Artstagram: Where cartoons get mixed up with everyday life

Name: Marty Cooper

Handle: @hombre_mcsteez

"My sink is leaking ostriches" is a phrase that probably wouldn't have existed before the arrival of the Internet, but thankfully it does exist, and it comes from an Instagram post by artist Marty Cooper, otherwise known as Hombre McSteez:

This graduate of San Jose State University superimposes cartoons onto everyday life by layering transparent cells — the kind that classic animators use — on top of photographs and stop-motion videos.

In his world, cartoony oysters escape their shells:

And doodled elephants rise up from the notepads that birthed them:

His Instagram account is high in entertainment value, and also serves as a record of the evolution of his art — before he employed animation cells for this drawings, he used a decidedly less effective dry-erase board:

This YouTube video shows how Cooper puts together each animation:

Like a lot of great art, the idea is to make life less boring — and if that means ostriches leaking from faucets, then so be it.

Social media can be so much more than selfies and viral videos — it's increasingly becoming a scratch pad for emerging artists and other creative minds to show off their latest work. Artstagram curates the best visual talent on Instagram, helping bring a little more art into your daily feed.​