About

Caricature Guy or JohnElsonArtist, also known as the Hi-Tech Animated Caricature, refers to a series of memes using an "animated caricature" of a Black male teenager in a purple hoodie, created by Instagram user John Elson Artist (@johnelsonartist) in October 2025. The caricature is seen stepping rhythmically and dancing in front of a dynamic yellow-and-green paint splatter background. The video became an exploitable video element in ironic brainrot memes on TikTok and Instagram Reels in late 2025.

Origin

On October 9th, 2025, Instagram^[1] user John Elson (@johnelsonartist), a caricature artist and cartoonist, shared an "animated caricature" of a Black male teenager wearing a purple hoodie side-stepping in front of a paint splatter background. Over one month, the video received over 189,500 likes.

Spread

On October 14th, 2025, Instagram^[6] user @keralahoodfails2011 shared a video that used Viggle AI to rotoscope the Caricature Guy onto the Bendy Kid video, gaining over 27,900 likes in three weeks.

Later on October 14th, Instagram^[3] user @keralahoodfails2011 shared another meme using the Caricature Guy video, following the "Gunna Amazed by Hi-Tech X" recaption format. Over three weeks, the video received over 79,100 likes.

On October 15th, a TikTok^[2] account using John Elson's name, @johnelsoncartoons, reposted the original Instagram Reel, receiving over 33,800 likes in three weeks.

Also on October 18th, 2025, Instagram^[4] user @loxidanres reposted the original video, gaining over 17,100 likes over the same timeframe.

On November 4th, TikToker^[7] @voxku shared a video that showed multiple versions of the Caricature Guy, including an "evil" version and a "happy" version, among others. Over two days, the video received over 127,100 likes.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References