(Part 1) Meet The Illustrating Guillaume Brothers
Updated: Jul 12, 2019
"I like to have artistic challenges, because through the challenge I get to figure out that I had an ability that I didn't know I had, and so it opens up my skill level and I like that." ~Kerby, age 16
"I'd like to inspire people...to bring something out of them that they didn't know they had." ~Corey, age 14
More than two years ago I decided to play a "who can draw Mihir as a superhero" game at his birthday party, and whoever he thought was the best was, of course, the winner. Maybe not an original idea but it was the last minute and of course I had paper and pens in the house. It is definitely in my mind's a la carté of what to do at parties at the last minute on a budget.
I wasn't expecting much since even now when put under pressure my own 13 and 12 year old will resort to stick figures as a fallback drawing plan. No idea where their artistic ability comes from. It had gotten to the point where I would try and hide my face from the art teacher because I'm ashamed. When Mihir came home one day and told me that he doesn't understand why he got in trouble in art class I exclaimed, "You probably frustrated the crap out of the poor woman!" He smiled and walked away. No shame...
"Yeah but like the second half of fifth grade she became really nice to me for some reason...complimenting me on my hair and stuff." Mihir's thoughts on his art teacher when I asked him just now about his fond elementary art teacher memories...
I won't tell him...but I'm fairly certain that she was nice due to him about to graduate to a different school. He would no longer be her reason for staying up late at night wondering if she made the right career choice...
Back to my main train of thought, with my extremely low expectations with our party guests, you can imagine my surprise when I saw not one but two very thought out, non-stick figure drawings from my neighbor's children that night. I didn't know what else to do at that moment besides constantly praising them for a job well done. I wasn't sure how Mihir was going to choose a winner, and as far as I was concerned they both deserved it. It wasn't until last month when I finally had an idea of how I could be a part of showcasing their talents!
Right about the time I saw their drawing abilities I started secretly writing a book about our blindian family. My new literary path has been a very lovely, frustrating, freeing, insecure yet exciting journey...still is. The one thing that remained constant was that I wanted pictures. I would tell my boys that it would've been great to have kept this in the family by reminding them of their lack of artistic skills that I just can't let go. But due to my last-minute party ideas, I had an exciting backup plan!
"Hey Beverly! Do the boys still draw?"
Sure enough, I messaged my next-door neighbor to see if the boys were still working on their obvious talent or if it was just a fleeting past time for them. Her next reply was all that I needed to get the ball rolling on my much-needed pictures, for my written in secret book that I wanted the whole world to see.
But we are talking about two different artists and something that I saw them do over two years ago. So I invited them over to show off their skills so that I can decide which style would fit my book best. But they were not without guidance. I give you Exhibit A of what I wanted my book cover to look like...
Ok, look in my defense I have two excuses for my artwork's appearance: first, my medium is acrylic. This is not. Trust me that my artwork looks a lot more realistic when done in acrylic. Second, I just tried to whip something up in ten minutes to give them as a guide and what I whipped up wasn't in acrylic. And they're not stick figures so my kids can still "suck it" with a "talk to the hand".
Sorry...I get a little defensive when I assume that I can read people's thoughts and that I should defend myself...
They also had an Exhibit B, which was a bunch of real-life pictures of us to help them with their artistic inspiration. After setting up their artist station with paper and colored pencils at my dining room table, I left to let them be with their artistic minds and my non-acrylic example, as they went about doing their interpretations of myself, The Man and our blindian brood.
What I saw next made me thankful my mom heart didn't try to see the beauty in my children's stick figures for this particular project...
Both captured us in a way that made it hard for me to be like "Ok, you got the job!". I couldn't make up my mind. So, I told them that I was going to largely leave it up to the focus group that I have formed. However, their excitement for even doing the task and their reluctance to leave and hoping that I had more projects for them to do at the moment made me think that these two young men may be harboring a secret passion that I didn't know about...more importantly that the world didn't know...
Of course, this means that my wheels started turning...I have an idea! An idea that I am hoping to present to the world very soon...but before that, I decided to bring them back for an interview to see what was deeper than just what they put on paper...
I wasn't disappointed and neither will you when you read what these young men had to say without any idea of what they were about to be asked...
So go ahead and read on to Part Two to take a closer look into these two young men and their obvious passion.