“Things I Have Drawn” began as a creative side project for UK-based father Tom Curtis, who started digitally reimagining his then-young son Dom’s drawings. Dom, like many children, would draw people, animals and objects with charmingly odd proportions and imaginative details. In 2016, Curtis began turning these sketches into photo-realistic images, staying true to the original lines and features of the drawings – no matter how illogical they seemed – by using digital tools like Photoshop – each one taking an average of 15 hours work.
The results were surreal, funny and oddly endearing. He shared these creations on Instagram, and the account quickly gained attention for its unique blend of humour, creativity and parental affection.
The Instagram account, @thingsihavedrawn, became a hit, attracting a large audience (hitting 1 million followers in April 2025) who are drawn to the whimsical reimaginings of a child’s perspective on the world. The artwork strikes a chord because it takes what adults often dismiss as “childish” and elevates it to high-concept visual art. These images – lions with eyes on their foreheads, cars with smiling faces birds with misplaced beaks – demonstrate how fantastically strange the world might look if it followed children’s logic.
The success of the project led to a book in 2017 titled Things I Have Drawn: At the Zoo.
Curtis has won a Webby Award for his work, and in 2022 he was named one of AdWeek New York’s Creator Visionaries of the Year. With over 25 years’ experience in the advertising industry, and as Executive Creative Director at a large agency, the remarkable Things I Have Drawn story is not exactly a fluke.
Curtis’s project has also sparked a wider trend online, inspiring other parents, artists and even brands to create similar “children’s drawings come to life” content. While some tried to replicate his style, “Things I Have Drawn” remains the most iconic and consistent example. It has been featured in mainstream media outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian and Huffington Post, and praised in creative circles for celebrating childhood imagination and offering a fresh take on family life and visual storytelling.
The project continues today, with contributions from Dom’s younger brother Al, along with a global community of young contributors. It continues to attract a strong following across platforms. Enjoy our selection of Curtis’s work.
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References
thingsihavedrawn.com
instagram.com/thingsihavedrawn
Images
1. Tom Curtis with his work. Credit: DW Euromaxx
2 to 13: Selection of examples from thingsihavedrawn.com
14. The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer … and 6 year old Defne
15. Book: Things I Have Drawn: At the Zoo,
16. Video: If Children's Drawings Were "Real", DW Euromaxx, 2021
17. Al and Dom Curtis. Credit: DW Euromaxx
