Today I visited an elementary school to talk to the second graders about Dinotopia and to do a demo drawing of a dinosaur.I enjoy talking to second graders because I was that age when I fell in love with drawing, thanks to Mrs. Bailey at Almond School in Los Altos, California.
Kids that age are also refreshingly honest. A girl stopped me afterward to say, "I saw your book at the bookstore and my mom almost bought it, but I found one I liked better, so I got that instead."
----------
More candid comments from kids, link.
ahhh, james...say it aint so...where did the tron goggles go...ah man...dang!...
ReplyDeleteaww Little kids are adorable!
ReplyDeleteSome time ago I emailed the writer of a children's book that I illustrated some comments that I'd gathered.
ReplyDeleteI kept the children's comments for last (my sister is a teacher so I had lots of 'em) and I introduced those comments with something like : "...and now the toughest critics to deal with...".
Kids being the toughest critics, I actually appreciate their view much more that adults, at least when it comes to children's books. I can't accept that their view is inferior, it's just different and in case of children's books I dare say superior.
I've been thinking a lot about that lately (philosophy was my favourite subject in school and antropology and sociology are subjects that keep me fascinated).
I noticed that children are extremely quick at picking up tastes of fellow humans - being their parents or class mates.
Somehow I feel their personal taste is quickly poluted by their environment and I guess it's virtually impossible to re-discover your deepest most personal taste again at a later age (adulthood).
I good example is given in this interview (at the very end) with a price winning animation artist ("The Pearce Sisters").
http://www.pearcesisters.co.uk
The artist's daughter didn't like the film a bit : she gave her dad some drawings of her own and told him that's how he should do it : fairies and princesses.
It's a good example because it's got me puzzled : where did the preference for fairies and princesses come from ?
Is this a clear cut case of influence or are these fairies and princesses so architypical that we children's book artist should humbly give in to?
I only have questions. No answers.
Guys, you MUST read those kids' comments !
ReplyDeleteI practically loved it !
I love your collection of quotes from your young fans' letters.
ReplyDeleteI hear good ones, too. Several years ago at recess a girl with about two weeks of first grade behind her came up to me and informed me,
"Mr. Gurney, you're a really good teacher."
I replied, "Oh thank you. There are many good teachers at our school."
"Yes, there are," she agreed, "and you're the second best."
oof! Ouch!I get those comments too, and I feel like taking them in stride is all part of the
ReplyDeletezen-like path to being a better artist, or a more patient one.
So cool that you spend some time with the little ones. I did 'Meet the Master's' for a while, when my son was in elementary school I loved it! Kids have such an enthusiams for art and it is really fun listening to their comments.
ReplyDeleteSo cool that you spend some time with the little ones. I did 'Meet the Master's' for a while, when my son was in elementary school I loved it! Kids have such an enthusiams for art and it is really fun listening to their comments.
ReplyDeleteSo cool that you spend some time with the little ones. I did 'Meet the Master's' for a while, when my son was in elementary school I loved it! Kids have such an enthusiams for art and it is really fun listening to their comments.
ReplyDeletelove those comments!! Oh god, when I was a kid I used to write to authors, and getting a response back was like meeting a rockstar. (Actually, it still is; I fangirled pretty bad when Pat Rothfuss wrote me back!) I don't remember what I said back then, I bet some of them would be pretty amusing now.
ReplyDelete