Celebration Invitation!

The month of August marks the 3 year anniversary of Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty. It's hard to believe when we started the site Isaac was 7, Grace was 6, and Lily was 3! Now we find ourselves 3 years, nearly 250 posts, and 400 drawings later.

I've been trying to think of a fun way to celebrate this milestone, and decided to give you the chance to join in!

On the kids' other blog, Bookie Woogie, Isaac, Grace, and Lily have been making fan art based on the work of our favorite authors and illustrators. I thought it would be fun to turn the tables and invite folks to create some Z-Kids "fan art."

Here's how it would work... Dive into the archives of Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty, and find a favorite illustration. The "Highlights" to the right are a good place to browse. Using one of the kids' pictures as a starting place - as a point of inspiration - do your own take on the image. You can email your picture to me at zenzart (at) hotmail (dot) com... or just send me a link to where the image appears. I'll gather them all up and create a new special post on August 15th. I'll also be sure to link back to your own blog or portfolio from our site. I'm keeping this a secret from the kids, and will surprise them when the post goes live!

You could look at this invitation a few ways... You could see it as a fun challenge, similar to an Illustration Friday prompt. You could view it as a chance to work up another quick piece for your own portfolio. And you could look at it as a chance to give some kids a really fun treat come Aug 15.

I've seen other, similar exercises online and thought they might be inspirational:
Drawer Geeks
The Monster Engine
Yeondoo Jung
Grecolaborativo

And here are a few examples of times that I tapped the kids' work as inspiration for my Weekly Monsters project a couple years ago. It always made them feel really encouraged and inspired when I did it.







I have no idea if this invitation will get 2 responses or 52. But check out Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty starting Aug 15 to see who's participating! Can't wait to see! Spread the word!

Thanks in advance on behalf of Isaac, Grace, and Lily!