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.
Rachel Meyer
from Edmond, OK
March 12, 2009 at 06:01 PM
A friend of mine linked your blog on her post. Love what you have to say :)
