Customer Reviews

Tiny Art Director

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I cannot praise this wonderful little book highly enough! It is unlike anything I've seen before, a very funny and ultimately sweet snapshot of a father-daughter relationship captured in a playful format: the little girl assigns commissions to her artist father and critiques the results. The project succeeds because the child's vision is highly developed ("Draw a dinosaur eating a baby" is hard not to love) and her father approaches her final judgments with a healthy sense of humor but without dismissiveness. The tone is just right; it never veers into Preciousland, where too many books involving children these days reside. It occupies its own distinct niche. And importantly, the artwork is spectacular. It is a gem of a book.

One treasure of the Internet for me has been Bill Zeman's blog called "Tiny Art Director." His daughter Rosie (now five) asks him to paint images with really delightful titles: "A sick crocodile." "A bone dinosaur eating a baby." "A dragon sneaking up on a girl. She's picking flowers."

Rosie then critiques the finished image: she's fussy, tough, capricious, out spoken. And, the best part of the book, is the close relationship the text and the images demonstrate between father and daughter.

A successful example (I've uploaded the image next to the book cover image):

The Brief: A dragon blowing fire all over

The Critique: Whoa! that's awesome! I like the way he's so mad - and I think you should draw his claws sticking out of the fire. He'll still be really buried up in fire.

Job Status: Approved

Even W. C. Fields might have moderated his opinion; "Anyone who hates children and animals can't be all bad." Rosie is a harsh critic -- someone after W. C.'s own heart, I would suspect. She (and her dad) sure captured mine.

Robert C. Ross 2010

I can't recommend TINY ART DIRECTOR enough. I was a huge fan of the blog for a long time, but the book is even funnier, cleverly using various layouts, fonts and stamps to emulate the life of a real art director whose creative process is dictated by his young daughter. The realistic responses from the Tiny Art Director are laugh-out-loud funny, but they also show quite a brilliant little girl, as well as a father who clearly loves his daughter very much. It's pretty rare you find a book quite THIS funny that also has a hint of warmth to it. Highly recommended for anyone who loves kids -- or anyone who's terrified of them.

Utterly unique, funny, fun, and touching, Tiny Art Director is a brilliant, multifaceted gem of a book. Rosie Zeman, the four-year-old Tiny Art Director of the title, "commissions" artwork - "A dinosaur eating a baby-"from her Dad, Bill and critiques the finished work, with the kind of imaginative precision and off-kilter honesty that can only come from our kids and our own inner-art directors. The "briefs" and "critiques" Rosie offers are not just hilarious but subtly revealing of a bright, engaged child's imagination making sense of the world. The real treasure of the book , though, is the illustrations, which, in their range, wit, beauty, and underlying current of parental love, are revealing not only of a bright, engaged adult imagination at work, but of the way artists find language for what can't be described in words.

An endearing and hilarious real-life account--how could anyone make this up?!--of a little girl with a backbone and a well-defined sense of what is, and what should be, as she art-directs her illustrator dad through dinosaurs, correct colorations, and the poo-poo airplane.

I loved this book and laughed at nearly every page. As the parent of a 2 year old girl and 4 year old boy, I appreciated the Tiny Art Director's demands and critiques, as well as the patience and love shown by her father. My son loves the drawings so I read the book to him a lot. I'm also buying it as a gift for friends.

Very cute book and was fun to read with my kids. Made us all laugh, but also left us wanting more...

This is a gem. It is a perfect gift and will entertain children and adults. the illustrations are wonderful and the dialogue so genuine and funny. I'm buying several copies.

I work with young children, and the last thing I want to read is a sappy book about a father-daughter relationship. This book is hilarious! Zeman's artwork is awesome, and Tiny Art Director Rosie's comments are precious and genuine. The great part is that Zeman really does value Rosie's input, and he values his daughter as a person rather than a cute comment machine. I want more!

Tiny art director is funny, charming, and amazingly loving. Artist Bill Zeman is our struggling artist, trying to please that most harshest of critics - a preschooler. For any parent whose ever tried to appease a little one, this book illustrates the futile nature of satisfying the very young. They are constantly changing their minds, ideas, likes, and dislikes. From what they loved ten seconds ago, to what occupies that place in the now. The Tiny Art Director is just as savvy about what she likes as any art director in the business. Her critiques are funny and insightful. Her trained eye knows what to look for. . . And unfortunately it is very few of her father's submissions. The poor artist tries to faithfully interpret the requests of The Tiny Art Director as best he can but with as many rejection letters as any who have ever submitted anything to clients. The Tiny Art Director is concise, sharp, unapologetic, and yes, sometimes harsh in her criticisms.

Has she ever worked for Disney Studios?

Silly, and sweet without being "Schmaltzy". I loved this book and thank The Tiny Art Director & Bill Zeman for this wonderful book they have decided to share with all of us. I recommnened this book to anyone with a smiley-face flower stamp.