Character Artist Hossein Diba Turns Simpsons Characters Into Real People And It’s Slightly Terrifying

Your new sleep paralysis demons have arrived: get ready to meet The Simpsons, only this time they look like real people. 

After years upon years of sitting wide-eyed on the couch watching countless episodes of Matt Groening’s classic cartoon, it’s hard to imagine Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie or other citizens of Springfield as anything other than their normal, yellow selves.

However, thanks to the efforts of Hossein Diba – a character artist over in Turkey, clearly hellbent on giving me nightmares with his intricate 3D models of fictional characters – you needn’t ponder much longer. Spoiler: Homer doesn’t look as loveable.

You can check out Hossein’s brilliantly strange version of Homer in the video below: 

Take a quick glance at Hossein’s Instagram and you’ll see some genuinely astounding recreations. Since 2008, he’s been working on character designs, using his sculpting, texturing and shading prowess to produce stunningly realistic, computer-generated interpretations of iconic people.

As for why he decided to take on The Simpsons, Hossein explained to UNILAD:

When watching The Simpsons, I was always wondering how those forms would look like with realistic touches in details and textures, Always wanted to do that. This quarantine life, beside all bad effects had this little positive point, it gave me more free time to spend on my art and try those things I always wanted to.

Do you remember the Treehouse of Horror segment, Homer³, in which he’s transported briefly to the real world and roams the city as a fully-realised 3D model? Terrifying, wasn’t it? This is so much worse.

From the goofy oaf the world adores, Hossein’s version of Homer is pretty off-putting – smiling longingly as he stares at his trademark pink, sprinkled doughnut. One user commented: ‘Homer is rather funny and which arouses sympathy. There, it is the opposite effect that occurs, we all want to flee…’

Describing the process behind the designs, Hossein said: ‘I tried my best to keep the spirit of the characters, although having realistic textures I wanted them to still look similar to the original versions, so that people still feel connected to the characters.’

The animation whiz’s first post of Homer racked up nearly 9,000 likes, with people praising it as the ‘best realistic Homer rendering I’ve ever seen… 10/10’. A further user added: ‘This is great, mission accomplished.’

While fantastic, Hossein is the first to admit they’re a bit unsettling. ‘I think some of them are cute and some are terrifying or a bit creepy, that’s kind of inevitable when trying to make cartoony versions of the Simpsons looking realistic and still have those facial features applied,’ he explained.

Of course, Hossein didn’t stop there. Mr. Burns was up next, probably evoking the most visceral reaction of all – equipped with bony fingers and his signature, grinning overbite. In a caption, he wrote that he ‘tried to achieve a nice balance between realism and stylised’.

Naturally, as per the character’s catchphrase, a number of people have commented: ‘Excellent.’ Another follower wrote of Hossein’s talents: ‘And you’re certain you’re not a God?’

The artist has since designed ‘real life’ versions of Bart and Marge, both of which are just as brilliant and icky as the others. ‘Man… talent doesn’t even describe your work. Just simply magnificent,’ one user wrote.