One day, while my daughter was happily distracted in her own marker drawings, I decided to risk pulling out a new sketchbook I had special ordered. It had dark paper, and was perfect for adding highlights to. I had only drawn a little in it, and was anxious to try it again, but knowing our daughter’s love of art supplies, it meant that if I wasn’t sly enough, I might have to share. (Note: I’m all about kid’s crafts, but when it comes to my own art projects, I don’t like to share.) Since she was engrossed in her own project, I thought I might be able to pull it off.
Ahhh, I should’ve known better. No longer had I drawn my first face (I love drawing from old black & white movie stills) had she swooped over to me with an intense look. “OOOH! Is that a NEW sketchbook? Can I draw in that too, mama?” I have to admit, the girl knows good art supplies when she sees them. I muttered something about how it was my special book, how she had her own supplies and blah blah blah, but the appeal of new art supplies was too much for her to resist. In a very serious tone, she looked at me and said, “If you can’t share, we might have to take it away if you can’t share.”
Oh no she didn’t! Girlfriend was using my own mommy-words at me! Impressed, I agreed to comply. “I was going to draw a body on this lady’s face,” I said. “Well, I will do it,” she said very focused, and grabbed the pen. I had resigned myself to let that one go. To let her have the page, and then let it go. I would just draw on my own later, I decided. I love my daughter’s artwork, truly I do! But this was MY sketchbook, my inner kid complained.
Not surprisingly, I LOVED what she drew. I had drawn a woman’s face, and she had turned her into a dinosaur-woman. It was beautiful, it was carefree, and for as much as I don’t like to share, I LOVED what she had created. Flipping through my sketchbook, I found another doodle of a face I had not yet finished. She drew a body on it, too, and I was enthralled. It was such a beautiful combination of my style and hers. And she LOVED being a part of it. She never hesitated in her intent. She wasn’t tentative. She was insistent and confident that she would of course improve any illustration I might have done. …And the thing is, she DID.
Soon, she began flipping through my sketchbook, looking for more heads. “Do you have any heads for me today?” she would ask me each morning. So I began making a point at night to draw some faces for her (which was my pleasure–faces are my favorite part, anyway). She would then pick up a pen with great focus, and begin to draw. Later, I would add color and highlights, texture and painting, to make a complete piece. Sometimes she filled in the solid areas with colored markers, but I would always finish with acrylics later on my own.
Sometimes I would give her suggestions, like “maybe she could have a dragon body!” but usually she would ignore theses suggestions if it didn’t fit in with what she already had in mind. But since I am a grownup and a little bit (okay a lot) of a perfectionist, I sometimes would have a specific idea in mind as I doodled my heads. Maybe she could make this into a bug! I’d think happily to myself as I sketched, imagining the possibilities of what it could look like. So later, when she’d doodle some crazy shape that seemed to go in some surrealistic direction, or put a large circle around the creature and filled the WHOLE THING in with marker, part of my brain would think, What is she DOING?!? She’s just scribbling it all up! But I should know that in most instances, kids’ imaginations way outweigh a grownup’s, and it always ALWAYS looked better that what I had imagined. ALWAYS.
For example, the filled-in marker of the one above, she told me, was a chrysalis, for the caterpillar to transform into a butterfly. Of COURSE it is. I never would have thought of that. And that’s why kids make awesome artists.
Later, I would show her what I had done with our drawings–the painting and coloring. She seemed to critique them pretty harshly. “That’s silly, mama.” or “you put WATER behind her?” But for the most part, she enjoyed them. I enjoyed them. I LOVE them.
And from it all, here are the lessons I learned: to try not to be so rigid. Yes, some things (like my new sketchbook) are sacred, but if you let go of those chains, new and wonderful things can happen. Those things you hold so dear cannot change and grow and expand unless you loosen your grip on them a little. In sharing my artwork and allowing our daughter to be an equal in our collaborations, I helped solidify her confidence, which is way more precious than any doodle I could have done. In her mind, her contributions were as valid as mine (and in truth, they really were). Most importantly, I learned that if you have a preconceived notion of how something should be, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE DISAPPOINTED. Instead, just go with it, just ACCEPT it, because usually something even more wonderful will come out of it.
SIDE NOTE: As an idea (mainly for myself) I decided to put just a few of our collaborative prints up for sale on a site called Society 6. I purchased one myself (the space beavers, called “Outer Face”) to see how they would turn out, and I’m pretty happy with it. We’ve done dozens and dozens of collaborative sketches, but I only put a few up as prints. I’m not sure what to do with the others. Maybe make a children’s book out of them? Make poems to go along? I’m not sure, but I love them with a very large portion of my heart, and they need a special place.
busy mockingbird 
[…] https://busymockingbird.com/2013/08/27/collaborating-with-a-4-year-old/ […]
As an artist, mom, grandma AND great-grandma to a funny five-year-old, I applaud your “good mommy-ness” and can appreciate your hesitancy to give over the new sketchbook. But what wonderful moments and memories you’ve made. There’s always another sketchbook to be had. Great post (and artwork … from BOTH of you 🙂
[…] illustrator Mica Angela Hendricks had just bought a new sketchbook when her 4-year-old daughter noticed and insisted on trying it […]
holy crap these are amazing i LOVE IT.
LOVE IT! Space beavers – my favorite :))
Ah, creation from uninhibited imagination! Kudos to you for being the ‘bigger’ kid! I think you should make them into a coffee-table book.. a showcase of how the energy of a child’s world and the perception of an adult’s can meld into a beautiful piece of art!
These are excellent! The combination creates a very original vibe, awesome work!
“Out of the pens of babes” This is so great!
Maybe you could initiate a mural at her school, a collaboration of few adult artists and the rest kids. Then you could take the most interesting elements and put those together in a kind of photo collage and post that on the school’s website or some appropriate venue, to be shared amounts other schools bringing more and more adult/child collaborations and then we could get rid of all our T.V.’s and regrow our collective brains.
This is one of the most beautiful things I have heard! Allowing your little one to express her inner treasures is so beautiful! I need and want one of these paintings! You little one have a beautiful soul. I love you
These are Amazing !!!! I would buy them !
Please consider selling these and thank you for sharing this journey and the beautiful treasures that were born from it, ♡♥
I love these pictures, and I love the idea of making a book of poetry to combine with some of them. In fact, I’d even love to write the poems! 🙂
[…] Mica Angela Hendricks collaborates with her 4-Year-Old daughter creating stunning illustrations. Each drawing begins with Hendricks drawing a detailed head, after which her daughter adds on her own vision on how the drawing should evolve. Afterward Hendricks goes back in to polish things up a bit. And that’s how oddly charming dinosaur women, slug ladies, and beaver astronauts are born. Read more. […]
Dearest Maggie and Charlotte, these are AMAZING! I love, love, love them. I can’t wait for the children’s book. Can I preorder?
I’m not a mother so I don’t have that perspective but as a fellow doodle-er I am just astonished at the beauty and creativity of the artwork you and your daughter are creating. How wonderful to have the refined adult drawing combined with the carefree imagination of a child- what a concept! Can’t wait to see what the two of you are creating together in a decade!
Simply amazing… best artist collaboration I’ve ever seen. “I learned: to try not to be so rigid. Yes, some things (like my new sketchbook) are sacred, but if you let go of those chains, new and wonderful things can happen. Those things you hold so dear cannot change and grow and expand unless you loosen your grip on them a little.” – this is a big secret to life!
I’d like to see your collaborations opened up to the public! Have people send in photos/pics for you & myla to draw. I realize it would be a fine line to walk putting your daughter to work… but I’d imagine you could put some restrictions on customers upfront: putting a somewhat large price on the works would interest only serious customers and let customers know the wait for the artwork would be wholly random according to your/myla’s schedule…. just a thought… I’d be first in line!
What a feel good blog post!! And absolutely beautiful! I totally don’t have a 4 year old, but you’ve got me instantly wondering how I can collaborate and be creative with my four legged son.
Fantastic collaboration. Love your works. Thank you for sharing.
I love these pictures. It’s nice that you are collaborating with your daughter…I wish I did something fun like this with my mom when I was young. I’m sure she will treasure these pictures when she gets older!
[…] Mica Angela Hendricks, illustrator and graphic […]
A reblogué ceci sur Wonder Art.
I am an artist, and have always done art with my granddaughter, she is now 8 years old, and has done some marvelous, free, very artistic things. Making great memory moments for me , and I hope for her as well. Bravo to you for sharing your treaures with us. They are wonderful!!!
These are STUNNING!
Creative, inspiring and another wonderful reminder to surrender, release, open up to the new and always draw outside the lines.
great art! Is your Falling Leaves portrait of actress Jeanette MacDonald? And I LOVE your Peter Dinklage portrait/caricature!
Wow! She is very artistic. Never stop on supporting your child with her talent she is still young, she can do things more “strike while the iron is hot”…
Incredible!! Beautiful work!
Reblogged this on Perpetual Flux: A Life In Transition and commented:
This is a nice story of a mother sharing her passion with her daughter and giving up control to make her already impressive sketches even better!
This is a great example of changing perspective and working to remove expectations and inhibitions when dealing with a familiar situation.
Insanely creative!
I am SO in love with these. Saw them on HuffPo and thought, as I was reading along, “they should sell them”, and you DO! Yay!
I have a question, would the two of you do a custom piece? I’d love to have myself and my guy depicted together in such a whimsical, fantastical work!
[…] This amazing artist collaborates with her four-year-old daughter. I kind of want to buy a print just to constantly remind myself that things definitely don’t end up like you thought they would… but they are still so beautiful. […]
Reblogged this on live simple and commented:
Introducing Mica Angela Hendricks. She is an illustrator and graphic artist. She has a project in which she made an amazing initiative collaborating with children. You must check her blog. Good Luck Mica ^^
Hat dies auf knusperpost rebloggt und kommentierte:
Wundervoll, was passieren kann, wenn man den Dingen ihren Lauf lässt … 🙂
[…] Busy Mockingbird and her little […]
Reblogged this on Oyia Brown.
[…] @ The Busy MockingBird | Vía @ My Modern […]
Wow!! I have never seen such amazing collaborative work!! And to me, it felt like I was revisiting Alice in Wonderland!
These are wonderful!
[…] mystique to them, so the effect of such teamwork would be lost. But, in the case of illustrator Mica Angela Hendricks, the results of of her (at first) unwitting collaboration with her daughter are whimsical, […]
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=irule
How cool is that!! You are both very talented and the combo of both your styles is very fun!
These are wonderful!!
I too have grown up watching my grandmother draw sculpt well pretty much anything I wanted to instill this is my daughter as well just like you she pretty much took control and I love every picture she does your pictures remind me a lot of what we do together I can open a book and she’s made something into a miracle greatest feeling in the world! my grandmothers family was very
much a part of the art world and some sculpturesare still on display in museums as well as her grandfather was one of the first designers for Tiffany’s after my grandmother passed everything with Hannah down to her needy it family and I have nothing to remember her by except for a few sketches to cherish and of course unforgettable memories. so cherish what you have and remember to share with the world I think some of the best lifelong lessons are learned thru the process not the product but we are blessed to have both
I so messed up on my previous comment I really should proofread first I never meant to say needy hannah. I’m still learning about this talk to text thing none the less I love the pics and enjoy art as well with my daughter. I would love to see more pics is there a site for visiting your artwork
[…] friend Jill shared this blog post: Collaborating with a 4 Year Old, on her Facebook page and after reading it I just had to share it here with you! Please go […]
First thing I read this morning – what a treat for me! Very inspiring since Im an artist myself. I love the painting and colors! And envy the faces!!!
One of the things that I enjoy is having published artbooks in my library.
If you published those creations, I’d by the book faster then Unison Bolt.
[…] Wenn das mal nicht die wundervollste, süßeste, großartigste und fantastische Kollaboration des Jahres ist! Ach was, des Jahrzehnts. Vielleicht auch des Jahrhunderts! Die Künstlerin und Grafik-Designerin Mica Angela Hendricks, deren Porträts sich auch so schon sehen lassen können, lässt ihre vierjährige Tochter die begonnenen Kunstwerke vollenden. Und das Ergebnis ist… … ohmeingottohmeingottohmeingott! Jaja… ich wiederhole mich: Aber eine solch fantastische Kombination aus künstlerischer Verspieltheit, eskapistischer Schönheit und just pure arty awesomeness habe ich echt schon lange nicht mehr gesehen. Die verträumten, klassisch kindlichen und zugleich beispiellos lebensfrohen Kritzeleien der Kleinen passen einfach perfekt zu den klassich verspielten, warmherzigen und beispiellos lebensfrohen Porträts ihrer Mutter… Kann man sich in Bilder verlieben? Ich glaube, mir ist genau das gerade passiert. ohmeingottohmeingottohmeingottohmeingott! […]
I just LOVE this. I’m a perfectionist too, and I “hide” stuff from my 5yo daughter like that all the time. Thank you for the reminder to let go and enjoy the ride!
[…] Collaborating With A 4-Year Old (The Busy Mockingbird) […]
Hello! My name is Vanity. I am an art gallery curator at Trenton Social which is located in Trenton NJ. This blog was brought to my attention and I wanted to know if you would want to have a featured solo show with us in the year 2014??? WE ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS!! Please contact me!I look forward to hearing back from you!!
Vanity
These are beautiful! What a wonderful collaboration. Kudos to you for sharing and kudos to your little one, these are one of a kind.