look in real life. If your imaginings of a realistic Spongebob Squarepants and Nigel Thornberry are anything like Miguel Vasquez’s 3D renditions of cartoon characters, then those daydreams would swiftly turn into nightmares.
Miguel Vasquez is the artist behind the realistic and terrifying images of cartoon characters that have been circulating the internet that include 3D renditions of Homer Simpson from The Simpsons, Mike Wazowski from Pixar’s Monsters, Inc., as well as other characters from Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants. Vasquez creates the 3D images using a software called Zbrush where he uses a virtual clay ball to “sculpt” the characters on his computer.
In an interview with Close-up Culture, Vasquez explains his inspiration for creating his realistic art:
“What inspired me was the lack of good real-life renditions of cartoon characters on Google. I vividly remember searching on Google Images to see what Homer Simpson and Spongebob SquarePants would like in real life. They were all disappointing.”
While Vasquez has often received negative feedback for his art, the negativity seems to stem from the accuracy and realism of the images. Vasquez himself admits that even he sometimes gets chills from his own work:
“Sometimes I do get freaked out. But you also have to keep in mind that I sit behind the computer all day staring at the screen for hours working on my designs and they don’t bother me until I stay off for a couple hours or so and look back at my artwork. That is when I ask myself why am I creating this?”
More of Vasquez’s 3D art can be viewed on his Instagram account.