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 
Would you consider making these available as aluminum metal prints? I’d buy them in a hot second. Please say yes!
Wow!!! This is lovely in som many ways. A great inspiration and I would love to see more of it!
[…] What happens when an artist collaborates with her 4-year old? Whimsical beauty. […]
So inspiring! I wish I’d had kids. Cherish this.
Any chance you’re planning produce poster prints of these for sale? I want these on the empty walls of my new apartment O_O
[…] Mica Angela Hendricks is a wonderful illustrator. She has a very curious and creative 4-year old daughter with whom she started the most amazing collaboration. Mica begins a drawing and her daughter finishes it. The results are amazing. Read all about it here. […]
Oh this is so, so perfect. Collaboration at its best 🙂
[…] does an artist encourage her child to color and draw? She begins an illustration and lets her 4-year old complete the picture. This collaboration provides for some pretty amazing eye candy (of the arts kind). I love that this […]
Dear Mica,
I am a regular contributor to http://www.soi.com.vn, a Vietnamese website for visual arts. I’d love to write a short piece about the works by you and your daughter (in Vietnamese) with some images from this post. I would have emailed you but I struggled to find your email on the website. Please advise if this is ok with you. I will send you the link to the article, of course.
Thanks
Mai
Reblogged this on katjusaparentingblog.
[…] The lessons an illustrator learned by collaborating with her four-year-old daughter–and the amazing drawings that resulted. (The Busy Mockingbird) […]
[…] Images © Mica Angela Hendricks […]
[…] which has come up a couple of times in our office this week is the work of Mica Angela Hendricks and her four year old daughter who work together to create a beautiful dinosaur women and brave […]
[…] Angela Hendricks est illustratrice et propose sur son site Internet une multitude de dessins. La fillette âgée de 4 ans est également une passionnée et veut […]
[…] weitere Details der Zeichnung. So entstehen wunderbar leichte, witzige und surreale Porträts. In einem Blogbeitrag erklärt Mica Angela Hendricks den gesamten […]
I want all of those prints! Oh my gosh, they’re incredible. Does the money from the prints come straight to you or does Society6 get to keep a bunch of it?
Thank you for such a beautiful reminder that letting go of my anxiety about the perfection of my drawings is always the right path.
Thank you so much! Ah, they take a good chunk, but they are also responsible for printing distribution and mailing…and that’s great! Eventually I may try a new place, but for now I am happy with society6.
[…] Angela Hendricks is a fantastic illustrator and graphic artist and also the writer of the busy mockingbird blog! Accidentally one day, she found herself creating pieces of art in collaboration with her 4 […]
I would buy this children’s book!! This was a very inspiring article and I think you and your daughter are fantastic artists!
[…] Mica Angela Hendricks est graphiste, illustratrice et mère d’une petite fille de 4 ans. Mère et fille collaborent à des créations artistiques étonnantes. Leurs styles, pourtant différents s’accordent parfaitement. Cela est arrivé par hasard. La petite avait demandé à sa mère de pouvoir dessiner dans son carnet. L’illustratrice a dans un premier temps refusé. Meme si elle reconnait à sa fille un certain « don » artistique, son matériel et son travail sont sacrés. Sa fille lui a rétorqué « On va devoir t’enlever ton carnet si tu ne sais pas partager »… Que dire à une réponse que l’on aurait sois même donné ? Elle lui a donc laissé son carnet, pensant que sa fille allait faire un dessin sur une page blanche mais quand elle l’a ouvert, surprise, sa fille avait complété le visage d’une femme qu’elle venait de dessiner juste avant et elle l’avait transformé en une femme-dinosaure. Mica Angela a trouvé le dessin très beau, insouciant. Elle a tout de suite adoré la création de sa fille, une belle combinaison entre son style et le sien. Depuis, Mica Angela dessine des portraits la nuit que sa fille transforme le jour et cela donne des résultats surprenants, très poétiques, des personnages hybrides mi-femme, mi-insecte, sirènes, homme-castor… A découvrir sur le blog de l’artiste. […]
The collaboration is great. Kids see so many things that we don’t.
Would be wonderful as a Children’s Collaborative Storybook … I wonder what story the kids would make-up to go along with these pictures … delightful!!
Put them up on display at the Great Ormand Street Hospital… 🙂
Great for parents and kids…
🙂
I love this soooo much. Beautiful work, love the kiddie collaboration!
[…] Angela Hendricks’ “Collaborating with a 4-year-old,” showcasing her and her daughter’s unique series of quirky, whimsical sketches, has been […]
Reblogged this on 20poorandfabulous and commented:
A mother’s collaborative art project with her 4 year old daughter that is so fucking awesome.
you could ask your daughter to tell you stories about each picture and then write them. Then you could sell the stories along with the prints, or a book of prints and stories. If you get my drift…
[…] This link has been going around the tumblrs a lot lately, but Mica Hendricks collaborated with her 4yo daughter on some portraits and they are basically the best and cutest ever. […]
[…] Just like this… […]
Some of them are really insteresing to look at
Reblogged this on Flying On Empty Thoughts and commented:
I can’t get over how awesome this post it. So creative and it is something new.
Wow you already got 850 responses, I feel silly writing this but anyhow. I loved this post and reblogged it too(don’t really do that often, only for special post,this sure was!) I think you should get ready for a real art gallery with these amazing drawings.They are great and funny and really something new. Keep at it, you both! 😀
[…] This has gone viral, but I absolutely love it…to the point that I purchased some prints. Mother/toddler art collaboration. […]
Like a whimsical version of Exquisite Corpse. Can’t stop looking at them. Nice work!!
My husband just sent me a link to this saying it was something that is truly awesome. I love the things you have created together, so nice to have a fresh mind to work with!! My niece told me the other day ‘you should use more birdies’, I said why, she replied ‘because then the things you make come out really good, ‘cos you love birdies Auntie’ – she might have a point…I was in two minds about her ‘advice’ until I read this post. Thank you. Cx
[…] is also a link on HERE to an incredible collaboration between a professional illustrator and her astute 4-year-old […]
[…] I’m looking forward to creating some truly collaborative illustration activities with the kids, and have a couple of ideas, partly inspired by this awesome artist mom, Mica Angela. […]
[…] está muito zueiro, faça algo mais produtivo como essa dupla de mãe e filha de 4 anos que fazem desenhos juntas. A mãe começa desenhando um rosto e a filha termina desenhando o que sair de sua fértil […]
[…] Fler finns här. […]
[…] 3. アート：4歳の子どもとコラボした結果…これがアートか…！ […]
[…] Illustrator and Graphic Designer Mica Hendricks and her four year old daughter have collaborated on some pretty amazing drawings together. Mica Hendricks the drawing and her daughter transforms them into something even more extraordinary and imaginative. Read more about Mica and her creative process here. […]
These are so amazing, but I especially love that you collaborated with your little girl on these! Could you do prints like these of people in “real life” such as family portraits, or do you only do people from books?
Thank you! I haven’t done any custom work. I usually just work from old photos.
I have to tell you that your post so inspired me that I ran out today to buy a new sketch book so that my 7 year old son and I could “collaborate” in. Thank you so much for your fabulous post and for the brilliant idea! The Mom in me is already imagining books upon books filled with our drawings. A priceless family heirloom. Love it! You rock! Thx.
That’s so awesome! Good for you! I’d love to see what you all come up with!
I’ll be sure to show you! Thanks again for the inspiration!
[…] If you can’t share, we might have to take it away if you can’t share […]
Reblogged this on lagoarthurstudio and commented:
This blog post so inspired me that I ran out today and bought a sketch book for me and my son to “collaborate” in. Best idea ever!
In my on-and-off career as an artist, I have at times collaborated with family. My own daughter (now 14) is a pretty decent artist in her own right, and I miss the times when we would sit over a sketch book and share drawings. What you did here moves me (almost to tears). I LOVE this work, and your commentary. Thanks for putting this blog out there, and please visit mine, if you get a chance!
Reblogged this on You Don't Know Me, But You Will… and commented:
Please check out this awesome artist/blogger, who recently stirred up the web-world with a fantastic collaboration with her little girl! These pieces are stunning, and her story is both humorous and touching!
[…] Angela Hendricks’ “Collaborating with a 4-year-old,” showcasing her and her daughter’s unique series of quirky, whimsical sketches, has been […]
WOW! These are great! Both your work AND your daughters!
[…] Collaborating with a 4-year Old on the busy mockingbird […]
Reblogged this on A jobless Pediatrician and commented:
Amazing