Artist Creates Cute Little Monsters Out Of Coffee Stains

To most people, a coffee stain may not seem like much, but to German illustrator Stefan Kuhnigk, there are hidden creatures inside each obscure, brown smudge. The caffeine lover transforms random coffee spillages into all sorts of mischievous and wonderful monster characters.

It all started in 2011, while at a meeting at the ad agency where he works, Kuhnigk accidentally spilled a cup of coffee on a piece of paper. Rather than throw it in the trash, Kuhnigk began to doodle on top of the dried spillage and fill in the missing shapes and lines to create the first coffee monster. Since then, he has been creating one each day, and now has a collection of more than 500 coffee critters.

Kuhnigk’s monster drawings vary from sweet and adorable to evil and weird. From strange blobs to multi-headed brown splats, every kooky character visualizes the artist’s playful imagination.

You can find more of Kuhnigk’s coffee monsters on Instagram and shop his drawings as prints, t-shirts, tote bags, and more on Society6.