The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a franchise that’s very dear to people who grew up with them, so not surprisingly, artists like Blake Henriksen continue to draw upon the heroes in a half-shell for inspiration. In this particular series, Henriksen has decided to render Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello and Michelangelo in a gritty style that’s more true-to-reality than their usual cartoon depictions. With battle scars, flesh wounds and aggressive grins, these ridiculously cool digital paintings perfectly capture the reasons why children everywhere fell in love with the reptile vigilantes.
Blake Henriksen also extrapolates on the Ninja Turtles concept by adding in zombies for the pizza-loving crime fighters to take on. Who could have ever thought putting ninjas, mutants, turtles, teenagers and zombies together would yield such epic results?
What's Driving This Trend
- Realistic Superheroes
- Artists are creating realistic renderings of popular cartoon characters to appeal to older audiences.
- Mash-up Narratives
- Artists are combining unlikely franchises to create new and exciting content.
- Gritty Art Styles
- Artists are using a more realistic and edgier art style to refresh classic cartoon franchises.
Who This Affects Most
- Entertainment
- Entertainment companies can explore merging popular franchises to create new and interesting content for audiences.
- Art
- Artists can explore creating realistic renderings of popular cartoon characters using various art styles.
- Merchandise
- Merchandise companies can create products using these new gritty and realistic renditions of classic cartoon characters to attract an older fanbase.
