Father turns his children's sketches into brilliant illustrations - PHOTO

For any father, time spent on the road away from his children is difficult.Fred Giovannitti, who spends a third of the year away, wanted to make sure he had a shared hobby with Freddie, aged eight, and Sofia, six, to make sure they stayed close.So the inventor and part-time tattoo artist from Delaware took to colouring in his children's drawings when had to work away from home, and he has transformed them into amazing works of art.Mr Giovannitti explained that he invents industrial equipment designed to protect the world's marine ecosystems.In order to pay for this, he travels 10 days every month to Las Vegas, where he owns a high-end tattoo studio.'My children like to draw me pictures for my trip so I can keep them close to me while I'm away,' he said.'One day my daughter didn't get around to making me a picture in time, so right before I left she quickly drew me a line drawing to take with me.'On my flights to work I keep a sketchbook to draw on the plane and have coloured pencils handy. This one particular trip, instead of drawing in my sketchbook, I decided to colour in my daughter's drawing in the manner in which I would colour my own work.'When I returned home, I gave her the picture and she loved it so much that we started a tradition of me collaborating with both of my children each month on drawings to be coloured by me on my trips.'His pictures have now become a hit online after he shared them on his Reddit account, drawing an overwhelmingly positive response.He explained on his website that he started the process two years ago, and after a few months he asked his daughter to draw him another one. His son subsequently wanted to be included.As well as using colouring pencils on the flights, Mr Giovannitti has also tried filling the drawings in using digital technology, but following the comments online, he will now stick to pencils.Now his newfound fame has led to calls for him to publish the illustrations in a book from online fans - as well as his wife.'Personally I’ve just been doing this because the kids love it, and I love collaborating with them and seeing their faces when the pictures go in a frame and up on the wall,' he said.After his drawings became known to a wider audience, he wrote on his Facebook account: 'Dangit. I guess my Reddit account is public now. But I gotta tell ya, the kids are besides themselves seeing their work online.'(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az