We sit down to color pictures together. Pretty quickly my then four-year old makes it apparent that she will not be drawing; anything art related will be undertaken by me, her mother, under the tightly controlled direction of her, the Empress of All.

And so begins our fun time together.

"I want a heart and a star and a rainbow and a unicorn and a puppy and a kitty and a diamond-- NO NOT LIKE THAT!"

I am startled. "I was going to do the rainbow--"

"NO BLUE! Only pink. Noooooooooo, you can't make a YELLOW heart! Hearts are red and sometimes they can be purple." I reach for the green crayon. "No! NO PUT THAT DOWN!"

I draw the unicorn, which passes muster, but the kitty is all wrong. It doesn't look like Zoe (our cat). And where is the puppy? I forgot the puppy.

These loving moments of my life with a dictator were-- I thought-- singular to my existence. How amazingly fantastic it was to discover The Tiny Art Director, which is maybe the best blog ever in the history of, like, ever. Because this man? He may be a far better artist than I, of a much higher artistic calibre, but HIS tiny art director is so very much like MY tiny art director that I know his pain. And know he knows MY pain. If he knew me, I mean.

To wit:

The Brief: A giraffe and a kangaroo fighting over an apple
The Critique: Where's the dinosaur?! Draw me a dinosaur right now Daddy!
Job Status: Rejected
Artists Comments: After completing the project I documented the art director's instructions and reaction. She took offense at this and tried to erase my notes.
When I took away my eraser, she yelled "I don't like your notes!", and scribbled all over them with my pencil. She then ran to the bathroom and ran water over the piece of paper. "Look at them now Daddy!"

The art itself is amazing, and hilariously coupled with his daughter's critiques. Anyone who knows toddlers will appreciate this site. A book of his work (and his daughter's comments) is available here.

ENJOY!