History Main / LivingDrawing

Subtrope of AnomalousArt and SuperTrope of AnimatedTattoo. Compare LivingStatue, CreepyChangingPainting, SpookyPainting, and LivingShadow.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jumanji}}'': In the episode "Mud Boy", Peter draws a figure into the mud that springs out as Mud Boy. Mud Boy personifies Peter's frustration with his older sister Judy's authoritative attitude and therefore is selfish and irresponsible and wants Peter to be so too. When Peter refuses, Mud Boy tries to kill Alan and Judy to have Peter to himself. This doesn't work out, so Mud Boy hulks out by adding more mud to himself. Deeply in trouble, Peter can think of only one solution and draws a Mud Girl to be Mud Boy's older sister and demand that he stops. It works, though still sympathetic to Mud Boy, it is revealed that Peter did add a [[KickMePrank "Kick Me" sign]] to Mud Girl.

** Within the Pyramid in Scaraba in ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', two enemy types are hieroglyphs. The first are the Guardian Hieroglyphs, which are [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Anubis]]-like, wield PSI Thunder and PSI Flash, and may cause uncontrollable crying as a result of their "hacking cough". The second are the Lethal Asp Hieroglyphs, which are snakes. Like normal snakes, they can coil around a party member to immobilize them. Both hieroglyphs can leave the wall they're on as they please.

Subtrope of AnomalousArt and SuperTrope of AnimatedTattoo. Compare LivingStatue, CreepyChangingPainting, SpookyPainting and LivingShadow.

* ''Manga/GeGeGeNoKitaro'': In the tenth episode of the sixth series, the focus is on {{the Seven Mysteries}} at Mana's school. Among them is Beethoven's portrait. The Mysteries get taken prisoner by one of them, Yousuke, [[StalkerWithACrush who is after Hanako]]. The protagonists defeat him and and allow the Mysteries to return to their parts of the school.

* ''Manga/LoveTyrant'': In the sixth episode, the protagonists visit a school building at night. They are harrassed by the local spirits, among which a painting of Bach, but Guri and Akane beat them into a pulp.

** Gecko Moriah's painting zombies are created to look like portraits and paintings, some of which [[ArtImitatesArt look like real life paintings]].
** The Dressrosa arc introduces two more art-based devil fruit users. Giolla on the villain's side possesses the Ato Ato no Mi, literally the art art fruit, which can turn anyone or anything into various works of art rendering them powerless in the process. On the heroes' side, we have Kanjuro who has an unnamed devil fruit that allows him to bring his drawing to life... though ironically he is an atrocious artist [[spoiler:before it's revealed that he was doing it deliberately (by using his non dominant hand) due to being {{The Mole}}]].

* ''ComicBook/ArtOps'': In the comic's world, every work of art, from statues to paintings to street grafitti, are living, breathing beings. They even have the ability to leap off the canvases they were drawn on and interact with the real world. Some of them, though, can be quite hostile. Hence the need for the Art Ops organization.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Hawkman}}'' #13, "Quest of the Immortal Queen", Hawkman is forced to bring the ship ''Naglfar'' to a halt by Alvit, Queen of Alfheim. Unlike the [[Myth/NorseMythology mythological vessel]], which stands out because its made from the keratin of the dead, this ''Naglfar'' is normal except for that it's alive. Its oars are like tentacles, the heraldic dragon on the main sail can detach, and the [[LivingFigurehead figurehead]], another dragon, can look around and breathe fire. Unlike Alvit's other toys, which are products of science, ''Naglfar'' seems to operate on magic. Hawkman sinks the ship by crashing the sail's dragon into it.

* ''ComicBook/ThargsFutureShocks'': One story concerns a trio of StupidCrooks robbing a museum at night, and deciding that the Hieronymous-Boschian painting contained behind steel bars must be the most valuable item. It turns out to be a ravenous monster that disguises itself as a painting to lure in victims. The bars are not to protect the painting from people, but to protect people from the painting.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': A supposedly 10th century tapestry is sent to the museum Helena Sandsmark works at. Diana touches it while it's being examined causing the figures within to rise from the tapestry and start attacking those around them as it is actually a magical forgery sent by Morgan le Fay to capture Wonder Woman.

* ''The Tale of the Young Samurai and the Beautiful Ghost'': Shorei from the Chinese town of Kinyo lived during the Qin dynasty. One day, she was abducted and sold as a slave. Her fortune got a little better when a talented painter made her the subject of one of his works and her beauty attracted good attention, but heartbroken from the separation from her parents she died half a year later. Her spirit would be restless until her painting made its way to Japan and came in the possession of the aristocratic Toshika, an art enthusiast who immediately felt attraction for Shorei's image. He gave the painting a spot near his futon and wrote a poem in her honor. Drawn by his devotion, Shorei manages to leave the painting and meet with Toshika. Although each morning she has to return to the painting, they meet night after night to indulge in art together, until mortality pulls on her once more. Shorei promises Toshika she'll see him again soon and never emerges from the painting again. The painting itself becomes more lifeless by the day, which makes it easier for Toshika to accept the marriage his parents have arranged for him. When he finally meets his bride, he finds that she's none other than Shorei.

* ''Anime/AfterSchoolMidnighters'': Four living paintings of famous composers make up one set of midnighters at St. Claire Elementary. They are Music/JohannSebastianBach, who won't let a single chance to call himself the Father of Music go unused, Music/LudwigVanBeethoven, who is the passionate one, Music/FranzSchubert, TheQuietOne, and Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart, the young CloudCuckoolander. The protagonist trio knows little of their music, amusing Mozart and deeply angering Beethoven. The challenge the group sets for the girls is to compose a work that impresses them. Miko, who has a high class upbringing, wants to take it, but the midnighters are the ones who pick the challengers and they choose Mutsuko. By coincidence, her fly escapes and rests on the piano's keys. In recapturing it, she smashes hard on one of the keys. This display of minimalism is heralded by the paintings and they concede defeat.

* ''Literature/TheRithmatist'' has chalkings, chalk drawings that behave as living creatures and can move on any two-dimensional surfaces. Chalklings created by Rithmatists are tame but the wild ones can be deadly, even to humans.
* At the seventh minute after midnight on the seventh day of the seventh month in ''The Summer of Magic Quartet: The White Horse Talisman'', a shooting star simultaneously brings to life two English hill figures: Equus the Horse and Worm the Dragon. Equus, who represents Good, goes in search for his family and titular magical talisman while Worm, who represents Evil, tries to thwart Equus and cause ruin in general.

** Living cave paintings are animated figures drawn in ochre and charcoal on cavern walls. They're believed to have been created as protectors of sacred sites, as they're highly territorial and become extremely aggressive is regular cave paintings are damaged. They're able to "eat" small quantities of coal or pigments to vivify and restore themselves, and older ones are know to grow faded and restive otherwise -- some may even become permanently still and join the ranks of intimate cave paintings.

* ''VideoGame/ArabianFight'': The pyramid stage has hieroglyphs that comes to life to attack the players.

* ''VideoGame/DoReMiFantasy'': Maybe. The Chef who serves as the boss of Candy World is drawn into the arena. He did exist prior to the battle, so it's not clear what the signifance of him being drawn in is. He does not have an art theme either, but rather a cooking and a constellation theme.
* ''VideoGame/DrawnToLife'' and it's sequel prominently features the protagonist as a living drawing of your own creation.
* ''VideoGame/EchoSecretsOfTheLostCavern'' has plenty of cave drawings that move about like they were alive. This is justified InUniverse as the spirits communicating with Arok through paintings.

** The Artsy Ghost in ''VideoGame/Mother3'' is a ghost holding up a painting that is their upper body. Its face is a combined sun-and-moon. These creatures are encountered in Osohe Castle during Chapter 2, because in Chapter 3 the Pigmask Army has destroyed Artsy Ghosts. Artsy Ghosts can cast PK Freeze, but they aren't very strong and may opt to take a turn talking about art instead of attacking.
* The mid-boss of the Haunted House in ''[[VideoGame/DisneysMagicalQuest The Great Circus Mystery]]'' is Pete's Portrait, which depicts Emperor Pete, the final boss of the previous game. The painting is in sepia tones at first, then gains color when the candles light up. He's got two means of attack. Firstly, he can cause the books from the surrounding book cases to fly at the player. Secondly, he can breathe fire because he's placed above a fireplace. Both moves require Pete to lean out of the canvas, which makes him vulnerable. When beaten, the painting returns to its sepia tones, but Emperor Pete is visibly injured.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'': The game's main mechanic is Link's ability to turn into a painting which can move horizontally along walls, allowing him to solve puzzles and move to places which would otherwise be unreachable.
* Living drawings play a role as bosses in ''VideoGame/LaserGhost'', but what kind of drawing is featured depends on the version. In the arcade version, the first boss is an abandoned movie theatre of which the banner depicts a couple and the title reads ''Monster Monster: The Movie''. In turn, the male face and the female face look at the player and become monstrous. In monster form, the faces leave the banner and arms emerge from the darkened entrances. In the Master System version, the second boss is a portrait above a lit fireplace. It'll send fireballs after Katherine and then descend from the wall to smash into the girl itself. Only when its personally attacking is it vulnerable to the player's laser. There's also a few paintings encountered beforehand, one of a man and the other of a table. These paintings also try to smash into Katherine, but they go down easily. The image within the painting is not animated, unlike the boss painting.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Runerigus, a Ghost/Ground type Pokemon which evolves from a [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield Galarian]] Yamask, is actually a cursed painting which gained sentience after absorbing the Yamask's spirit. It resembles a drawing of a red serpent on a rock formation with a shadowy spirit inside of it.

* ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfTheThreeCaballeros'': The Nazca Lines in "[[Recap/LegendOfTheThreeCaballerosS1E08NazcaRacing Nazca Racing]]" are drawn in enchanted soil, which is a gateway into the Nazca Realm. The Nazca Realm is one big living drawing. The reality created from drawing is the only magic that exists there and the inhabitants themselves exist as Nazca Lines on the surface. The inhabitants can only move across surfaces, can only leave through their respective Nazca Lines, and are killed if their Lines are erased, although redrawing them will resurrect them none the worse for wear. The Caballeros meet Mono, a mokey, Handsy, a giant, and Clementine, a huge spider. They guard the Nazco Gyroscope that keeps the planet balanced. Feldrake uses it to lure the Caballeros into the Nazca Realm with the intent to erase their Lines on the surface in order to kill them, but he only succeeds in erasing Handsy. She is restored when the Caballeros redraw her, with Donald gifting her a much desired second thumb.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E14WelcomeToTheChumBucketFrankendoodle Frankendoodle]]", [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick find a magic pencil that [[ArtInitiatesLife creates real objects out of their drawings]]. When [=SpongeBob=] uses it to make a self-portrait, the result is the evil "[=DoodleBob=]", who is eventually defeated by being trapped in a piece of paper. Later, in "Doodle Dimension", [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick enter the Doodle Dimension by means of a portal created by Sandy. They recreate [=DoodleBob=], who attacks them. They try to fend him off by creating doodles of Squidward, Mr. Crabs, and Gary to fight for them, but [=DoodleBob=] makes them side with him instead by adding [[DastardlyWhiplash mustaches]]. In the end, [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick escape the Doodle Dimension by drawing a doodle of Sandy to build them a portal homewards.

* ''VideoGame/AstraSuperstars'': Test-kun, a BonusBoss and UnlockableContent, is a blue stick figure doodle. Having no defined form, he fights as a mild RubberMan.

* The SignatureScene of ''Film/YoungSherlockHolmes'' has the stained-glass image of a knight becoming alive and literally leaping out of its frame to attack a victim, although that was later revealed to be part of a hallucination.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': SCP-085, "Cassy", is a living drawing of a woman. She can move from one paper or canvas to another if their surfaces are flush and can interact with drawn objects as if they are real.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jumanji}}'': In the episode "Mud Boy", Peter draws a figure into the mud that springs out as Mud Boy. Mud Boy personifies Peter's frustration with his older sister Judy's authoritative attitude and therefore is selfish and irresponsible and wants Peter to be so too. When Peter refuses, Mud Boy tries to kill Alan and Judy to have Peter to himself. This doesn't work out, so Mud Boy hulks out by adding more mud to himself. Deeply in trouble, Peter can think of only one solution and draws a Mud Girl to be Mud Boy's older sister and demand that he stops. It works, though still sympathetic to Mud Boy, it is revealed that Peter did add a "Kick Me" sign to Mud Girl.

* ''WesternAnimation/SimonInTheLandOfChalkDrawings2002'' is a revival of a [[https://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Other_Studios/F/FilmFair/Simon_in_the_Land_of_Chalk_Drawings/ 1971 English cartoon series]], the spiritual predecessor to ''[=ChalkZone=]''. The denizens of the titular land are living chalk drawings, and Simon can add new things to said land by drawing on his chalkboard at home.

* ''Website/GoodbyeStrangers'': A few stranger strains appear to be living or semi-living drawings. One example is the satsumon, which is just a stranger-shaped ChalkOutline. And the contrivodrone just appears as a cartoony drawing of a stranger. The contrivodrone can't actually move, but it can make sounds and can temporarily mess up your spacial awareness. It can easily be killed by erasing it.

* ''WesternAnimation/ChalkZone'': The premise of the series is that every chalk drawing lives in a dimension made of chalk, brought to existence as soon as it's drawn. The chalk-drawn characters, then, are all sentient beings within the [=ChalkZone=].

* ''WebAnimation/AnimatorVsAnimation''is all about animated stick figures coming to life and rebelling against their creators.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E11FearHer Fear Her]]", the MonsterOfTheWeek, an Isolus, is able to turn real people into these. Kids on the street, pets, entire crowds at a stadium, even the Doctor and the TARDIS, all turn into graphite pictures drawn on paper and all of them are still alive. Conversely, a random scribble becomes an animated three-dimensional entity.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}'': In one episode, the titular character creates a world using special crayons in an endless blank space behind his bedroom. The citizens are all living beings.

* ''ComicBook/DouweDabbert'': The story "De Dame in de Lijst" ("The Lady in the Frame") features several living paintings of long-dead wizards, including the titular lady. She can leave her portrait for short amounds of time, and can still use magic. At the end of the story, she makes a living portrait of Douwe since she grew fond of his company. This way, "Douwe" can stay with her while the real Douwe continues his travels.

* In ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast1987'', Beauty accidentally wishes for the paintings of entertainers to come to life, which they subsequently do. This makes her understand that when she was told she can have everything she asks for (except freedom), that honest-to-goodness meant any wish or command of hers will be answered by the castle's magic.
* ''Film/GakkouNoKaidan'': Shouta and Kaori hide from the ghosts in the music room of the OldSchoolBuilding. Shouta decides this is a good moment to confess his feelings to Kaori, but as he stumbles over his words Beethoven and other musicians emerge from the paintings and start to play music. They do this to help out Shouta's romantic attempt, but at least he doesn't get that and the two children make a run for it. In Shouta's defense, Beethoven [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood didn't look too well]].

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Runerigus, a Ghost/Ground type Pokemon which evolves from a Galarian Yamask, is actually a cursed painting which gained sentience after absorbing the Yamask's spirit. It resembles a drawing of a red serpent on a rock formation with a shadowy spirit inside of it.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Runerigus, a Ghost/Ground type Pokemon which evolves from a Galarian Yamask, is actually a cursed painting which gained sentience after absorbing the Yamask's spirit. It resembles a drawing of a red serpent on a rock formation with a shadowy spirit inside of it. Said Pokemon provides the page image.