History Main / FourthWallPortrait

* Towards the end of ''ComicBook/Maus,'' main character Vladek's wife receives a picture of him confirming he is still alive. In an interesting twist on this trope, the photo is actually the real life photo of Vladek Spiegelman (the author's father.) This is very jarring considering he has been shown only as a stylised mouse for the rest of the story.

* Inverted in the CGI ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTintin''. Tintin has his portrait drawn by an street artist. It looks just like his depiction in the long-running comic series. The artist is a CreatorCameo from Creator/{{Herge}}.

* On one episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' had Peter mention that he took some drugs once, and everything got "''way'' too real." Cut to a ''live action'' scene of a fat guy in Peter's clothes on a bench, wearing a fake Peter head, looking at his hands and declaring he was "freaking out".

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

[[folder:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* Parodied in the anime version of ''Manga/ShamanKing'', where a member of the QuirkyMinibossSquad makes a portrait of one robber in a 70's {{Shoujo}} style (a style more detailed than the cartoony {{Shonen}} of the series - but not by much).
* Used in the 4-koma short comics at the back of the manga adaptation of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'', which were far less detailed than the manga. The shorts also featured strips on "how to draw characters" which were three panels long (the last reserved for the punchline) and even simpler than the 4-koma themselves.

* Inverted by ''Manga/ShinryakuIkaMusume'', where Takeru draws a picture of Ika, which looks exactly the same as her. Takeru complains that it looks too "manga-like," while Ika argues that she doesn't have such a simplistic face. (Of course, she does.)

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

[[folder:{{Film - Animated}}]]
* Inverted in the CGI ''{{Film/Tintin}}'' movie. Tintin has his portrait drawn by an street artist. It looks just like his depiction in the long-running comic series.

[[folder:{{Newspaper Comics}}]]
* Frequently used in ''Comicstrip/{{Calvin and Hobbes}}''. In very early strips, Calvin's imaginary excursions were often drawn in a cartoonish style basically the same as the main strip's art. Later on though, the artist experimented with different styles in different fantasy worlds. When Calvin played "house" or "doctor" with Susie, the art was in a style a lot like soap opera strips: normal human proportions, angular lines on characters, etc.
** The commentary in one ''Calvin and Hobbes'' collection revealed that it unintentionally showed Watterson's true talent. Whereas the usual Soap Opera Comic is drawn on a much larger paper and scaled down, Watterson's parody of it was drawn at normal scale without losing any quality of detail.
* A ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' strip featured a still life of some fruit in a bowl, starting from a fairly realistic drawing and "improving" to the comic's cartoony style.
** Another had Jason drawing comic characters with eyes identical to the comic's googly eyes; Peter says he's never seen such realistic eyes, and Jason replies he's going for the "graphic novel feel".
** Yet another has Jason making a snowman. It looks normal until Peter points out that the nose is in the wrong place, and Jason moves it to the side of the head to match the normal Foxtrot face.
* ''Comicstrip/TheFarSide'' once featured a street artist in a city where everyone had a simple two-dots-and-a-semicircle smiley face for a head. He is, of course, completely unable to draw them correctly.

[[folder: VideoGames]]
* In ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice: The Devil's Playhouse'', there is a painting of Sam and Max on the wall of Momma Bosco's lab, as a realistic-looking dog and rabbit.

[[folder:{{Web Comics}}]]

* [[https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20080316022545/http://www.itswalky.com/d/20080202.html This]] strip of ''Webcomic/JoyceAndWalky''. "My art teacher wants me to stop making up anatomy that doesn't exist." "Were you drawing lips again?"
** As that statement implies, [[https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20080111143313/http://itswalky.com:80/d/20000924.html that wasn't the first time.]]

* [[http://www.scarygoround.com/?date=20150713 In this strip]] from Webcomic/BadMachinery, Shauna's mum's boyfriend Dan gets a tattoo of Shauna that is far more detailed than how artist John Allison usually draws the strip. Shauna is not pleased.

[[folder:{{Web Original}}]]
* Parodied in an AbridgedSeries of ''Anime/YuGiOh'' (no, [[WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries not that one]]) by [[https://www.youtube.com/user/puddleths puddleths]]. Yugi is asked to sign a deviantART drawing of him, and claims it looks nothing like him, even though it's drawn in anime style. He then praises a stick figure drawing of him.

[[folder:{{Western Animation}}]]

* In ''TheDaltons'', one episode shows Averell painting a portrait of Rintindumb that is realistic from our point of view.

Amusingly, the opposite scenario, where a character draws or paints someone else in a style that is consistent with the art style they are normally rendered in, which should actually mean that they are a highly skilled artist, is rarely acknowledged.

Amusingly, the opposite scenario, where a character drawing someone in a style that is consistent with the art style they are normally rendered in, which should mean that they are a highly skilled artist, is rarely acknowledged.

* [[http://www.itswalky.com/d/20080202.html This]] strip of ''Webcomic/JoyceAndWalky''. "My art teacher wants me to stop making up anatomy that doesn't exist." "Were you drawing lips again?"
** As that statement implies, [[http://www.itswalky.com/d/20000924.html that wasn't the first time.]]

--> Homer: "I feel like I'm wasting a fortune just standing around here! Well, I better make the most of it." He beat drums his fingers, then belches.

** There was also the ''Road To Multiverse'' episode where Stewie and Brian go to the real world briefly. Stewie comments on it feeling weird before pushing the button to jump to another universe. They were portrayed by a real toddler and a real dog.

Works drawn in a simplistic or cartoonish style may feature a piece of art, often including a person, drawn in what we would consider a much more detailed or realistic style. Almost invariably, some character will remark on how unrealistic that art is, or how bad the artist's grasp of anatomy must be-- why would anyone give people ''[[FourFingeredHands five fingers]]''? This is how artists show off their creative range, displaying details and style that are obviously inconsistent with the visual style of the work.

* ''BusouRenkin'' plays this straight when Kazuki draws a picture of Chouno to show around the school while they try to track him down. It's in incredibly detailed style and both Tokiko and Chouno himself are taken aback by it. That said, Kazuki did put [[HotBlooded his heart and soul]] into it.

* [[http://starslip.com/2008/01/31/starslip-number-708/ This]] strip of ''Webcomic/StarslipCrisis'', where the characters ridicule court sketches.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': When the Warner siblings met PabloPicasso, they played a game of Pictionary. The Warners drew in a cubist style and guessed it right every time, while Picasso criticized them for not knowing how to draw. But when he drew the same objects in a realistic fashion, the Warners were stumped. Eventually, a dealer saw the Warners' drawings, mistook them for Picasso's, and bought them.

* A ''FoxTrot'' strip featured a still life of some fruit in a bowl, starting from a fairly realistic drawing and "improving" to the comic's cartoony style.

* In ''TheDaltons'', one episode shows Averell painting a portrait of Rintindumb that is realistic from our point of view.[[/folder]]

* Used in the 4-koma short comics at the back of the manga adaptation of ''GundamWing'', which were far less detailed than the manga. The shorts also featured strips on "how to draw characters" which were three panels long (the last reserved for the punchline) and even simpler than the 4-koma themselves.

* Inverted by ''IkaMusume'', where Takeru draws a picture of Ika, which looks exactly the same as her. Takeru complains that it looks too "manga-like," while Ika argues that she doesn't have such a simplistic face. (Of course, she does.)

* [[http://starslip.com/2008/01/31/starslip-number-708/ This]] strip of ''StarslipCrisis'', where the characters ridicule court sketches.

* Parodied in the anime version of ''Manga/ShamanKing'', where a member of the QuirkyMinibossSquad makes a portrait of one robber in a 70's {{Shojo}} style (a style more detailed than the cartoony {{Shonen}} of the series - but not by much).