A French artist’s reimagining of his sons’ childhood sketches has once again captivated anime fans online, years after the project initially gained traction.

The work of Thomas Romain, a professional anime creator based in Tokyo, has resurfaced thanks to a Reddit post that has garnered more than 168,000 upvotes, drawing renewed attention to the unique father-son collaborations from 2017.

“The story about me creating art with my sons is not new, but it got viral again recently,” Romain, who relocated from France to Japan in 2003, told Newsweek. “We created a lot of this kind of content a few years ago and released a couple of artbooks.

“My sons grew up and we stopped the series, but I am still working in Japan on many anime and game projects.”

The post, shared on February 2 by Reddit user u/hollenstar, included images of 47-year-old Romain’s work and was captioned, “Thomas Romain is a French anime artist, he’s trying to redraw all his sons’ drawings.”

The response was immediate and overwhelmingly positive, with thousands of commenters expressing admiration for both the whimsical nature of the original sketches and the polished anime-style interpretations that Romain produced.

Romain first embarked on the project in 2017 after noticing something remarkable in his children’s artistic creations.

“I detected something special,” he said. “I also detected some potential in my role as a professional.”

Drawn to the unique colors and forms in his sons’ sketches, Romain felt an “urge to reinterpret their characters.” What began as a fun creative experiment quickly turned into a series, as Romain meticulously transformed many of his sons’ simple yet imaginative sketches into fully realized anime-style illustrations.

The before-and-after comparisons struck a chord with audiences online, leading to widespread praise and the publication of artbooks featuring the work. Romain and his sons enjoyed the collaborative process and the fruit it bore, which not only allowed them to bond over art, but also introduced them all to a fresh perspective on creativity.

As the project gained attention, many fans noted the way Romain remained faithful to the original spirit of his children’s work, rather than imposing a rigid professional structure onto it. Instead of completely redesigning the sketches, he kept the essence of the original characters intact, merely enhancing details with his anime and design expertise.

Though the family eventually moved on from the series as Romain’s sons grew older and their priorities changed, the artwork remains a source of inspiration for his fans. For Romain, the project was always about more than just reinterpreting drawings—it was about recognizing the artistic potential in his sons.

“I believe this series of drawings will continue to inspire people for many years,” he said.

Romain has over 425,000 followers on Instagram and more than 470,000 on YouTube. He is responsible for co-creating the series Code Lyoko and designing and co-directing the Franco-Japanese animated series Ōban Star-Racers. He spoke with Newsweek via email.

Newsweek has reached out to u/hollenstar for more information via Reddit.

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