One of the first things new parents learn is the art of getting baby to sleep. And by “learn,” I mean reading books, scouring the Internet, texting your friends, calling your parents… and then winging it out of panic. Whether it’s naptime, nighttime, or OMG-WHY-IS-HE-AWAKE-time, getting an infant to sleep (or back to sleep) can be a harrowing, tedious, mind-numbing experience.
Then there are new dads like Lukas Costeur, AKA SNAPDAD. Since the birth of his son Felix, Lukas has been using Snapchat (and his creativity) to capture the special moments spent lulling his wee one to sleep. With nothing but the Snapchat drawing tool — and a willing subject — Snapdad has begun a whimsical gallery of pop culture baby pics.
As Felix gets older, he gets more expressive, and the illustrations get more and more adorably hilarious — like in two recent snaps of Felix doodled-up as Breaking Bad‘s Walter White and a stargazing Neil Armstrong.
No genre or medium is left un-snapped. Game of Thrones, South Park, RoboCop — the possibilities are endless… and adorable.
This kid is in for a lifetime of adventure… and I can’t wait to see what comes next! In the meantime, please check out my quickie Q&A with Lukas during one of his rare, waking hours.
Q&A with designer dad, Lukas Costeur
Are you an artist or designer by trade?
I’m a product designer for my fulltime job at pilipili.be. I also have a graphic design company I run with a friend. So I’m kinda used to sketching on a daily basis.
What do you think Felix thinks about all this?
At just seven weeks old, right now he’s focusing on seeing movement and light; very basic stuff. But I’m pretty sure that once he’s older and he realizes what I did, he might be try to get back at me!
Are there any characters you won’t do? Caillou? Elmo? Jar-Jar Binks?
I’m planning on doing a villain week. So then perhaps the not-so-nice characters will be on display. But there aren’t any restrictions. Just nothing offensive… we have to keep it fun.
Today I also did a David Bowie tribute in memory of the late, great artist.
Any tips for newbie Snapchat users?
I wouldn’t say I’m a pro, but there’s more to the app than most people know. For example, you can pick almost any color if you press and hold at the color bar and then move your finger or stylus across the screen.
Any tips for newbie dads?
I wouldn’t consider myself an expert, but just enjoy every bit of it. This can help you through the harder moments — that’s the reason I started sketching. With Felix in one hand, I was able to do some small sketching on my phone to keep it fun. This way Felix could fall asleep in a comfortable way and I wasn’t just looking around waiting for him to fall asleep.
Many of my favorites are featured in this post, but be sure and check out the entire gallery by following Lukas on Snapchat, Tumblr or Facebook:
snapchat: @costeur
snapdad.tumblr.com
facebook.com/thesnapdad
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It’s been awhile since I’ve done DDQ&A, so if you’re new to the site, check out these past interviews. And be sure to visit and like Designer Daddy on Facebook for more cool dad-related and pop cultury stuff!
