Comments on: Whatever it is it's lovely dear ...

Whatever it is it's lovely dear ...

The Whelk — Sat, 29 May 2010 18:18:13 -0800

What our kids made: The refrigerator door of the internet [via mefi projects]

By: box

box — Sat, 29 May 2010 18:28:00 -0800

Wow, I love this.

By: longsleeves

longsleeves — Sat, 29 May 2010 18:34:43 -0800

I did not know that huge heads with spindly little legs growing out of them could have children. That's so inspiring.

By: DU

DU — Sat, 29 May 2010 18:37:20 -0800

Whatever it is it's lovely dear ... I don't even remember where I originally got this, but I now have a...phobia?...about asking kids about their artwork. Apparently you shouldn't ask "what is this" but instead say something like "can you tell me the story about this" or something like that. Except my kids are too literal for that, so they answer with something like "I got out the crayons and a piece of paper and I drew it, DUH". It's often quite a chore, when it is possible at all, to extract from the child what they think it is without revealing that it isn't totally obvious. Me: Oh...wow! This is....really nice! Child: And see how I did this part? Me: That's....great! Did you get this idea from....where did you get this idea? Child: I just thought of it. Me: I see. And you just drew...it. Child: Right. Me: Well it's....awesome. Did you do this in art class? Child: Yes. Me: And did all the children do the same thing? Child: Some of them. Me: Uhh....here let's put it on the fridge.

By: Lucinda

Lucinda — Sat, 29 May 2010 18:41:56 -0800

My son (he's almost 9) just drew the most awesome picture. It's called "The Big Beast" and is this multi-tentacled...thing, and there are at least a dozen ninjas stabbing it with katanas (complete with action words, like "throw" and "stab"). There's also one or two archers, a guy with a gun, I think there's a guy in an airplane shooting at it, and then a guy stuck in the roots of the beast. I want to get it framed and put over the fireplace.

By: myelin sheath

myelin sheath — Sat, 29 May 2010 18:50:40 -0800

If you're like me, and you're curious about the forms children draw, I found this site pretty interesting. For example, the head+limbs form that many young children draw is called a "tadpole" drawing.

By: punchdrunkhistory

punchdrunkhistory — Sat, 29 May 2010 19:34:28 -0800

I find the ubiquitous "huge heads with spindly little legs" drawing fascinating. How do so many children draw their first humans in the exact same fashion? (I think I like the semi-terrifying empty-eyed stare the best.)

By: punchdrunkhistory

punchdrunkhistory — Sat, 29 May 2010 19:35:45 -0800

Oh boy, that's what happens when I... don't read to the end of the thread. Thanks, myelin sheath!

By: DarlingBri

DarlingBri — Sat, 29 May 2010 19:37:35 -0800

I would pay good hard cold cash for a print of the Peepee Poop Bathroom Robots.

By: empatterson

empatterson — Sat, 29 May 2010 19:44:12 -0800

Great find - this is absolutely delightful. What I would love to see is a museum or gallery dedicated entirely to children's art. Is there such a thing? If not, it would be so awesome if this inspires someone to open one.

By: the littlest brussels sprout

the littlest brussels sprout — Sat, 29 May 2010 19:45:17 -0800

I can never look at children's artwork without being reminded of this. Ding ding! Here comes the shit-mobile.

By: roue

roue — Sat, 29 May 2010 19:57:29 -0800

I don't geddit. I could draw that in about five minutes.

By: emmling

emmling — Sat, 29 May 2010 20:03:47 -0800

I teach at an English-immersion preschool/kindergarten here in Japan, and during afternoon daycare we often have time for free drawing. So I have a lot of conversations with three- to six-year-old children about their artwork. Last year one of the five-year-old girls and I had this discussion: Me: K, that's a great picture! Is that you? K: No, it's Emmalee! Me: Wow! I'm so happy! What am I doing? K: You're having Christmas party! Me: A Christmas party? That sounds like fun. But where is everybody? K: [looks at me very seriously] Emmalee no friends. Me: My friends couldn't come? Or I don't have friends? K: [very sadly, shaking her head] Emmalee no friends. Me: I'm very sad now. K: Yes.

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Sat, 29 May 2010 20:16:41 -0800

myelin sheath: "If you're like me, and you're curious about the forms children draw, I found this site pretty interesting. For example, the head+limbs form that many young children draw is called a "tadpole" drawing." If you liked that, you should love the story of Onfim and his medieval birch-bark drawings (discussed previously). Unfortunately, the large image links in the archive.org copy don't work, but the thumbnails are mostly big enough to make out what's in them.

By: monospace

monospace — Sat, 29 May 2010 20:23:35 -0800

Meh. My 8 year old nephew could draw that.

By: heyho

heyho — Sat, 29 May 2010 20:28:48 -0800

This is more brilliant that it has a right to be. It has a strong Klee/Dubuffet feel to it, and I'm sort of seriously into it. Great blog; it reminds me of: When the kids were little, we went to a parents' meeting at their school and I asked the teacher why all her students were geniuses in the second grade? . . . Matisses every one. You've made my child a Matisse. Let me study with you. Let me into the second grade! What is your secret? And this is what she said, "Secrets? I don't have any secret. I just know when to take their drawings away from them." --Flan Kittredge, Six Degrees of Separation

By: insectosaurus

insectosaurus — Sat, 29 May 2010 20:31:41 -0800

The bathroom robots just made my day.

By: Ritchie

Ritchie — Sat, 29 May 2010 21:10:22 -0800

I have this problem speaking to children. The problem is... well, let me illustrate the kind of conversations I end up having with kindergartners: Child: Look! Me: Is this your work? C: Yes. M: Not bad. Bold use of color. Heavy on landscape. Composition is... interesting, I guess. C: He has teeth. M: Yeah, I see the teeth. What's the story with this blocky dude? C: That's Opmus Prime. M: ...? C: Opmus Prime. M: I don't understand what you're saying right now. C: *exaggerated sigh* Transformers! M: Oh, right, Optimus Prime. God, I hated that movie. C: Opmus. M: Alright, I guess your influences come into focus a little more now. Certainly explains the overall busy-ness of the piece. Thanks for showing me this. Do you have any others? C: In my room. M: Okay sure, let's go. C: Umm... I want to play now. M: What, like, cards or something? C: Nooo... a fun game! M: I dunno then, you pick. C: I don't want to play with you, I want to play with them. M: Those kids? Fine, I'll play with the dog or something I guess. Oh and you know: keep at it with the art, I suppose. I'm concerned that the problem is that I'm kind of an asshole.

By: inconsequentialist

inconsequentialist — Sat, 29 May 2010 21:29:00 -0800

Here are some larger images of the medieval birch-bark drawings: 1, 2, 3, 4

By: TooFewShoes

TooFewShoes — Sat, 29 May 2010 21:37:41 -0800

My daughter draws dragons. Freakin' AWESOME dragons. Seriously I'm going to have to scan one and upload it so you all can see these dragons. Unfortunately she draws them while she's supposed to be taking tests. Honestly I have a hard time getting mad at her.

By: ThePinkSuperhero

ThePinkSuperhero — Sat, 29 May 2010 21:41:49 -0800

I love it! Great post.

By: fantabulous timewaster

fantabulous timewaster — Sat, 29 May 2010 21:55:52 -0800

I have a fairly clear memory of being about four and making a particularly elaborate and colorful scribble in preschool. I told my tablemates it was a bumblebee. I put my name on it and took it home. My mom put it on the wall in the kitchen. It was on the wall for ever. When I was about fourteen I commented on it: "Mom, I'm surprised you still have that bumblebee I made ten years ago." "A bumblebee? You told me it was a kneck!" She said both k's. " 'What's a kneck?' I asked you. 'It's a kneck!' you said. I kept it because you wrote your name that nicely." "It was a bumblebee." "YOU CALLED IT A KNECK AND DON'T YOU GO CHANGING YOUR STORY NOW, MISTER." I must have drawn that ... thing ... in 1983. I'm pretty sure it survived our move in 1997. Sometimes I wonder where it is now, but I'm kind of afraid to ask about it.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Sat, 29 May 2010 22:08:10 -0800

A Story, for you So I was always drawing, and always pestering about drawing.... people with people . I really really wanted people to understand how IMPORTANT they are. So My Mom, in her infinite tired bartender wisdom said,, why don't we put all these drawings in a photo album and then we can look at them at photo album times when it's important and not all the time like now? I Love it. I remember a drawing of LINK! from the second Legend of Zelda game knelling beside the sleeping Zelda and making oaths and shit. That got to be all covered in the sticky plastic sheet of the photo-album and shit - also my portrait of my teacher Ms. Bloomfield, which I really, really tried to get right and trying to draw my brother Ryan, who I was trying to get called "fry-Guy"-cause "Ryan" and cause he liked fries- but that never took off. We moved around al ot but the Drawing Album kept up with all the photo albums and the OTHER albums that we would (or RATHER I WOULD) take them out from time to time to look at them - like until my Mom dated that jerk Mike and I really, really wanted to show him my drawings in the album and he said, understandably as a tired house painter with a kid who was Not His running up to him and being all gushing- "I don't care about your heroes!" and for some reason, that stuck with me and I stopped showing people the album and pretty much forgot about it until the day I was supposed to run away to college and my Mom fucking caught me at the train station and had the fucking ALBUM WITH HER and was all "well I know you have to do this, but can I wait with you while we wait for the train?" what am I MADE OF STONE? Fucking Louis and Clarke TIME headline story too - so I took that album and I still have it, and sometimes and still peel back the super-sticky -smelly skin to look at the drawings and go ...man, fucker had NO IDEA.

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Sun, 30 May 2010 01:19:05 -0800

[the comment just before this comment is the best comment I've ever read here]

By: him

him — Sun, 30 May 2010 02:24:46 -0800

Wow. The Whelk's comment is like a Richard Brautigan short story. And I mean that in all sorts of good ways.

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Sun, 30 May 2010 04:44:27 -0800

Needs more Maddox.

By: horsemuth

horsemuth — Sun, 30 May 2010 08:30:39 -0800

Thanks everybody!

By: theichibun

theichibun — Sun, 30 May 2010 10:19:24 -0800

uncanny hengeman: "Needs more Maddox." Maddox is an asshat. I like it when I was in high school. Which I guess means I was an asshat too.

By: will wait 4 tanjents

will wait 4 tanjents — Sun, 30 May 2010 12:44:56 -0800

This reminds me of my favorite section in Highlights for Children where readers submitted hand drawings much like these It was called Your Own Pages

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Sun, 30 May 2010 17:49:27 -0800

Maddox is an asshat. I like it when I was in high school. Which I guess means I was an asshat too. Wow. Look who's all grown up. Last time I checked - maybe over a year ago - a lot of his site was funny to me. And get this, it's called humour. He doesn't really judge kids' drawings and send a report to their parents.

By: armage

armage — Sun, 30 May 2010 19:43:05 -0800

Is this the antidote to Shit My Kids Ruined?

By: gamera

gamera — Mon, 31 May 2010 12:44:47 -0800

This is great. My 10 year old son draws elaborate steam locomotives driven by very happy stick people. I've been thinking of doing something similar for his drawings, but maybe I'll submit a couple of his pictures to this site instead.

By: Hogshead

Hogshead — Mon, 31 May 2010 19:05:33 -0800

My 2.5-year-old is still at the everything-is-a-spiral stage but she's very serious about drawing them, and they are very intense spirals. This weekend her grandmother gave her a set of stencils. As soon as I finish typing this comment I am going to hide them.

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:55:35 -0800

It's the twenty-first century--where the hell are my bathroom robots?