Pint-Size Picassos

By Jeremy Caplan

DRAWING ACCOLADES AS PRECOCIOUS PRODIGIES, A NEW crop of budding artists is attracting attention from dealers and collectors this fall. While some schoolmates are just graduating from coloring books, these kid artists are earning thousands for their canvases. --By Jeremy Caplan

MARLA OLMSTEAD, 4

Having already sold 30 paintings for more than $50,000, the preschooler just had an exhibition in a prestigious Binghamton, N.Y., gallery that won raves from critics

LAYNE TOTH, 7

After winning her first art competition at age 3, this Michigan tot is launching a national comic-book series called Meow-Wow

AKIANE KRAMARIK, 10

The Idaho prodigy is about to release an anthology of her poetry, art and philosophy. Her religious paintings sell for up to $25,000

GEORGIE POCHEPTSOV, 12

Colin Powell commissioned a painting from the North Carolinian, and the U.N. will display four of his latest works this spring. He has been experimenting with a three-dimensional canvas