The Adventures of Art Lad

you are now on boingboing.net
 

Your art rocks my world, Thomas.
 

I found this through boingboing. I like dinosaurs, too.
 

Found you through boingboing, too. You are perhaps one of the coolest kids on the planet. Love the dinosaur stencil. Keep up the good work, big guy.
 

i love the dinosaur stencil too!! congratulations, ur art work is awesome dude!
 

I think your dinosaur picture is great! Nice art work!
 

Hey Thomas! My dad pointed me here from boingboing.com. I'm an artist too!

I love your dinosaur pictures and your opinion on Van Gough.

Keep up the AWESOME work, dude. Your stuff really rocks!

PS: I drew you a picture!
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y108/FlipGarrison/ArtLad.jpg
 

You are totally awesome!
 

Hi Thomas,
I really like your drawings very much. Also your comments are really very funny. Keep on drawing!!!

They blog is great! Not enough six year old have a voice out there, and its nice to see a youngsters' impression on the world!!! congrats!
 

WOW - Thomas you are a supa stah!!!!! Boing Boing, eh? And after only 3 days of posting! I'm totally jealous... next you're going to be on talk shows - bet your dad didn't expect this - wonder if he's ready for it? ;)

Thanks for commenting at my blog. You are 100% correct - I do work in a cool place! But unfortunately, no, I do not make the statues. We have a couple of incredibly talented sculptors who take care of those details. If I were to make a statue it would probably resemble the Play-Doh after the dog has eaten it! I do web stuff for our website. But it's fun to be surrounded by artisticly creative people every day at work. And also fun to visit art blogs :)

Good choice of a favorite color! I love orange too. I also love today's stencil squirt painting - it definitely looks like it was nice and messy to create! I'm glad Lucy, the funny dancing baby, has inpired you - she's so cute. Keep up the awesome work...

Bye!
dusty
 

hi thomas & family,
what a cool blog! your dinosaur stencil is great, and i love the colors you used -- purple and green go really well together, because they both have a little bit of blue in them. i can't wait to see more of your projects!
 

I got here from boingboing too.

I like the colors you chose - the green and purple look very good next to each other. You did a good job of choosing a picture with good looking splatters and runs of the paint, too. And it's extra nifty that you made your own stencil, because then you're completely the artist of the picture.

I am an art major in college. If you really like art you may be an art major too someday. But it's really great as a hobby, too, or you can be a professional artist even without getting an art degree (although learning more about art is really fun).

Two types of art that I really like that I think you might enjoy are printmaking and xerography.

A particular kind of printmaking you may enjoy is Monoprinting, which you can do with plexiglass and a rolling pin with your dad, since printing presses can be hard to find. The best part of monoprints are building up layers over your prints, so don't just monoprint once on a piece of paper, do 3 layers or more.

Xerography is just a fancy name for using a xerox machine to make art. You can take pictures of your face, hands, vegetables, toys, or whatever you can think of. You can also do this with a computer scanner, which your dad may have. Use overhead plastic to protect the glass of the machine if you use anything messy. Just press the "Go" button and move things around until you get a picture you like.
 

You are lot better then I am. Kinda scary how much better...
 

I have recently gotten into doing stencils myself, it's a lot of fun. I've been doing mine with spraypaint and making my own tshirts. Another thing you can try is making multiple layers of stencil that all line up to make one picture. So, you could have one be a face, and one be the eyes, and then on top of that another one for eyebrows. You can get some amazing detail this way, but it's tough to get them to all line up right.

Just wanted to give you that idea to play with. Also, your T-Rex painting is awesome, and I'm now using it as the background on my computer. Keep it up, mate, you're great!
 

Hi Art Lad!

Twinkie is going to want to try this tomorrow when I show it to her! What a fun way to paint!

I really like everything about this picture.

Thanks for sharing this one too!

T. :)
 

Hey Art Lad,

My friend Flip showed me your blog and I am pretty impressed with your work. When I was in the first grade, I stayed inside and drew rather than go outside for recess. I did this because other kids would bully me a lot if I went outside. I got pretty good at art because I drew every day. Now I'm 19, in college and I'm working towards starting my own art and design business. (I have a website moonwolfstudio.com with some art on it) I have done lots of little projects in my (somewhat small) town and am just starting to make a name for myself, all because I never stopped drawing. Please don't ever stop drawing and painting. I can already see that you have lots of talent and drive....and you will be surprised how far it can take you! I am going to watch your blog so I won't miss any of your new work. Best of luck to you and best wishes too! :)
 

Hey Thomas! I saw you on boingboing, and I'm very impressed! You're a very talented boy, and no matter what you do in life, keep art a part of it. I started drawing when I was your age, and now, I try to fill up one sketchbook page a day. If you keep it up, I think you could be a very famous artist one day.
 

Hey Thomas -

I really like this dinosaur! I love that you made stencils when there weren't any that you wanted!! That's very creative! A sign of a true artist!!

K
 

Wow Thomas, what a great picture. I never would have thought to make my own stencil!

Oh the power of boingboing... of the past 100 hits on my site, I think 90 of them have come from your Art Lad site. There are a LOT of people looking at your site! So you are good at art, AND you are lucky. :)

Thanks for linking to me too.
 

MM is going to have a lot of work to do now.

Boing Boing indeed.
 

Hey buddy, LOVE the T-Rex picture, absolutely brilliant. I've added you to my "read every day" list of blogs, hope you keep updating, the world needs to see your work!

Kal aaaaallll the way over the water in Scotland!

PS. D'you do requests?
 

You are quite the popular boy! Great job on the dinosaur stencil, what a way to use your brain! You are going to love 1st grade. My son started today, he was a little nervous, but I'm sure he'll be fine. Keep up the good work!
 

I love your dinosaur picture. The colors are perfect and it's awesome that you made your own stencil. Keep having fun and doing art!
 

Hello, Thomas! I'm here from Boing Boing too. The angle you chose to show your T-Rex from (in your first post) was brilliant. Also, the fact that you got your teacher to help you make your own stencils instead of working with the boring ones makes me think that you're really one of the most creative people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I think you're an excellent artist! Keep up the great work!
 

Wow, you're really a talented guy! I LOVE your T Rex coming downn to bite - the teeth are very scary!

I'm an artist, too and I have a job where I get to create art on the computer. But on the weekends, I like to paint and draw and doo different crafts. My mom has an "art car" entered in a show this weekend. My brother and his family, my sister and her family, my boyfriend and my daughter all took permanent markers and drew all over her car! My mom drew on it, too. It was a lot of fun - but don't draw on anyone's car unless you have permission!

Keep up the good work! I'll come back and visit your blog every day to see your new stuff!

Bye!
Jolene
 

You are an awesome artist! Keep up the good work.
 

hey, thomas! congrats on making it on boingboing! although that's not how i found you...a friend emailed me your website, and i'm glad he did! i really really love the dinosaur stencil!

i can't wait until my daughter cadence is old enough to make art like you. she's only 10 months old and can't hold a crayon yet. her dad is cool and loves art like your dad, so i think i'm going to email him your website.

keep sharing your art with the world!

take care--
sarah rhee danyluk
 

That is a fantastic dinosaur stencil! I really like it. Keep up the good work, Art Lad.
 

Hi Art Lad-

Your artwork is GREAT! I used to draw and paint all the time when I was a kid too. Now I'm an art teacher! I hope you don't mind if I show your blog to some of the students in my classes.
 

Hey, Thomas! I saw your link on BoingBoing, and I am very glad I came to check out your blog. Make sure you thank your Dad for helping you with the blog, you are a lucky little guy to have such a cool father. That T-Rex picture is already very popular with all of my friends, you could put it on Ebay.com and become an artist and an enterpenuer! Keep doing your art, making your own stencils, and learning about new art techniques! You Rock, Thomas!
 

I use to draw like crazy when I was six years old too. Now I get paid for it :) Keep going little dude!
 

I just stumbled across your site via boingboing, and I thought I should comment.

You are a very talented kid, Thomas. Your choice of color and perspective are amazingly accurate on your T-rex, and I really love your raptor stencil.

Just a thought for you and your Dad, but have you thought of having t-shirts made?

I know I'd buy a couple raptor ones.

There are sites that let you submit a design and get a percentage of sales, I've used zazzle.com to create a couple personal shirts and they're nice quality.

Anyway, thanks for the opportunity to see your art. :)
 

Another beautiful picture!!!

keep up the good work!!!
 

After you get tired of reading so many comments (including mine!), don't forget to draw or paint. Don't lose sight of the Art. In other words, don't treat yourself like a kid. You're an Artist and there is no age that qualifies an Artist. So work hard, draw hard, learn, read books, take lessons, and practice by doing.

by the way, you're a lucky guy, to have such supportive parents. Don't forget to thank them.
 

its the second post and he has 32 comments (mine don't count).

:)

like father, like son.
 

Dear Thomas,

Thank you for sharing your pictures. I like the colors and I really, really like the one titled "Dinner". It makes me smile every time I see it.

I would also buy a tee shirt, if you and your Dad chose to make them.

Keep having fun!

Ignatz
 

That is a beautiful dinosaur picture. Just keep on making them, you've got loads more talent than most of the artists I know!
 

Hi Thomas!

I'm impressed that you made your own stencil - and I love this painting.

I'm glad you and your dad created this page to share your artwork with all of us.
 

I really think your drawings are awesome! I really like dinosaurs too...Especially the stegasaurus and the brontosaurus. Your stencil came out great. Keep up the good work, Art Lad!
 

[My mamma reads a lot of the same websites that your dad does (and his, too), but] I don't read websites. Mamma showed me yours. I play kidgames. I have a livejournal, but I don't type in it very much. I'm six. I can't really type. I just push letters in my livejornal.

I don't want to squirt paint. I paint with paintbrushes and finger paint. Finger paint is more fun.
 

Hey, Thomas. Beautiful dinosaur stencil. Have you ever done 'Spin-Art'? You have a machine that spins a piece of hard paper for you, and then you squirt paint on it and it makes a neat design. I did it at a School Carnival ages ago, when I was about your age.

Now I feel old, and I'm fourteen!
 

Your dinosaur is awesome! I wish I had a cool raptor stencil too. My nephews and I would like to play with those. Keep up the good work!
 

Your dinosaur is awesome! I wish I had a cool raptor stencil too. My nephews and I would like to play with those. Keep up the good work!
 

Very impressive!!!
 

great paintings. yay!
 

wow - you're on boing boing! that is so cool!

and so is your dinosaur! I love how you just made your own stencils when there weren't any that you liked. way to go! fight the authority!

(except your dad. don't fight with your dad)

:)
 

Hi Thomas!

Your work is an inspiration (makes me feel great!) and I', glad you shared it. I have been meaning to start an art course for little kids (younger than you) here in the US Virgin islands where I now live. I think I'll get started with it. Someone's mom, Susan
 

Kid, you'll move mountains.
 

Does anyone really think this is better than glorified blogging by animals?

Obviously, this isn't a transcription of a six-year-old's words -- which anyone who had ever worked with six year olds would know. If the six year old has any influence outside the drawings, it sounds prompted and forced.

My guess? Exploitive parents. This looks, for all the world, like the "thank you" cards I see after baby showers, supposedly from the baby! It's a parent trying to be cutesy or fun or maybe even using some of their child's verbiage...but this isn't just "kid talks, parent transcribes."

I think this kind of exploitation is a pretty rotten thing to do to a kid, and stuff like this, if they're pushed to do it (and parents -- you don't always know if you're pushing. Even if a kid says "yeah, I want to," it's often because they know you want them to. They want to make you proud so much that they'll do it, and taking advantage of that impulse is despicable).

This kid obviously didn't say "I want a blog. I want to post my art on the internet." Odds are, a parent said "Hey, here's this SUPER COOL thing called a blog! Do you want one? They're awesome!" If you think a kid saying "yes" to that is a kid making their own decision, you're a foolish parent.
 

and, of course, the proof is in the pudding. No six-year-old would know "hey, six year olds sound a certain way, so I should make a disclaimer that my dad is typing this." They also wouldn't say that they could read some things but also need people's help for some others.

The kid's art is fine. But parents don't have a right to parade their kids around like performing monkeys. It breeds resentment later on.

Here's how I imagine these being written.

"So, do you want to talk about this one?"

"OH YEAH, this one. This one is about this and this and this."

"Okay. And next don't you want to say something about the blogs that listed you today?"

"Oh yeah, right, those."

Parent hyperlinks other blogs.

I'm fine with parents posting their kids' stuff online, but it's incredibly, incredibly lame to pretend to be your child. YOUR CHILD DESERVES HIS OWN IDENTITY.
 

A little necessary context for the buzzkillers in the audience.
 

Dear Mr. Anonymous Troll,

FYI, it was urging from us bloggers who got Thomas to actually request a blog from his dad, who loves his son enough to share his interests with him (blogging being one of them). His dad posted a couple of quite wondrous pictures and talked a little about his shy, artisticly creative son, and the audience unanimously shouted "Give us a blog, young master Thomas!". And thus Tomas wouldn't quit bugging his dear pops until he got one - if you know anything about 6 year olds you should know that they can be quite stubborn once they get something in their heads.

Alas, you quite obviously know nothing about the situation. Now run along like a nice little troll and go bother someone else...

Your Friend,
Dusty
 

Yeah, but the guy is still lying. It's not transcribed.

And I wonder how all the people here would feel about a 6 year old girl modeling and posing, and a parent clearly doing most of the "writing" work about the poses.

It's not cool to take your kid's identity and to push them toward something like this. It's not cool to project your own aspirations onto your child. They are not extensions of you. They are not your property. They are individual human beings.
 

dear anonymous buzzkillers,

i totally remember when i was six years old because that's when i came to this country...i remember losing my shoe on the plane ride...almost missing the connecting flight in tokyo because my dad was buying a camera...eating bananas (a rare treat in the motherland) my first day in the states...learning the word 'peanut' from my friend's mom...

...so you know what? if i had known about blogging back when i was six, i would have TOTALLY been into it...you say that the child deserves his own identity, and yet you say that if the kid says yes to blogging, that's not really his decision...so which is it? if a kid should have his own identity, why should his decisions be suspect?

and if it were the dad providing guidance on what to write about, so what?

i still think it's great that thomas is blogging his art, and i hope he continues!
 

I do NOT want to get in any type of war with you, as the blog of an innocent is not the place for that, but please STFU. You are not making any sense. The kid has a talent - what *possible* harm could come from any of this? At best, it will make him more confident in sharing his abilities and talents with the world. At worst, he'll lose interest in a couple of months but have something fun to look back on when he gets older.

Lighten up already - I believe I am sensing a little green in your aura...
 

And P.S. - my last post was for the anonymous troll of course. MM, please ignore him and me when reading the comments to Thomas :) I hope this doesn't scare you away from the Adventures of Art Lad - just all part of hitting the big leagues I guess.
 

Rock on Little Art Lad Dude!
 

another excellent painting Thomas! your raptor made me smile on an otherwise grumpy morning, thank you
 

Thomas - I love your art! Thank you for letting us see it! I'm adding your blog to my favorites!
 

Hey! I have an art blog too! Glad to know someone else is doing it!
 

Thomas,

Your pictures are super awesome! Keep up the great work! My son just turned 6 yesterday. I'm going to show him your blog....who knows you just might start something. A bunch of 6 year old bloggers!
 

Way to go! Fantastic drawings, really cool stencil-work and quite an accomplishment, having such a successful blog at age 6. I'm fairly sure that I was not nearly as artistic when I was 6. Or now, for that matter! :)
 

Awww, come on, if you've got something critical to say, post it on MM's blog and not Thomas'. It's just common sense - a 6-yr old cannot deal with criticism of this sort.
 

That's my point. Clearly, the 6 year old isn't being exposed to this. Negative comments are associated with blogging, particularly popular blogs. If he can't handle those, why is he blogging? Why are his parents setting him up for it?

If he agreed to blog, there's already been a lot of censoring of what the blogging community really is -- a lot of people who are using bad words and saying mean things to each other, with some nice things in between.

Providing kids with fairytale land in blogworld isn't very nice, or very realistic.

Recently, as part of my job as an arts critic, I reviewed a play done by a local theatre group. A 17 year old had been sorely miscast and was a constant distraction. When I wrote this in the review, she sobbed and wouldn't perform. Why? Because from the time she was six years old and got a bit part in a major motion picture, she has been told by everyone -- unanimously -- that she was the next big thing. When it finally occurred to her that maybe she was a kid just like other kids, she couldn't handle it. her identity had been so shaped by her fawning audiences that she actually has now put off going to college because she can't hack it.

You are not doing this child any favors. And if you'd like to know why I'm not addressing this comment to him, well, it's because clearly his dad is self-selecting the parts of the blogging world he wants his kid to see. I'm sure the "jealousy" line works as well now as it ever did -- but one of these days, this kind of thing tends to grind to a raging halt.

Think of how you view your parents today. Even if you view them as loving, might they be a bit overbearing? Even if they want what's best for you, you wouldn't want them putting words in your mouth, right?

So why is it okay when it's here?
 

Very nice work :) I found your blog from Bloggingbaby.com.

My son's favorite dinosaur is also the velociraptor, so great choice!
 

Keep rockin' the art world Thomas! If you make that dino print a t-shirt - I'll buy a whole bunch. I can see your work as really cool screen prints! Brilliant!!!!
Art is cool.
:)
 

How does a pre-schooler know what a "stencil" is?
 

Stencils are not exactly an advanced concept. Our kids used them in pre-K and kindergarten programs where I've volunteered. You can find them at teaching supply stores.

Nice work Thomas!
 

boing boing again...

this is some relly cool stuff, keep drawing and painting...

i like your point of view
 

I used to do squirt painting when I was your age! :)

I love your picture!
 

Hay thomas keep goin ur doin great ooo and awesome dinosour