Who's in the mood to laugh? Here's a selection of... old art! Yes, VERY, very old. A while ago, someone on a message board (hi Wertle!) posted art they'd done as a child, and asked for others to post their "kid art", too. I've been very lucky in that my parents always encourgaged me to draw, and saved a lot of my old stuff. I wish more people had that sort of opportunity - I love to see "kid art"! (I'm talking about stuff straight from imagination, not the sort of art where kids are forced to copy from photos which, while it has its merits, isn't as interesting to me personally).
There's just something so fresh and new and wonderful about art done by kids who haven't had their creativity crushed yet. (I'd get into my whole "wonders of the creative process" essay here, but I think that's best saved for another time.) Nothing spectacular, but then I never claimed to be a prodigy. Enough talk - here we go! Click on the image to view it full-size.
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Here's one of my earliest-ever dragons. My Dad (a high-school physics/earth science/astronomy etc. teacher) used to bring home a lot of old textbooks for us to look at. We drew in them, too.
"FOT" = "foot", "YiG" = "wing", "STAMiX/STAMIKE" = "stomach", and I think "OiOiO" = "nose" (I liked capital O's and lowercase i's a lot as a kid). Of course, the stomach HAD to have a bellybutton, and the tail a suitably-draconic triangular tip. Dig the big nose, pointy ear, beard, and enormous feet! I guess I always liked red.
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Here's another old one from the same textbook; I must've thought that, being that this was a picture of a cave, there NEEDED to be bats!
I added more bats in later years. I don't remember why I added the green houses, though. I did, however, get a lot of mileage out of my father's 4-color pen.
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Next: I always loved dragons and huge monsters, too. At one point I guess I thought "more is better", resulting in this creation.
Gee, a little bit of everything in that one! (circa 4th grade). Typical of my style at the time - stomach-flaps, big (duck???) feet, lots of fangs & blood, and fur-tufts EVERYWHERE! It was a sort of "all-terrain" creature, with wings to fly with, webbed feet and a fish-tail to swim with, and four legs for walking on land. I also liked the "Egyptian/Horus" eye-curl-thing, and I drew it on many of my monsters. I never guessed it would become such a popular feature in online art! This is actually a pretty big pic (over 11 x 17"). No sparing the Crayolas!
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Besides dragons, I have this obsession with sabretoothed cats. It's followed me through the years! Here's another 4th grade pic, complete with blood and drool. In later years I went back and re-drew it, on the same page. Put 'em in order for fun (or not, whatever ;D)!
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Oh, and here's me (well, part of me) from, like, 2nd or 3rd grade (circa late 1970's), sitting next to some construction paper-and-carboard monsters (an asian-type dragon with unusual wings, a sabretoothed black panther-thing, a bat/snake-creature, and a horned bull-demon/hellhound), my in/famous "EEK! it's a killer tiger!" and a crazy toucan. I always loved unusual things.
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Why did I draw the tiger with blood and bones? Why did I make all sorts of fangy things? Well, I loved big, powerful creatures, and they made me happy, so that's what I drew. Besides, as a girl I was expected (by most grown-ups) to make PRETTY things, and I didn't WANT to do what was expected and draw flowers and pretty girls with huge eyelashes. I am very thankful my parents encouraged me to think - and draw - for myself. I had a wonderful childhood.
I'll have to dig up some more; these are just a few I have scanned already. Anyone else have old work to share? I'd love to see it! |
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