SMALL PRINT: Sesame Streetis meant to teach children real-life lessons, but now one special-effects artist is injecting some reality into the puppets themselves.

Nacho Díaz has created a human version of Bert – one half of Bert and Ernie – turning him into a neo-Muppet like you’ve never seen before.

Díaz posted his photographs of his “real-life” Bert as a silicone model on a message forum on theeffectslab.com.

He designed the sculpture two years ago, and the recent result is a creepy, detailed and fascinating human interpretation of one of television’s most endearing characters.

Díaz’s creation has been lauded by fellow special-effects artists, who are hoping that he’ll continue to create more characters from the television programme.

The idea of puppets and children's characters coming to life is nothing revolutionary, from the tale of Pinocchio to humans encased in character suits at Disney World or the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man stepping out in Ghostbusters, but Díaz seems to have tapped into a new form of extracting real-life likenesses from cartoonish creations.

Next stop Big Bird as an zoological animatron?

At the very least Díaz should follow up with a human-alike Ernie.