I’ve written about my mom’s tenure with the Famous Artists School several times. I found a few more of her assignments today.

This one I remember well. She used an illustration from one of my books as the model. I don’t know it it was cheating or not, but the evaluator had a few suggestions.

She pretty much copied the pie man from this image.

The instructor, and in my opinion, rightly so, suggested that Simon look more adorable than scary. They provided the following feedback and redrew the scene to illustrate their opinions.

• Make Simon smaller & lovably goofy, clearly indicating his financial predicament.
• I like your dog, to which you can add other child pleasing small animals, fowl, turtles, birds and animated thistles
• This is a nonsense rhyme, so have fun!
• Emphasize the bakers white costume with value contrast
• Unify the lively fair to avoid spottiness
• Lower the horizon to make the baker larger
• A vignette edge is more interesting and creates air around the figures