A couple of weeks ago, I talked about how Myla wanted to be a “real artist” and make people happy with artwork.  Although I assured her that she already WAS a “real artist,” we took on ten commissions, and I thought I’d post on how they were going.

First off, I start by drawing a head from the pictures that were sent.  I keep it pretty straightforward, and try to keep it fairly simple.  Next, when she’s looking for a fun project to work on, I’ll ask if she’d like to start on some of the custom portraits…two words she had previously not known, but is now quite familiar with.

From the emails the client sent, I would tell her a little about the person.  “they call him a wiggle-worm, they love garden scenes, and his favorite toy is rainbow-colored.”  So she drew the little baby as a rainbow-colored caterpillar, watering his garden, with an ant peeking in on him…

Or: “they call her ‘Princess Batman,” and her favorite animal is a fox.”  She drew the girl as a fox with bat-wings and a crown, carrying a space helmet in her hand.  Maybe a little literal, but fun nonetheless…

Or: “He had a pirate wedding, and he loves Star Wars and space.” So she drew him as a space pirate, with a light saber and Solo’s blaster, in a great battle with an alien on Jupiter, who’s chucking knives at him…

And there was this one, who loved magical creatures, like unicorns, mermaids, and whales…so she drew her as a whale-hugging merm-i-corn. (That’s a word, right?)  If you look carefully, you’ll notice her torso is actually made of unicorn hair…because she wanted to make sure the unicorn had a bit of the spotlight, as well…

With this one, I said, “she loves magical things, like fairies and moths, and she collects coffee cups.”  …So she drew her as a luna moth fairy–with teensy weensy itty bitty coffee cups in her hand, and decorating her hair…

Thankfully, so many people were up for letting us use our creativity, and being open to whatever came out.  Myla LOVED the “portrait assignments.”  She loved having a little prompt.  And having someone list an idea of what they have in mind for their portrait has actually become a GOOD exercise for her in limitations.

She really loves to tell little stories with her drawings, (as with the space pirate above, and the gnome fairy below), but I have to remind her that they still want it to be a portrait of someone they love, so maybe hold back a smidge of the wildness a little, so that everyone’s happy.

At first, it feels like I’m limiting her creativity, which is something I was very wary of, and worried about early on…But actually, I’m finding it to be a very GOOD practice for her–to be able to work on something for someone else within certain parameters and still have fun with it.  I think this is something that will come in handy in whatever job field she chooses, and is especially helpful if she chooses to be a working artist.

It feels like she’s kind of like a pinball in a pinball machine–she gets to bounce around a bit, but she still has a basic path.  And that’s good.

So we’re waiting to finish the last three…in the meantime, we may have more in the future; I’ll be sure to post if we do!  I don’t want to overwhelm her.  I have asked her every step of the way if it’s fun…if it’s a challenge…if it’s something she enjoys…and so far, it’s been a resounding yes.  She is six going on 36, and she is excited to be making people smile.  She wants to do lots of things, and she wants to make people happy with her art.

For now, I guess I’m pretty okay with that.  🙂