She drew THAT at age 5?! O:

[Dundeleedum]

Her composition is pretty bad. Colours can be worked on too. There's always something not right while looking at her work... And now that she's 16 the stuff she paints doesn't look so incredible anymore. So much for the teenage Chrisis (pun intended razz )

I know some religious nuts... There's that one girl who claims she gets visions from god. Then her dad was suspected to have cancer and they started praying like maaaaad.

Good thing she didn't stop him going to all his tests and (future) treatments.

[Welovepandas]

i drew stick figures at the age 5 meep sweatdrop

[Anaiira]

Kaiser-chan

Also check out her brother. Proof the family will milk anything to exploit their kids.

I dunno. Apparently, most of the profit goes to the Smile Network International. I don't like the Smile Network International and what they stand for, but they do count as charity.

I do wonder if this is what the kids want - to have their art publicized like this.

Mahiru Suoh

It isn't because she's religious or does paintings with religious content, it's the fact that they're using it as a marketing ploy.

If the family had never stated that she got visions or was inspired by God, I'm sure that half of the people who suddenly took interest in her art would just assume a well-educated artist had created the work. The "mystique" is gone.

Or at least that's how I feel personally. Just thought I'd clear this up. : )

Fair enough. It does seem like they're really trying to push the religious angle. I'm just saying that the paintings aren't necessarily bad because of the marketing ploy and I just think we need to get over they're marketed and actually look at the paintings for what they are. Besides, you could use much the same argument for fan art and why they're so popular.

For the most part, the mom just seems like a yuppie parent who really adores her children and has a really alternative view on what education and life should be. Like one of those people who believe in home schooling, indigo children, and all that. Weird to me, but not necessarily bad.

[Kaxen]

Kaiser-chan

Also check out her brother. Proof the family will milk anything to exploit their kids.

I think I saw a 20/20 or something or other where they were curious how he painted and you could blatantly hear his parents telling him to use more red and the kid was obviously bored out of his little mind in the video. Or some other little kid who painted nonfigurative work. Guh, I can't re-find it.

[Tenko72]

Kaxen

Kaiser-chan

Also check out her brother. Proof the family will milk anything to exploit their kids.

I think I saw a 20/20 or something or other where they were curious how he painted and you could blatantly hear his parents telling him to use more red and the kid was obviously bored out of his little mind in the video. Or some other little kid who painted nonfigurative work. Guh, I can't re-find it.

I think you're thinking of this girl:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Kid_Could_Paint_That

[Kaxen]

Tenko72

Kaxen

Kaiser-chan

Also check out her brother. Proof the family will milk anything to exploit their kids.

I think I saw a 20/20 or something or other where they were curious how he painted and you could blatantly hear his parents telling him to use more red and the kid was obviously bored out of his little mind in the video. Or some other little kid who painted nonfigurative work. Guh, I can't re-find it.

I think you're thinking of this girl:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Kid_Could_Paint_That

Maybe that was it. Huh, kept thinking it was a little boy. Bleargh, memory failure.

[jenovam]

If she's Legit I Came from Plato

[Gurto Bell]

I remember seeing on the news about a young boy who created these landscape paintings that looked quite professional. I think his family went to sell on the paintings for charity, I'm not sure...
Nonetheless, it could be possible for a child to create artwork that isn't just scribbles. I remember helping out in a Year 1 (First Grade) class where one boy was able to write in cursive. Anythings possible with practise, I guess.

[bim bap]

Mahiru Suoh

Atomic Octopus

Mahiru Suoh

In the above link, under "Fakes", they state that this so called "prodigy" doesn't paint when someone's watching and that she gets her inspiration from God.

I also find it strange that Jesus looks suspiciously like Kenny Loggins.

Oh great, so we could have a possible tracer/copier/eye-baller?
This is getting fishier and fishier when stuff like this pops up.

Not just possible--a given. She ripped 'Afghan Girl' from the cover of TIME magazine.

[Onisfi]

Are they really claiming that This;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnd4PVpKxew

is the same as This?
http://imavex.vo.llnwd.net/o18/clients/artnsoul/images/Akiane_13_/Wonder.jpg

... yeah, uh. How about no?
While the baby-thing she's painting doesn't look that bad at first glance - when you compare it to the finished version, the eyes look really skewed, the nose is flattened, the chin is all weird. Of course, the painting itself is skewed, but I think that's what makes it originally look just fine, until you really start looking what the hell she's painting. The colors are different (there's a HUGE difference in contrast even if you count in the 240pixel cheap film). If you compare the video quality to the photo quality that she has on her website, it's very obvious that it's purposefully that bad.

Also, who starts their painting like that? Adding all the lights first (like perfectly - leaving the shadow areas for later, as if you're just copying from a photo), then just applying everything from left to right. Usually people like to add in colors here and there to see how the overall look is.

It's also not very impressive to release a video like that when she's already in her teens. I'm going to guess her mother has always painted the finished paintings, and now that she has learnt to copy her mother's paintings (or the photoes that her mother copies) enough much, they made her do that video to "prove" everyone that she painted them all. Then the mom just took the painting over and finished it.

[Mahiru Suoh]

bim bap

Mahiru Suoh

Atomic Octopus

Mahiru Suoh

In the above link, under "Fakes", they state that this so called "prodigy" doesn't paint when someone's watching and that she gets her inspiration from God.

I also find it strange that Jesus looks suspiciously like Kenny Loggins.

Oh great, so we could have a possible tracer/copier/eye-baller?
This is getting fishier and fishier when stuff like this pops up.

Not just possible--a given. She ripped 'Afghan Girl' from the cover of TIME magazine.

Would you mind linking the images? When I search up the TIME magazine, I get this.

I'm not sure if that's the one you were referring to. Also, there is a lot of work in her gallery on her website that looks similar but not an exact copy. Maybe I'm just blind...

[Revenais]

Mahiru Suoh

bim bap

Mahiru Suoh

Atomic Octopus

Mahiru Suoh

In the above link, under "Fakes", they state that this so called "prodigy" doesn't paint when someone's watching and that she gets her inspiration from God.

I also find it strange that Jesus looks suspiciously like Kenny Loggins.

Oh great, so we could have a possible tracer/copier/eye-baller?
This is getting fishier and fishier when stuff like this pops up.

Not just possible--a given. She ripped 'Afghan Girl' from the cover of TIME magazine.

Would you mind linking the images? When I search up the TIME magazine, I get this.

I'm not sure if that's the one you were referring to. Also, there is a lot of work in her gallery on her website that looks similar but not an exact copy. Maybe I'm just blind...

One of Time magazine's most famous covers.

It's not an exact ripoff, but it's very close.

[bim bap]

Swordy Hero

It's not an exact ripoff, but it's very close.

[Mahiru Suoh]

bim bap

Swordy Hero

It's not an exact ripoff, but it's very close.

Wow, what a cheat (although she did it at the age of eight).

No wonder I didn't find it. It's not on her site.

Well, at least they knew it was wrong to display a copy of a photograph. I hope.

[cristeal]

I don't think it's so much about skill as much as it is about ideas. I went to high school with people who can draw photo-realism. And yet, they get to art school and they start to fail, because everyone can paint nice looking works. But when competing with people who may not be as talented, but can come up with a hell of an idea, who cares if it looks like crap if you like what it says or does.