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Michel Gondry Will Draw You For $19.95
 April 16, 2009 11:00 am
Director Michel Gondry, who occasionally employs animation in his music videos, has launched a new website at MichelGondry.com. The most interesting feature on the site is that he’s offering to draw a portrait of anybody for $19.95. The samples on the site are pretty crude, but that’s besides the point. I’m impressed by the savviness of Gondry in choosing to interact with his fans in this manner, and considering his popularity, it’ll probably bring in a nice chunk of change too. The idea seems like such a no-brainer that I’m surprised well-known animation artists (people who actually draw for a living) haven’t tried doing this before. The Internet has broken down the barriers between creators and their fans, and the most successful artists in this day and age will ultimately be those who understand how to build an audience and connect with them in a meaningful way. |
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What a fun idea! I’m a big Gondry fan, and I think I’ll probably send out for one of these. I’ve always been impressed by his ability to break down the walls between performer, performance, and audience. He strikes me as someone who lives his art. This is a cool new step in that lovely blend.
JohnK actually did that a while back, but he doesn’t now. At least I haven’t talked to him about it.
Interesting idea. I always wondered why there seems to be this no communication between artists that put their stuff online and the fans.
NICE!
I’ll start the new trend by offering drawings of people for 15 bucks. Sorry, Michel, if I pull most of your potential clients.
Ok! So who wants me to draw them for 15 bucks? Please form a queue around the corner there!
I didn’t pay for Michel Gondry to draw me, but I did order the Toilet Paper roll yesterday which is basically his artbook.
It should be pretty funny when the package arrives.
Gary Panter has been doing something similar for awhile now. http://www.garypanter.com/shop_origart.html
Not to toot my own horn too loudly, but I’ve been doing this for a couple years now, including a webcomic with well over 1000 entries (nearly all of which are owned by fans).
Shane Glines sells pencil his sketches for $20-$50 on his Cartoon Retro site.
Yeah Michel is a very cool guy, he was at last years Mocca festival, with abosultely no fanfare, or overproduction, he had a table like anyone else, was selling comics he and his son had drawn, and was doing sketches of people in their books! Very cool laid back guy!
That sounds cool but I doubt that he would make a good picture out of someone as ugly as I am.
People are paying for the thrill of the Gondry name, not the portrait… so there’s no point in talking about who did what before. Anyway, Warhol did portraits for cheap for a while too. And again people paid for the Warhol name