Kids will be kids, and sometimes they will surprise you by doing things like drawing on the walls, leaving parents with an array of options for how to respond.

Dr. Eric Masicotte is a neurosurgeon, associate professor, and medical director of the mTBI/Concussion Program at the University of Toronto, and a pretty tolerant parent, if his response to this unexpected doodle is any indicator.

Instead of scolding his son for adding a green house to a clean white wall of their home, he and his wife decided to turn this little masterpiece into a gallery-worthy work. They framed it in matte black, right where it is.

Your kids are going to do things they shouldn’t. It helps if you married someone with a sense of humour. pic.twitter.com/VVTstejBJO

— Eric Massicotte (@DrMassicotte) November 14, 2017

“Your kids are going to do things they shouldn’t. It helps if you married someone with a sense of humor,” Masicotte wrote of their creative decision. The caption really makes the piece: “Marker on latex paint” as the medium, with the description “Gifted to his parents, by surprise. Nov. 13th.”

help pic.twitter.com/drKTJh3fga

— ? ???? (@laylainlalaland) November 15, 2017

Having gone viral on Twitter, this unexpectedly popular artwork has drawn people in, creating an array of funny responses riffing on serious critical approaches worthy of the art world (and wider audiences). Whether all of this praise and attention will lead this six-year-old to pursue a career in drawing (or architecture) remains to be seen.

Programs like Sketchup have allowed amateur artists and architects to sculpt and design in three dimensions for years, but this app facilitates far more informal works that really look like sketches in 3D.

Mental Canvas is part of a suite of software for Microsoft Surface that takes more conventional sketched forms and allows users to navigate and expand them in three-dimensional space, retaining the character of rough drawings.

The infinite-depth approach of this digital canvas software lets users zoom in and rotate their view, adding layers along the way and inspecting their work from various angles. The effect is remarkable as these illustrations show.

From its creators: CAD modelling “comes at a cost. The cost is that one, you have to have a fully resolved three-dimensional model, even if it’s just a cube; second it’s very hard to edit a CAD model, it’s not fast and fluid like a sketch. At any given moment when you’re sketching, the designer or artist has full control over everything in that representation, but with a CAD model, that’s defined by the computer.”

This clever approach liberates an artist from the ordinary constraints of a physical page or even a drawing tablet, letting them shape worlds that maintain the character of a sketch but can be used to tell and frame stories in new ways.

As with programs like Sketchup, a bookmarking tool allows users to save and store various views then retrace their steps, creating potential for 3D storytelling. It also lets a user pick the perfect shot, navigating three-dimensional space to select an ideal perspective. A dynamic dial tool, meanwhile, lets the artist rotate between colors and line qualities without backing out of the drawing.

As any good architect knows, an unfinished-looking drawing can be an asset: “A sketch has a quality when it’s unfinished; there’s so much possibility, there’s so much room for interpretation, and [Mental Canvas] expands the idea of a sketch. It makes it less flat. In architecture you always want that “Wow” design that gets everyone excited in the room, and [Mental Canvas] enhances it.”

One can see a lot of similarities here between Mental Canvas and tools being developed for augmented and virtual reality platforms. In a way, this program closes the gap, allowing users with more ordinary tools, devices and interfaces to accomplish something wonderful in 3D space.

NYC subways are strange, dark and oft-overcrowded places where many people retreat into themselves and avoiding engagement, at least until these unusual (and invisible) creatures come along.

Artist Ben Rubin uses candid everyday photos of passengers as a canvass for an exotic cast of fictional characters that seem right at home in the public transit system of America’s largest city. His work is complex and detailed, but all rendered on a portable iPad device using the Procreate app.

One could easily imagine that the off-putting noises and smells found on subway trains would be tied to such a strange set of monsters and aliens.

In some cases, they seem to intrude on those seated next to them. In others, they unobtrusively wait in stations for a ride or look at maps, apparently puzzled about getting from Manhattan to Brooklyn.

For the artist, these works started as a way to pass the time on the commute but have become a method of engaging and layering ideas onto photographs outside of the subway as well.

Passengers engrossed in a book, listening to a podcast or zoned into a mobile phone game may not notice them, but these Subway Doodle creatures are there, at least in one man’s imagination. One has to wonder: if any of these really appeared, would the zombie humans around them even notice?

Don Kenn, sometimes known as John Kenn, is a director and creator of television shows for kids, from Denmark. He has an interesting hobby: he likes to illustrate Post It notes. His doodles are intriguing both for their artistic skill, and for the unique world they reveal. Don Kenn’s world is one of monsters and eerie creatures, but it’s also populated with the innocence of children.

(Images via johnkenn, johnkenn)

Don Kenn’s monsters are often blessed with tentacles to reach out and grab their prey. They fill his works with curly vines and grasping tendrils, but don’t necessarily create a sense of menace.

(Images via textureculture, supercollidr, textureculture, catchpig, phoenixnewtimes)

Don Kenn has an interesting vision of the urban landscape and the people who populate it. His buildings are surprisingly mundane and old fashioned, and his characters often wear old time clothing and carry gas lanterns. Children often float carelessly through these scenes, for reasons known only to the artist.

(Images via doodlebook, kingstudiosblog, happycatholic, pastouslesjoursfacile, johnkenn)

The most fun in Don Kenn’s art stems from the variety of monsters that roam his fantasy lands. Behemoths that lurch across the tiny canvas, these creatures are otherworldly and often frightening.

(Images via psfk, we-ned, johnkenn, chetart, graphicsideoflife, burstoid, designerblog)

Often towering with mouths brimming with razor sharp teeth, Don Kenn’s monstrous creatures seem intimidating to us, but not to the children that are often in their presence. Are these monsters actually guardians of innocence?

(Images via johnkenn, burstoid, graphicsideoflife)

Don Kenn envisions a wild world full of surreal images and terrifying creatures, but it isn’t without its charms. Don’s art takes a haunting look at a world of dreams that he likes to visit whenever he has a pen and a Post It note.