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Medical technician draws gorgeous art on kids' casts to cheer them up

Luis Ruiz-Velasco is helping turn painful experiences into a bright spot.
/ Source: TODAY

Breaking a bone and needing a cast can be a frightening time for kids, but one man in California is drawing on his artistic talents to make the experience a little less scary for his littlest patients.

Orthopedic technician — and talented artist — Luis Ruiz-Velasco at Children's Hospital Los Angeles is turning kids' casts into his own personal canvas.

"It makes me feel calmer and happier," one boy at the California children's hospital told TODAY while getting a custom drawing of Sonic the Hedgehog on his cast from Ruiz-Velasco.

The young boy said the character is his favorite.

"I think he's cool and I like him because he's blue and he's fast," the boy told TODAY.

The boy's mother explained that her son has muscle congenital myopathy, which makes him prone to injuries like broken bones, and she cannot recall how many casts he has had.

"It's very tough," she says of her son, who cannot even put a blanket on himself. "He's been through a lot."

But Ruiz-Velasco's artwork is a bright spot for the young boy — and countless others. He got his first request for cast art ten years ago.

"He asked me for a happy face and I said 'Actually, I don't think I can, I'm not very good at it.' And he said, 'Please!' I said 'OK, I'll see what I can do,' so I did a little happy face and it lit him up," Ruiz-Velasco said

The technician has done "thousands" of cast artworks since, he estimated.

The main reason he continues? "To make kids smile," Ruiz-Velasco said.