Fuse #8

Thursday, June 15, 2006

I Believe the Children Are Our Present

This is so odd. If it weren't for the fact that it was on the Powell's blog I'd have to wonder if it was some kind of a hoax. But who fakes a child's comic drawing ability? Today I present to you Alexa S. Kitchen. As of right now, she is nine-years-old. She has been drawing comics since she was four, I believe. And the fact of the matter is that when she was seven she was more talented than the whole of the Marmaduke oeuvre. Don't believe me? Check out this page of facial expressions she made when she was seven (my personal favorite is "devil invaded"). If I were a publisher (big If going on there) I would grab Alexa ASAP and have her illustrate a picture book. Just the pictures themselves, mind you. No writing or anything. I mean we're talking pure unvarnished marketable talent here. It's enough to make the artistically disinclined amongst us weep.

1 Comments:

At 6:40 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Regarding Alexa Kitchen:

Her talent should be nurtured, but I think it's premature to promote it or profit from it. She's not old enough to participate in the process with complete understanding. (Call me old-fashioned, but I also worry that a nine-year old has her photo and full name, with a link to her dad, on a web site.)

I'm surprised that children's book illustrators haven't challenged your notion that little Alexa should illustrate a picture book (though I know it was tongue-in-cheek). How exploitative would THAT be? Her work isn't mature enough, SHE isn't mature enough, and haven't we had enough of publishers and book packagers inventing celebrities to sell books?

 

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