Ice Cream and Frenchy on the Promenade

The Brief: A dog jumping up on me


The Critique: I like it! I want two scoops of ice cream. No, three scoops!
Job Status: Approved
Additional Comments: Daddy some dogs even don't have tails! They only have buttholes!
Artist's Note: Tiny A.D. was electrified by this idea and drew 4 versions of it. Below is my favorite.  This was done a while ago and is one of the pieces from the book that I hadn't posted yet:

Sneaking Away

The Brief: A Brachiosaurus sneaking away from a T-Rex



The Critique: Brachiosauruses don't have spikes! I like how you made his teeth yellow - because do dinosaurs brush their teeth? I don't think so! I think you should do some of her babies sneaking away too.

Job Status: Approved
Additional Comments: I want to do a version!

Here's my version (that's the tip of the guy sneaking off's tail)

AAARRR-F!

The Brief (From Facebook contest winner Kelsey Quiring): A pirate puppy on a pirate ship. And he caught a colorful fish in the ocean. And there's lots of blood.
The Critique (From TAD as usual): Well I was wondering, why did he catch a butterfly fish? Why didn't he catch a goldfish? You should draw it like: blood streaming down the butterfly fish.  Where's the blood? I want there to be a bit more blood. I want there to be like blood streaming down and dripping.
Job Status: Approved
Artist's Request: Please keep your feet off the painting.
Additional Comments: How's the pirate going to get that alligator off the ship? Probably stick his hook right through his heart.  I hope the puppy wins.  Can you draw some more blood streaming down? Please?

Dragon and Princess

The Brief: I want you to draw a dragon eating a girl.
The Negotiation: How about if they're actually friends?
The Critique: No, he has to have that girl is his mouth. He's not supposed to be a nice dragon. He's supposed to be a bad dragon. I want to see that girl's head pointing out of that dragon.
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: He has to be biting and squishing it.

Collaboration: T-Rex, Superdog and Girl

The Brief: I'll show you. I'll draw it and you copy [fig. 1]. It's a T-Rex trying to eat a girl.
The Critique (on sketch, after TAD's, no longer extant): I hate that girl. You erase her and I'll draw her as I like her. I want her to be brave. She's not scared of one thing cause that's me and I'm not scared.
The Critique (on sketch, improved by Art Director [fig. 2]): I think my drawing's a little bit better than yours.
Comments on collaborative painting, above: That's my bag, and that's a puppy in it. I'm not noticing the dinosaur, but the superdog [note the 3 eyes] knows what to do. She bites it on the neck and kicks it into a lava pool -- that's the volcano.
Job Status: Approved

A Snowman Family

The Brief: A Snowman Family
The Critique: It’s pretty good. I love it!
Why do I have the smallest carrot?
Why do I have three buttons?
Why did you paint the lamppost? I’m wondering why it’s so thin.
Who built us? I think we built us.
Why can’t we build a snow kitty?
Job Status: Approved

Artist's Note: You may notice that this piece is not exactly seasonal - I've been withholding a bunch of pieces that I did over the last few months for the book, and now that the manuscript is (nearly) final, I'll be doling them out over the next few months.

Purple Gatorade and Uger

The Brief: Purple Gatorade [The Tiny Art Director's Fish] The Critique: Why did you draw Uger? [Her sister's fish] I hate Uger! Why is his eyes like that? It looks like he's mad. What are you writing down? Grownups never lie, right Daddy? Dad, that doesn't look like Purple Gatorade. Only mine looks like Purple Gatorade. You're going to scan it, and then when you're done with it, it's going to be scrappled up and thrown in the garbage. And then mine will be our final picture. Job Status: Rejected Our Final Picture: at right

X-Ray T-Rex

The Brief: A dinosaur in a X-Ray
The Critique: I just want to see a little mousey in his tummy
Job Status: Approved (after addition of mousey)
Additional Comments: That's what kind of bones dogs like to chew on. Dinosaur leg bones.

Dog Legs

The Brief: I'm going to tell you what to draw. Draw a dragon sneaking up on a girl. She's picking flowers.
The Critique: Daddy it's not supposed to be like that! He has dog legs! I'm so mad at you! I'm going to erase those legs! Daddy why did you do those legs??? [collapses in tears]
Job Status: Rejected


Second Attempt:
The Critique: No I hate the dragon's head! Because there's two dragons - see look: this is a dragon and this is a dragon. That one has paws and this one has paws. See look: That is the difference. Now draw it on the back! Get that one away. Erase it daddy - erase it now. Don't put it on the computer!
Job Status: Rejected

Late Update: I added the oil painting of the first one above and it's actually APPROVED! The rejection is from the sketch.

A Duck and a Crocodile

The Brief: A Crocodile
The Critique: What's he going to do to that bird? Is he going to eat him? That's not what I want. You have to do it with him killing that bird.
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: Killing Daddy killing! Can you do it killing him?

Kangaroo Rat

The Brief: A cat killing a rat
The Critique (on the preliminary sketch - no longer extant): No! He's supposed to be in the cat's mouth! That rat looks like a kangaroo! [Art Director grabs my eraser and succeeds in erasing the entire sketch before I can stop her]
Job Status: Rejected and destroyed.

Second attempt (above):
The Critique: Yeah, like that.
Job Status: Approved.

Stupid Ugly Angry Monkey. I Hate Him

The Brief: A Monkey
The Critique: Stupid ugly angry monkey. I hate him.
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: His tummy and his belly button and his eyebrows and his hands and his feet. And his head too.

Ugly Eyeballs

The Brief: A dinosaur, not too scary
The Critique: He's a ugly one! I hate those kind of dinosaurs! Where's your eraser?
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: [hits page] He has ugly eyeballs.

Tomato Monster

The Brief: A monster (on spec)
The Critique: Too scary! He's a tomato and he's yelling right in my ear!
Job Status: Rejected

Some Silly Dinosaurs

The Brief: Some Silly Dinosaurs
The Critique: I like it
Artist Angling For A Better Quote: Anything you don't like about it?
The Critique: Don't ask me that Daddy! Just give me a treat right now!
Job Status: Approved

Looking Backwards: A Dinosaur Chasing Us

The Brief: A dinosaur chasing us
The Critique: Where's us? Draw us on the picture! I'm going to fix him the way I like him. This is how I don't like him. Please, please erase him! Erase him now!
Job Status: Rejected
Additional Comments: Get those claws out of here!
Artist Statement: The Tiny Art Director hates this more than anything I've ever done for her, with the possible exception of the crocodiles from the other day.

Crocodiles

The Brief: Crocodiles
Preliminary Sketch (no longer extant): Upon seeing the preliminary sketch, the art director, in a rather unprofessional outburst, collapsed on the floor sobbing and screaming.
The Critique: The back is so so so bad I don't even want to look at it! You always do that to the crocodile's back!
Job Status: Rejected and Destroyed

Finished Version (above):
The Critique: Good. The big one is me. You can be the little one.
Job Status: Approved

Something to Say

The Brief: A barking dog
The Critique: No Daddy! I didn't ask you to sit down! Go out of this room right now daddy!
Job Status: Rejected

Poo-Poo Airplane - by repeated request

The Brief: Can you just paint one poo-poo in a frame? The poo-poo is an airplane.
The Critique: Good. I want a treat.
Job Status: Approved

[click label "poo-poo" below for the history of this commission]

Duck Biting Dinosaur

The Brief: A dinosaur eating a baby, like last time
Artist Negotiation: How about something other than a dinosaur?
The Brief, Revised: A duck. A duck biting a dinosaur's tail.
The Critique: I want a goat and a piggie
Job Status: Rejected