More about commercial art plus kids

[naomikritzer]

skylarker (a lovely artist in her own right; I've checked out her work at SF cons) and j_lovescoffee responded to my previous post by suggesting other ways (a con art show, the Internet) that Molly could market her art. I started responses to both of these replies, but got rambly enough I decided to just do another post.

One of the most interesting bits of the Wikipedia article about the "art prodigy" was a quote from a child psychologist who observed Olmstead painting:

When Winner reviewed the tapes, the psychologist said, "I saw no evidence that she was a child prodigy in painting. I saw a normal, charming, adorable child painting the way preschool children paint, except that she had a coach that kept her going."

Both of my children love to make art. From what I can tell, kids divide roughly by thirds into "no particular interest, would rather do other stuff" / "moderate interest, likes to draw sometimes or play with clay" / "high interest, loves making art and does lots of it." Molly definitely falls into the third group, and Kiera does too, though to a slightly lesser degree.

The way preschool children generally paint is to ask for a piece of paper, then play with paint for a while in an experimental way. They aren't very good at rinsing their brushes or using one brush per color, so colors get mixed quickly. Depending on the paint they use and the colors they have available and how long they go, they frequently wind up with a muddy blob in the middle of a white sheet of paper, hand it to you, tell you they're done, and demand a fresh sheet. The process is much more exciting than the product.

No one except possibly an indulgent grandparent is going to pay money for the muddy blob style of painting. Saleable art doesn't have to be representational, and if it is representational, it doesn't have to be highly accurate, but the muddy or washed-out colors will not win fans.

The "washed-out color" problem is easily fixable if you buy your kid high-quality supplies. You don't need the artist watercolors in tubes, just the $5 set in a pan instead of the $1 set will look way better, and a pad of painting paper will soak up the water without curling up as it dries.

The "muddy blob" problem is also pretty easy to solve, if you want to: you can stand behind your child, and when they've produced a painting you think is good, YOU can tell them it's done, take it away, and give them a fresh sheet of paper. Of course, then it isn't really the kid who's producing the art. Knowing when to stop is as much a part of being an artist as knowing how to start.

Once they get older, the problem (or "problem" with the scare quotes -- really, this is only an issue if you have an investment in the kid's output) shifts and instead they want to quit too soon, leaving huge white areas. Again, an (over)involved parent can "fix" this by telling them they need to fill in the blank areas.

If Molly were to seriously market her art to people who were not mostly her grandparents and her aunt, I think she could, if she wanted to, and priced things at a "oh, hell, why not?" level. Which you might as well if you're a kid, you don't need to pay rent, your mom buys your art supplies, and $1 is your weekly allowance. But, here are some things she'd have to start doing.

First, she'd need to learn which techniques produced saleable art. While preparing for the art sale, she produced all sorts of very strange and random things, held them up, and asked me if I thought anyone would buy them. This included things like drawings that had been accordian-folded and then crumpled to make them more visually interesting and drawings randomly embellished with Disney princess stickers.

Second, she'd need to focus on themes that would appeal to people looking for something to hang up and/or components of capsters that people would find appealing to wear.

Third, once she'd decided to, for example, do Spoonbridge With Pumpkin in crayon with watercolor wash, she'd need to commit to spending at least 15 minutes on that particular work rather than rushing through it, which is what she does (understandably) when she's painting something that doesn't particularly interest her, and frequently even when she's painting something she's quite excited about.

Now, if I were really into the idea, I could probably get Molly to go along with it. I could choose her materials, push topics, and lean on her to finish what she starts, all the while giving her pep talks about how she could sell this stuff for REAL MONEY, which would be pretty exciting to her.

But then I would be the visual art equivalent of a pageant mom, and long-time family friends with a commitment to the well-being of my children would need to drop by to beat me senseless.

If I suggested entering a con art show, or selling things on the Internet, Molly would love the idea. But, then she would need to make enough capster pins or frameable paintings to make it worthwhile...because five itty bitty capsters in an exhibit at a con art show would look pretty meager and sad. And really, if she wants to make and sell capsters, that's fine, but I don't want her to do it because I suggested it. When she sits down to draw or make stuff, I want her to draw or make whatever appeals to her at that moment in time.

If she becomes an artist when she grows up and actually tries to make a living at it, she will certainly need to take commercial factors into consideration. But at seven -- naaaaaaaah. She can at least wait until she's ten and we start charging her rent.

(That was a joke. We won't start charging her rent until she is at least thirteen.)

Comments

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't expect Molly to start producing large quantities of art for sale, but if she happened to have a few pieces that she liked enough to put into frames or matts, and Mom didn't mind the fifty cent hanging fee at a convention art show, it might be fun for her to show them off.

I haven't found it particularly easy to make real money through art, and I've been trying for years. :) The marketing part is a real job and takes some real time and energy and isn't necessarily as fun as the painting or drawing can be.

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

So, on the whole Making Money Through Art topic -- do you sell any of your originals?

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

Seldom. The 'prints' of a lot of my drawings actually qualify as 'multiple originals.'

I start from plain gray pencil drawings and add color and sometimes other modifications digitally. The 'original' originals don't necessarily look as nice.

[naomikritzer]

This is very true, and another part of why I'm hesitant to encourage her beyond "sure, you can set up a card table in the yard." Because it mostly wouldn't be Molly doing the marketing parts, KWIM? At least not until she's older.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

KWIM?

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

Know What I Mean

[naomikritzer]

And also, just to clarify -- REAL MONEY in this context would be according to Molly's perceptions. So, not a whole lot, really.

[naomikritzer]

(Sorry to serial post...) Also, I had no real idea what it cost to display art at a convention art show. That's cheaper than I would have guessed, even for a pretty small con. I will bear that in mind -- though, the real cost would be a membership for Molly plus the hassle factor of having to haul her around a con instead of leaving her home with Ed. She is almost old enough to really enjoy some of the kid-friendlier local cons (oodles of free junk food! games! books! fellow bookworms! shopping!) but I enjoy having some time off from taking care of the girls, so it's probably going to be a while before she gets to go to one.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

The costs vary a lot by convention. I know some of our local cons don't charge much. (I've been to other cons that charge artists $30 or $40 per panel!)

I can see why you might want to wait until she's older before bringing her to conventions.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

It's very funny that you happened to post this (and the other post) today, because also today DD's school sent home the information about their latest fundraising project: a company that makes greeting cards out of your kid's artwork (or digital photography, or graphic art). For $20 ($15 for the second and subsequent sets) you get 12 greeting cards (well, blank cards; you pay extra for a printed greeting, but who needs that?) with your kid's art on the front and a little blurb with their name, age, and the medium (or media) in which the work was created on the back.

And I had two thoughts about this.

Thought One was, Wow, this is actually pretty cool. DD would be totally stoked to open up a box and find a dozen nice, professional-looking cards with her very own drawing or painting on them, and she could use them to send thank-you notes to people who send her presents, and they would love that.

Thought Two was, Holy frack, she's five years old. Okay, she drew that one really cool orange hippo,* but mostly she draws stick figures and paints muddy blobs, and I think putting this one available sheet of white cardstock in front of her and announcing that she has to make one really cool piece of artwork is going to take all the fun out of it, plus also create upset when, inevitably, said artwork doesn't turn out to be perfect. Do I really want to get into this?

DH and I often suggest to DD that she make a painting or a drawing for some particular person, but that's about as far as we've ever gone with the pushing. She doesn't need pushing: the apartment is littered with discarded artwork, of various levels of competence, and she veers wildly between thinking everything she does is wonderful and thinking everything she does is terrible. I think it's a little early to start encouraging either perception ;^).

* I was totally impressed by the orange hippo, because, apart from being orange, it looks much more like a hippo than any hippo I could possibly draw. The following week DD drew another hippo at school, and this one was even more impressive because, although it didn't look nearly as much like a hippo, she had written "hippopotamus" on the back: HPPTM. :D