There are a lot of mommy blogs, home videos of kids, and parental advice websites on the internet. I like some and am wholly underwhelmed by many. Of course, the ones featuring my friends' children...well, they're brilliant! And that's my point: most of the time, you need to know the family to get a real kick out of their online forays. But there's a clever site out there that I could read for hours, even though I don't know the family involved. It's called Tiny Art Director and it's a collaboration between illustrator/artist Bill Zeman and his now four-year-old daughter. & For the last three years, she has served as his tiny but mighty art director and critic. & Zeman will draw dinasours, monkeys, fish and Tiny Art Director offers her sometimes scathing, sometimes supportive feedback. & All of the posts are organized in office memo style. Here's an example:
The Brief: A Monkey
The Critique: Stupid ugly angry monkey. I hate him.
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: His tummy and his belly button and his eyebrows and his hands and his feet. And his head too.
Another Tiny Art Director meeting resulted in a demanding request for a poo-poo airplane. What the boss wants, the boss gets . & You can also find links to Zeman's portfolio on the site and purchase a book of his work, with the funds going to Tiny Art Director's college fund. & He wants her to go to RISD, an extremely admirable goal, but it means a lot of book sales. I can't think of better preparation for all those class critiques she'll sit through, and her classmates better have some thick skin because Tiny Art Director will be a seasoned critic by then.
