# Untoons Untoons are hyperrealistic Photoshop portraits that keep a cartoon character's exaggerated proportions while swapping their flat animation surface for real human skin, pores, and photographed facial features. Graphic designer Jax Pixeloo coined the term in March 2008 with a disturbingly realistic Super Mario, kicking off a wave of copycat portraits across blogs, Flickr, and deviantART that defined late-2000s Photoshop art. ## Origin Graphic designer and blogger Jax Pixeloo coined the term 'Untoon' in early 2008 and published the first example on March 15, 2008, a Photoshopped Super Mario titled 'Super Real Mario World'[1]. The portrait preserved Mario's oversized mustache and round nose while giving him weathered skin and realistic eyes, framing the Nintendo mascot as a middle-aged Italian plumber in a way the games never did[4]. - **Platform:** Blogspot (Pixeloo's blog) / Flickr and deviantART (spread) - **Creator:** Jax Pixeloo - **Date:** 2008 ## Overview Untoons work by compositing live-action facial features, such as skin, pores, and eyes photographed from real people, onto a 3D render of a cartoon subject while keeping the character's exaggerated geometry intact[1]. The result keeps Mario's giant mustache or Homer's lemon-shaped head but renders them with human flesh and realistic lighting, producing an uncanny effect that sits closer to hyperrealism painting than to standard fan art[9]. Pixeloo's time lapse for the untooned Jessica Rabbit shows him pulling source skin and features from a photo of actress Angelina Jolie before warping them onto the base silhouette[10]. The images read as photographs of people cosplaying as cartoons rather than cartoons simply made realistic, which gave Untoons their lasting shock-value appeal[2]. ## How to Use Typical Untoons start with a 3D model or heavily warped base shape matching the cartoon's silhouette, then composite in photographed facial features (lips, eyes, skin texture, hair) from real people, with lighting and skin tone matched to the imagined scene[1]. A common convention is to keep one or two signature exaggerations, such as Mario's mustache, Homer's eyes, or Jessica Rabbit's hair volume, so the subject stays recognizable despite the humanization[9]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Untoons? Untoons are hyperrealistic Photoshop portraits of cartoon and video game characters that keep the subjects' exaggerated proportions while swapping their flat animation surface for real human skin, pores, and photographed facial features[4]. ### Where did Untoons come from? Graphic designer and blogger Jax Pixeloo coined the term and posted the first example, 'Super Real Mario World', on his Blogspot on March 15, 2008[1]. ### What does Untoons mean? The term describes the 'un-tooning' of a cartoon, stripping away flat animation style to render a character as if they were a real human being while keeping their signature exaggerations[1]. ### How do you use Untoons? Artists composite photographed facial features onto a 3D render or warped base matching the cartoon's silhouette, keeping cues like Mario's mustache intact so the subject stays identifiable[10]. ### Is Untoons still popular? The style peaked between 2008 and 2009 on Pixeloo's blog, Worth1000 contests, and deviantART groups, and it influenced later hyperrealistic character art, though the specific 'Untoon' label faded after 2009[4]. ## References 1. [https://pixeloo.blogspot.com/2008/03/super-real-mario-world.html]() 2. [https://pixeloo.blogspot.com/2008/03/homer-simpson-untooned.html]() 3. [http://pixeloo.blogspot.com/2008/04/jessica-rabbit-untooned.html]() 4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/untoons]() 5. [http://mataleonebr.blogspot.com/2008/04/jessica-rabbit-real.html]() 6. [http://www.halolz.com/2008/09/07/kirby-untooned/]() 7. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080625031347/http://www.worth1000.com/contest.asp?contest_id=19342&display=photoshop]() 8. [http://www.masey.com.au/2008/05/untoons-clever-quirky-photoshop-art/]() 9. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperrealism_(visual_arts)]() 10. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r940y3N1Yns]() 11. [http://pixeloo.blogspot.com/2008/05/stewie-griffin-untooned.html]() 12. [http://pixeloo.blogspot.com/2008/06/nico-bellic.html]() 13. [http://www.trendhunter.com/slideshow/untooned-cartoons]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/untoons Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library