Regina artist recreates childhood cartoon characters as if they were alive today

A Regina graphic designer is drawing animated characters from the 1990s and early 2000s as if they were living today.

From Spinelli on Disney's Recess to Sailor Moon's Tuxedo Mask, Kim Dinh is modernizing the characters she grew up watching.

The 25-year-old said she started the project as a way to get out of creative slumps. She said it's easier to put her own spin on attributes that already exist.

"It was my own curiosity of what I think they would be like. I try to connect them to my own friends. I try to see the similarities between them," said Dinh.

Inspired by the burst of nostalgia, she imagines what it would be like if the characters grew up and were living in 2020. 

She designs their modern look based what their personalities and careers would be like as 20-year-olds. 

"Since I'm getting older, I've noticed that a lot of people don't know these certain shows or like Gen Z isn't that familiar with them, and it kind of makes me sad. I try to keep that alive. I'm trying to keep my inner child kind of prominent," said Dinh.

For example, when drawing Ash Ketchum from Pokemon, she gave him a baby face because of his childish and immature personality in the series and thought he'd probably be a professional gamer with a passion for Pokemon trading cards.

She doesn't use a traditional sketch pad for her drawings, but she added a screen protector that feels like paper, so it still sounds as if her pencil is moving across a page.

She said the best comment she has received from the series is that her version of Ash looked like a follower's boyfriend.

"I'm like, 'Oh cool. That is actually a person that exists today,'" said Dinh.

Dinh said she hopes to draw Helga from the Nickelodeon series Hey Arnold next. 

"She was not traditionally beautiful. She has like this big uni-brow and I just think she has so many defining traits to her," said Dinh. 

"I think she's a very interesting character to bring into modern day because I think of how beauty standards are different. I think she, possibly, could be a beauty influencer today."