I Could Almost Shed a Tear! [Updated 11/26/07, Please Read! Anyone want to Collab?]

[Pezz]

So yesterday at Best Buy, where I now work, I helped a customer.. but not just any customer. I overheard a co-worker stumbling his way through explaining a Wacom tablet. A lot of my co-workers don't know much about them, so I offered to take over the sale.

Who stood before me but a 9 year old boy and his guardian. The boy had recently taken a local cartooning class, but he'd always loved to draw they explained. The boy's instructor recommended a Wacom tablet to him to further explore his interest in computer art, and so they were perusing the Bamboo Fun models, the Graphire4's, and the Intuos3's that we had in stock. I was delighted to help them, of course.

After I explained the benefits and drawbacks of each tablet, I told him that Graphire4 might be the way to go. He was drawn to the bigger software bundle of the Intuos3, and after I explained how the pressure sensitivty worked, he became very interested.

What kind of cartoons do you like to draw? American or Japanese?

He responded that he wasn't sure, but he loved Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering. I explained that it was a mixture of both, and he smiled. I also told him that a lot of the cards you see in Yu Gi Oh and Magic: The Gathering were either colored or painted entirely using a computer program. I could see excitement in his eyes!

Eventually he had his heart set on the Intuos3 tablet, but I took a moment to pull the young boy and his guardian aside.

I know you're excited about this tablet, and I know you like Pokemon, but remember that it won't make you better, it's just another tool. When all else fails, remember that you always have a pencil and paper. I said to him.

The kid nodded excitedly and hugged his new tablet after I handed it to him. He told me that, at the moment, he wasn't very interested in painting in this sense, but after I told him more about Magic: The Gathering he seemed to warm up to the idea. I remember not being enticed by painting at 9 years old either, all I wanted to do was black and white line drawings and anime characters! It's at this age that the bridges between the joy of drawing and the realistic technicalities of improving join, in my opinion.

I saw a bit of myself in him at this age. It was like looking in a mirror, and I told him about how I was working on a portfolio to go to a real art school and that if he kept at it, he could one day also attend an art school.

The best piece of advice I can give you is to draw from life, kid. Even if you think it doesn't have anything to do with Pokemon or your favorite characters, just remember that drawing anything and everything you see will keep you sharp.

He nodded, and I think he understood perfectly fine. Though at that age I didn't take everyone's advice either.

I then took out a business card I had laying around and wrote "http://www.conceptart.org/" on the back of the card. I handed it to him and one to his guardian. I told him that on most forums you have to be 13 to join, but perhaps one day with his parents' permission/observation he could contribute to the community. I told him that there were real artists from all over the world who love to help each other and better each other every day, artists who care about one another and want nothing but growth from all.

I told him that when he shows artists his artwork, he should expect to be corrected on his mistakes. I told him this is not to make him feel bad, but to make him better, because unless you see your mistakes through fresh eyes, it is hard to find them at all.

He smiled and jumped up and down with excitement. He told me that he couldn't wait to get home and try his new toy out, since it comes packaged with some software to get him on his feet (I think Photoshop CS3 is a little expensive for a 9 year old at this point! I also told them about the discount he will be able to get if he goes to art school later in his life) like Painter and Photoshop Essentials. They both thanked me profusely over and over!

One day, kid, I hope to see you successful, and I hope you make something of your passions and your talents. I want you to succeed. Now go home and make your dreams come true one drawing at a time.

His guardian seemed to be holding back tears.

And so was I.


I can only hope that, if he isn't on here now, one day he digs up that busines card and remembers the URL of conceptart.org. Perhaps soon enough, we will welcome another young'in to our ranks.

And that's my good retail story for the year! :yayca:

[Justin.]

thanks for sharing.

This is how things should be. I really hope he remembers everything. Hopefully his cartooning teacher will push him in the right direction as well.

lucky little tyke.

[ShulChi]

lovely story :D.

Wish i had someone like you explain me about drawing and painting when i bought my first graphire.

[HunterKiller_]

:yayca:

[Quofalcon]

Haha that's awesome. I can compare with the mirror-self in the child...never took art seriously at that age, just wanted to have fun. Then again, I believe nearly everyone was that way then.

[bhanu]

Wish somebody ahd given me that advice when I was 9 .
nice story...

[Riiroi]

Wish somebody ahd given me that advice when I was 9 .
nice story...

same here. Awesome story nonetheless. Hope he remembers everything. Thanks for sharing this story.:)

[Alzorath]

Wish someone had give me that advice when I was about 11 :) - woulda saved me a lot of grief (I've drawn for fun most my life, at 11 I started feeling like something was missing and I needed an output - it wasn't until I was like 14 or 15 that I finally realized it was at my fingertips the whole time, and didn't find any good direction for training my skills until a few years later)

Anywho - definitely a good story, hopefully some of it sticks with the young'n :).

[Seedling]

You get big karma points for that! :)

[macks03]

That is the most fake sounding story I've ever read here. :meow:

[Grief]

you forgot the part that goes...

And when you get there, there's going to be an angry man named Grief that you may have to do battle with. He's an arrogant know-it-all, but can be defeated by the power of girl's panties. Remember this. Lord help you remember this.

[Pezz]

you forgot the part that goes...

And when you get there, there's going to be an angry man named Grief that you may have to do battle with. He's an arrogant know-it-all, but can be defeated by the power of girl's panties. Remember this. Lord help you remember this.

Remember also the Insectu Batteru. Nevar forget.

@macks03: Might sound that way, but I assure you, this made my year. Working in retail it was a nice break from "Help me with this now, slave!"

[Favila]

I dont think its fake, but it looks you spiced it up quite a bit

[Jason Rainville]

Fantastic story :D sometimes helping other people achieve what they want is an even better feeling than achieving that yourself. :)

I dont think its fake, but it looks you spiced it up quite a bit

Booooo.

[Vhan Juju]

Nice Pezzle.

[Zaxser]

you forgot the part that goes...

And when you get there, there's going to be an angry man named Grief that you may have to do battle with. He's an arrogant know-it-all, but can be defeated by the power of girl's panties. Remember this. Lord help you remember this.

Where'd my groan button go? :D

[Pezz]

I dont think its fake, but it looks you spiced it up quite a bit

Argh... well i guess you guys can think whatever you want. It's just that when I get the chance to sit down and write out a situation, I attempt to do so skillfuly, so it doesn't look like and then he said this but I said this and we did this the end.

[~Maximiliaan]

Lovely story mate!
This makes me want to draw :p

[Favila]

Argh... well i guess you guys can think whatever you want. It's just that when I get the chance to sit down and write out a situation, I attempt to do so skillfuly, so it doesn't look like and then he said this but I said this and we did this the end.

Sorry if I offended you, that was not my intention. It's just that I think it could seem fake to some people because while you were writing it you lost a lot of spontaneity (sp?).

Anyway I forgot to add that I could have used that advice when I was younger, maybe not when I was 9 but 14 or 15. So great job :)

[Jens]

cool story

i had a similar thing once

I was sitting on a bus with my sketchbook, and there was a little kid with his grandma. It appeared that his grandma bought him this "how to draw fantasy characters" book. He was really excited showing his grandmother all the different creatures... this is a zombie, this is a tyranosaurus, this is a sorcerer. I was totally charmed by him, so I ripped out one of my sketches and gave it to him. Turned out his last name was the same as mine haha.

A couple of days later i got an email from a worried family member asking me if it was wise to encourage the kid to draw and if it was possible to earn money with it. Apparently the kid got REALLY excited about drawing.

this was the sketch i gave him
http://users.pandora.be/NO1/Jens/sketch/birdface.jpg

[Pezz]

cool story

i had a similar thing once

I was sitting on a bus with my sketchbook, and there was a little kid with his grandma. It appeared that his grandma bought him this "how to draw fantasy characters" book. He was really excited showing his grandmother all the different creatures... this is a zombie, this is a tyranosaurus, this is a sorcerer. I was totally charmed by him, so I ripped out one of my sketches and gave it to him. Turned out his last name was the same as mine haha.

A couple of days later i got an email from a worried family member asking me if it was wise to encourage the kid to draw and if it was possible to earn money with it. Apparently the kid got REALLY excited about drawing.

this was the sketch i gave him
http://users.pandora.be/NO1/Jens/sketch/birdface.jpg

Yay! this reminds me of what happened to me when I was around 8 years old too. I used to love the book series Goosebumps when I was in elementary school. Around this time, the illustrator for the books, Tim Jacobus [ http://www.timjacobus.com/ ], was doing a tour of Zany Brainy stores in the area (he's from New Jersey, his art book/bio is called "It Came From New Jersey"). So I gathered up my favorite books and I was all 10 shades of excited. On the way out the door though I grabbed my loose collection of 8.5x11 blank pages I referred to as my sketchbook, because I wanted a 'real artist' to see my work, and this is the first time I was ever interested in constructive criticism. Funny too, they were all crazy super soldiers and werewolves and stuff.

When I was there and he finally got to me, I almost didn't show him, I was so nervous! He told me I was doing very well for an 8 year old, and he gave me some advice, pointing out a few things about how proportions in monsters is an important thing.

He wrote in my copy of Werewolf of Fever Swamp: "Keep Drawing. Don't you ever ever stop. If you stop, I'll haunt you in your nightmares. Keep it spooky, Jacobus"

:D

[Robert.B]

this is a great thread, it makes me want to expunge my misanthropist demon.

[Pezz]

So how's about an update?

I ran into the Aunt yesterday looking at the tablets again. Apparently, they were having trouble installing it. I sold them an open box piece, and it looks like one of them slipped through quality control -- I'll have to ream customer service about that. Anyway, she's bringing the tablet back for an exchange and she'll pay the difference for a new one since they're on sale this weeks. I also told her about how you can download new drivers from Wacom's website and such.

She whipped out the kid's Christmas list. It was so adorable, he drew everything he wanted instead of writing it. He drew the exact Mario Galaxy box and a Ninentdo Wii with the controller and everything. It was so completely cute and awesome. She was telling me all about the portraits he'd been drawing and such, apparently he's very much into graphite and black and white drawings for now.

So, after seeing the drawings and hearing that the kid was more excited about art than ever, I told her about this thread and that I told you all about the kid, and that we'd all like him to be here, so she is going to pass the word on for me. I also took down her contact information.

Tonight I went to Michaels and bought a medium range graphite pencil set w/ kneaded eraser and white eraser (General tri-tip, I love it), along with an 8x10 drawing pad and a 20 set of Sakura Cray-Pas oil pastels. I'm going to wrap it up and surprise the kid for Christmas! :)

So here is my main question:

Would any of you be interested in doing a collaborative drawing with me, or creating drawings to send in my care package to keep him inspired? He likes all the regular cartoons and likes doing portraits of people so far I've found out. I would love to do a digital or mixed media project with as many of you as I can, and he would absolutely love it.

Send me a Privage Message if you would like to get in on this Christmas gift with me.

Out,
Brittany

[Grief]

your generosity is admirable

although it does come off as slightly creepy when you say that you posted about her son on the internet, and how you now plan to have a surprise for the kid.

[wheezy]

your generosity is admirable

although it does come off as slightly creepy when you say that you posted about her son on the internet, and how you now plan to have a surprise for the kid.

This perception that people cannot be kind to strangers and talk about it is more alarming than your stereotyped scenario to make the OP out to have "other" intentions.

This is a great story and I encourage all of you to share in life as you do here regardless if it is PC or not.

[Seedling]

I'm convinced that paranoia about children talking to strangers has had a detrimental effect on society.

[kev ferrara]

I'm convinced that paranoia about children talking to strangers has had a detrimental effect on society.

I'm convinced pedophiles, drug pushers and pimps have had a detrimental effect on children. :ilaekae:

(Hi seedling. :lounge: )

[Costau D]

Actually, I agree with both of you.

[Seedling]

Actually, I agree with both of you.

So do I. :)

[Grief]

i'm going to get a bit off topic but it deals with where the discussion unfortunately started heading...

about two years ago i started asking people if they'd consider modeling for me (i was just taking photographs of people around campus doing various things such as reading books, climbing stairs, etc.)

and maybe i just live in conservative-bumble-fuck-nowhere but people i know got really uncomfortable by the fact i asked random students to do quick poses for me. even worse was the reaction i got from my friends when i told them i had been drawing some of them. now i do my fair share of stylized perverted panty orientated drawings, but it comes as a slap of disrespect that i can't discern the difference between a portrait of a friend and some mindless t&a pics.

(names altered)
me: " i painted JANE this weekend, i'm not done with it, but its hanging on my wall so i can study it to see whats wrong with it"
STACEY: "does JANE know you painted her?"
me: "no... i havent told her because its not done, nor is it very good i dont want to embarass her, so its in my room.."
STACEY: " YOU HUNG A PAINTING OF HER IN YOU ROOM? THATS PRETTY CREEPY JOE!"
me: "...(are you fucking serious?)... yeah i suppose i should have asked permission first."

i took down the painting and now it's stacked in a plastic bag with other crap i'll probably never finish. hasnt been touched in years.

so i abandoned getting people i know to model for me, and as a result my anatomy has sucked ass. i use random photographs as reference, because it's all i can get access to (which to me is infinately more lecherous)

i'm living in some weird bizarro art world where people will photograph their vagina when they get drunk and put it on their Myspace page, but god forbid i illustrate my friends because i'll be seen as a creepy stalker.

Jesus & Joe 2006 (special Bigfoot comics)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/photou1/set_4_U.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/photou1/set_4_V.jpg

yeah yeah, i know, no punchline and minimal quality.

[Pezz]

your generosity is admirable

although it does come off as slightly creepy when you say that you posted about her son on the internet, and how you now plan to have a surprise for the kid.

Only if you generalize what I said and didn't read the first post where I told them both all about conceptart.org and that I told the people here that we should hope to expect a kid to join up!

She knows we exist, and I told her that I told the internet people about what a nice child and her nephew is and what great potential he has. I invited her and her sister (kids son) to check the site out and see for themselves, and told them to make their own judgement call about its appropriate viewing age. Notice, also, how I never post names, I like things to remain very anonymous. She also knows exactly what I'm getting him, and it's being mailed to her first and then given to the kid since it's creepy and taboo to ask for a child's address.

I dislike being compared to such things, but I do know the paranoia exists. This is why I approached the situation with such extreme caution.

Hope that clears it up..

[Seedling]

Grief, I'm sorry to hear of the troubles you have had.

Sometimes, it really helps to cultivate an attitude of selective apathy towards others' opinions. Allow yourself to get over their discomfort, and eventually, they may get over it as well.

Good luck.

[Noë]

Heya!
I think this is an awesome story ^^
Kudos to you Pezzle! That is absolutely awesome!
Keep the boy away from DeviantArt so you signature quote doesn't become reality :P

Love
Marleen.

[Seedling]

I dislike being compared to such things, but I do know the paranoia exists. This is why I approached the situation with such extreme caution.


You've succeeded at balancing caution with reaching out to someone. Kudos!

[smugbug]

She knows we exist, and I told her that I told the internet people about what a nice child and her nephew is and what great potential he has.

I think it's charming and a bit funny of your referring us as "internet people". It gave me a giggle.

And it's better than "people on the internet"; which can have a "People Under The Stairs" vibe. :wink:

Overall, wonderful story - and great of you to reach out to a young arteest! As was said previously, I wish I had someone like that when I was that age. I guess what's sad is how unusual it is nowadays to want to share your passion with others; especially to young kids.

And Grief brought up a great point, too. It's crazy how this country has become.

[JL.Alfaro]

Nice story mate, and good job.

Heres a warning to those who want to go out and share knowledge with the youngens:

I once stopped outside of a Library, to peek on this teen that was drawing something on her sketchbook. She caught my attention cause she seemed to be completely consumed by the development of this drawing (like when you have a kick ass idea and you have to jot it down before you forget or defile it). She was drawing with a passion, her hand moving fast, running her index finger to smear the shading every now and then...this was pretty cool to watch. She must have been about 10 -13 yrs old, didnt ask but she was young. I looked over her drawing and it was a girl with a wolf holding this big sword with roses on it-nice. I approached her and said " hi" thats a nice drawing, can I give you some pointers on it? Well I dont know if it was my three anatomy books under my arm, or my back pack with my large sketchpad sticking out, or perhaps my receding hairline...but she replied "GET AWAY FROM ME YOU PERVERT!" in a very loud voice- not yelling- just very loud. everyone that was around stopped and stared at me, some people pulled out cell phones and started dialing what seemed like three-digit numbers, other pointed. I glanced around and decided to walk...but she gave me a walk-away-with-this-remark " Fucking perv" So I just pointed out my anatomy, and oil painting books under my arm and my sketchpad sticking out of my back pack while walking backwards and away and said "hey...Im just an artist..ok" she replied "oh, um...sorry...hey!could you tell me what Im doing wrong here?" so I said..NO and walked away. She started calling her Mom right afterwards too, and I started getting "HEYs" and "YOU THEREs" from the people in the parking lot...so I bailed. I was almost jogging the hell out of there, people following me out into the street, some took down my license plates too. Fuck that. kids, they're on their own- just like I was at their age.
Paranoia? yes please, I'll take two of those and hide from you in the morning.

[kev ferrara]

I like your style Grief. And stuff don't have to have a punch line. This ain't the Poconos in 1954. Being true is quality enough.

And on the confused boundaries.. everything has gotten so messed, ya never know where you stand anymore or who is gonna be offended by what. There's this comedian, Bob Zany, who ends his act in the following way...

"If I have offended anybody here tonight with the things I've said... well.. how about that!"

I think that's a good policy. Whatta ya gonna do. If somebody want to get all self-righteous and be offended at something, all hell can't stop them.

kev

[Seedling]

JL.A, ROFL, I'm sorry you got hit with that shit! It's funny though. :) I'm afraid your running away made the situation worse. If you'd stood your ground, maybe gave a sheepish smile or stopped to explain to the bystanders what had happened, they would have calmed down. Maybe. lol!

At any rate, please don't let one situation gone wrong spoil future opportunities to share your knowlege. Sometimes shit just falls apart. All you can do is try to find the humor in the situation. :)

[JL.Alfaro]

seedling- yeah its pretty funny now..wasnt funny at the time, kept watching the news for my sketched mug for two days, til I realized I didnt do anything wrong haha. yeah :nohope: and nah, Im not too good with the explaining and words coming out right type of thing

[Pezz]

Also, not being male helps in my case -wink- People for whatever reason don't see women as such a big threat.. not so much as they do men anyway.

[HunterKiller_]

Also, not being male helps in my case'

You're a girl? :girl: