When I was a little girl, one of the highlights of my school day was always getting to lunch!
Sure, I enjoyed chatting with my friends and having a break from my classes, but what I was really looking forward to? Seeing what Mom had packed in my lunch bag!
I made it a point to never peek, because I always loved the surprise of finding out what snack and sandwich I had that day— almost as much as this mom loved her heartwarming lunchtime surprise.
A great lunch is an unbeatable surprise, and now there’s even one creative dad upping the ante in the lunch bag game, with beautiful and complex illustrations on his kids’ sandwich bags.
David Laferriere, a dad from Attleboro, MA, is an illustrator, a graphic designer, and a part-time sandwich bag artiste.
His specialty? Cool stylized images to add a little extra pizzazz to lunchtime!
Check out a few of our favorites in the gallery below to learn more!
David Laferriere first started creating artistic sandwich bag creations back in 2008.
At the time, his sons were 10 and 8, and just the perfect age to appreciate their dad's super-cool creations.
Now, eight years after he got his start, Laferriere is still going strong, and pushing his utilitarian art in new directions.
Over the years, his sandwich bag art has gone through myriad phases and fluctuations.
His illustrations range from cartoonish creatures and designs to realistic portraits like the one above.
On his Flickr account, Laferriere notes that this particular piece was a "commission" wheedled out of him by one of his sons' lunchtime companions.
According to a 2013 interview with the Huffington Post, he's happy to adapt his designs to whatever seems most relevant at the moment.
As a result, his illustrations can absorb all sorts of information from the outside world.
For instance, around Halloween, he takes his inspiration from the holiday, populating plastic bags with ghouls and ghosts of all types!
Other times, he's simply inspired by whatever goofy thing comes to mind!
This particular illustration is a classic, depicting a joke "disguise" mask straight out of an old Pink Panther movie.
Looks like this dad has a great sense of humor!
At other times, he creates whole series based around a single concept.
He might spell out a word or phrase over the course of several days, or create a flipbook effect that you can't see until you put all of the sandwich bags together.
For this illustration, he was dipping into an animal theme, which is a popular motif for the artist.
He loves to create trompe l'oeil effects, which trick the eye into believing an illusion is three-dimensional.
For example, for this memorable creation, he made a realistic-looking lace-up illustration over the divide between the two halves of the sandwich.
At first glance, it almost looks like a sneaker that you could tighten up and tie into a double knot!
Laferriere has lots of motifs he returns to again and again.
He loves to draw animals, particularly birds and insects, and frequently puts faces on his two boys' food.
He has also created a series of creatures called the Kritzels for the sandwich bags, which you can check out on his website.
And if these fun bags got you into the school spirit, be sure to test your back-to-school knowledge with the quiz below!
If you love this dad's creative way of showing his sons how much he cares, please SHARE his talents on Facebook!
