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Friday, August 31, 2012

I want my name to be on a hat...

I want my name to be on a hat...

The Onceler

The family has been watching The Lorax pretty much every day lately. So when he told me yesterday that he wanted his name on a hat, the first thought thing I thought of was of the "How Bad Can I Be" scene in which the Onceler has on a bright green suit and a matching top hat. It's a cool looking hat so I searched for a picture of that scene in the movie Google Image search. I found an illustration I liked better and tried to copy it. It doesn't look too much like the image I found, but it helped me make something that I really like. I was surprised when the face came out looking cool too. As I've mentioned, I'm no artist and don't doodle. So anything that looks recognizably like what it was supposed to be makes me feel good.

Where to add his name was an afterthought on this one. Maybe I should have incorporated it in better somehow. He liked this one although he told me that it wasn't quite what he had in mind. Oh well, I guess I can try harder next time! I like it.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

How about if my name is going down a drain...

How about if my name is going down a drain...

Drain


He woke up early this morning which means I had more time to get things ready. I had in mind to do something more creative with his sack today, but I didn't know what. I asked him if he had any ideas.

"How about if my name is going down a drain," he said. That really blew me away. "What a fantastically creative idea," I thought, "What if his name did go down a drain? What might that look like?" I immediately had a picture of it in my head and the project took on a whole new turn.

Why just write his name if I could draw something where his name was a part of the picture? What a cool idea! I loved that he came up with it on his own. I'm not an artist and my entire bit of art training comes from my 8th grade art teacher. I was a little nervous to draw something, especially with a Sharpie, but I figured what the hell. I know the perspective isn't quite right, but I really liked the way this turned out and so did Victor. He thought it was cool how his letters are depicted.

"Tomorrow," he said, "I want my name on a hat!" This project just got more interesting.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Big V, again...

Big V, again...

Big V Victor again

Not much time today either. The big V was a hit with him, so I decided to try a different variation. At first, the fact that the letters go up instead of down threw him off. But once he saw it he liked it. 

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Big V...

Big V...

Big V Victor

This was another rushed morning. I almost just wrote his name all normal. Instead, I went with a simple big V style. He still liked it. Anything with his name all big is cool to him. I think he was discouraged that his cookie didn't turn out the way he wanted yesterday because he didn't ask to draw anything today.

Monday, August 27, 2012

What if my name was bitten out of a cookie?

What if my name was bitten out of a cookie?

Bitten cookie

Turns out he did notice the feet and has become curious about the process. I talked to him about being creative and doing something more than just writing his name on the bag like everyone else does. I talked to him about challenging myself to come up with new ways to draw his name. He took the idea to a whole new level. While I was just thinking about how to write his actual name in different ways using different styles of letter forms, he showed that he's way more creative than I am.

"What if my name was bitten out of a cookie?" I wasn't sure exactly what he meant when he first said it. I wasn't sure how to draw it either. And wasn't thinking of drawing actual things in addition to writing his name. He ended up taking the Sharpie. He didn't like how his name turned out (see it in the top part of the crunch) and didn't think it was visible enough, so he rewrote it on the cookie too.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Victor with feet...

Victor with feet...

Victor with feet

Our mornings often feel rushed. I wasn't sure what to do today, but the idea of putting little feet on his name jumped in my head. I drew this in about 30 seconds on our way out the door. It didn't really come out exactly as I had envisioned it, but it looks kind of cute nonetheless. He didn't really notice or say anything about it.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

The Daily Snack Sack Project Begins

The Daily Snack Sack Project Begins

Victor over waterVictor under water
My 6 year old son Victor has quite simply made me a better person.

I take him to school every day and my morning walk with him is the highlight of my day. Our morning conversations are extremely fun too. He often wakes up chatty and full of thoughts.

Part of the daily routine is packing his lunch. He started kindergarten this year and the rules are that a morning snack has to be packed separate. For some reason it didn't occur to me to use a reusable bag for his snack like I do for his lunch.

I bought a stack of 100 classic brown paper lunch sacks from the local grocery store. I hadn't seen these things since I took lunch to school 30 years ago. Of course, his name goes on the bag and like most parents I wrote his name on the bag in basic print every morning. After a few weeks of this, it felt a bit dull to simply put his name on the bag in the same basic print so I began to think of new ways to write his name. I started with embellishing basic print techniques, creating different variations of block letters to spell his name. After a few days of this I decided to make it a daily project. I would challenge myself to come up with a unique way to print his name on his sack each and very morning.

This is perhaps the 20th bag I had done. I felt creative here using a bit more than just block letters, exploring the idea of incorporating some art work in with the letters. Here the letters are floating above and below the water and I drew on both sides of the bag. I didn't tell him I was going to do this and didn't even ask his opinion. When he noticed it, he didn't get the effect at first. It's not very good and I didn't do much to make the "water" look realistic. But he liked it and I knew the coming days would yield something new and interesting every day.



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