Jeremy "UncleHoot" Praay wrote:
> My daughter loves to draw.  Honestly, at 11, she might already be able to 
> draw better than I can.  That's not saying a whole lot, though, but I think 
> she has potential.  She LOVES anime, and that's where her artistic interest 
> lies.  She wants to be an "animator".

Encourage her to experiment with different styles of drawing. Different
media, perspectives, layout. More on why, later.

> When I was younger, I loved to draw and paint, and perhaps I could have 
> developed that part of myself, but instead, I decided to take a much more 
> practical view of the rest of my life, and went into the computer field, 
> essentially guaranteeing (I hoped) that I would have a job somewhere.  Do I 
> have regrets?  A little.  Do I think I made the wrong choice?  No.  But what 
> I do think about is that I could have still mixed-in some art classes in 
> high school and college.  Instead, I went all-out geek, and only took 
> "geeky" classes: programming (obviously), math, physics, chemistry, etc. 
> That's what I regret.

I did the same as a kid. I could handle 2 point perspective before I was
ten, and was trying to wrap my head around 3 point. I loved Imagination
Station on PBS, but that might be aimed a little too young for an 11
year old.

What stopped me, and got me behind a camera or keyboard was too many
people telling me what I should not be drawing. No one told me what I
should try, just that there were things I shouldn't draw.

Don't over critique her work. If you notice that she is trying a new
style or technique, offer subtle pointers if you have to but help her
spot the stuff first. Ask for an explanation why, if say one shadow is
going the wrong direction or a building is leaning out of kilter, she
did that. That will also help her get used to the BS sessions that she
may do later if she goes to art school. At 11 she can get away with "The
red splotches represent my inner anger when my pet hamster died." but at
19 that will just get an eye-roll from professors.

> But as for my daughter, she may have more potential than I did.  She will 
> likely never be a Salvador Dali, or Hayao Miyazaki, but perhaps she could be 
> a Yoshitoshi Abe (one of my favorite animators).  Or maybe she'll change her 
> mind when she's 16.  Who knows.  I just want to make sure that I encourage 
> her in the mean-time, and if she does choose to take the artistic path, I'd 
> like to know what that entails, but I don't know anything.
> 
> Any advice?  Tips? 
> 
> 

Yeah, she will never be any of the folks you mentioned. She will either
be her self, with her own style and vision, or she won't be in the right
field. Taking after someone elses style in order to learn a new style is
fine. Striving to be like another artist leaves your own work feeling
dull, since your real meaning was to copy, not create.

Take her to museums when you can. Teach her to critique other peoples
work by doing so. You may never have to teach her to critique her own
work, then. Take her out and teach her to draw a scene; landscape,
buildings, whatever; exactly as she sees it. And how to draw things that
she doesn't see.

Even if she changes her mind later, she will always have those skills
and the memories of learning them from YOU.

And even if she doesn't study graphic art later, there is always
photography, advertising, chemistry, physics, computers, math, biology
and everything else. All of which can be applied to artistic endeavor.
So encourage every hobby that you can. I don't mean you need to buy her
all the tools she needs; drums if she wants to be a drummer one day,
lots of paints, paper and easels for painting, a new computer and Maya
for 3D animation. But get her to look at the tools, figure out if she is
willing to put in the time and effort to both acquire the tools and
learn to use them.


Disclaimer: Not a parent myself. Just what I have picked up from
baby-sitting teenagers, child psychology, and watching freshman trying
to build portfolios for college. The last is amusing if you are studying
in a different department and can listen in on what the professors
actually think.

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