A man in America has used art to brighten up his children's paper lunch bags.

Everyone likes to brighten the everyday monotony with some colour or something a little bit different and it seems that paper bags are one way to do this.

At least that's what dad Derek Benson, from the USA, has subscribed to by adding an artistic drawing to the carriers he gives his kids lunch in each day.

Every morning, after loading the bags with sandwiches and other such goodies, he daubs a different painting or drawing onto them, meaning that his kids' lunch packages are truly the envy of the schoolyard.

He explained to Mashable that things began with just adding names to the carriers before then moving on a stage to the point where each painting takes around 30 minutes.

Each bag has a different decoration and Mr Benson told the news provider that his inspiration comes from "a lot of nerd stuff".

"It's a conversation piece and something a little more fun for them to take to class," he added.

"It's something to do to keep my skills up and it keeps the kids involved, making them feel like everybody's on the same team here."

To date, the bags have included pictures of iconic characters such as Super Mario and My Neighbor Totoro, while he has also taken to including trivia teasers and small quizzes as well.

He has also posted various images of the bags on his Tumblr site but actually got a fairly cold reaction from fellow parents who assumed that he was a well-off mum who had got the maid to do them.

"It was really strange at first. I didn't say anything about myself when posting so people assumed I was the mom and were saying things like, 'It must be nice to have a maid,'" he said.

"Then they find out I'm the dad and — hold on — it's praise because I'm so involved. It's really not that big a deal."

So popular have the bags become that he even takes requests from his children's school pals.

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