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Friday, September 28, 2012

That doesn't look like a solar system...

That doesn't look like a solar system...


Sometimes his idea doesn't match the drawing I pick. This was one of those times. I like it actually, but his unfiltered honesty forces me to remember that I'm not drawing these for myself. His name finds itself in the rings around Saturn. He wasn't much impressed with that either. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

How about my name in a swimming pool...

How about my name in a swimming pool...


I love it when his ideas surprise me. I don't love this drawing, but I love the idea. I wish I could have done a better job on this one. The diving board looked like a slide to him and it's colored in because I didn't have the foresight to leave space for it to overlap the pool's outline. He was too busy watching a movie for me to get his feedback on this one as I was drawing it. After I was done, I simply placed it on the bench near his backpack. "This looks super cool," he said as he walked past the sack on his way to brush his teeth. Nice! I thought he'd tell me it looked like funny a peanut.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

I have an idea, but it's not appropriate...

I have an idea, but it's not appropriate...


I had a feeling I knew what it was but I was wrong. I tentatively asked him to tell me more about it. His face lit up and he burst out in laughter. I smiled at him and gave him an approving nod to let him know it was okay for him to tell me. "How about my letters on..." My mind raced through the possibilities before he completed his sentence. He finished with a laugh, "poop." That was not one of my guesses. I did have to smile at the thought of drawing his name on some poop. For a brief moment, I considered using the emoji poop emoticon as a reference. You know the one...it is a lovely pile of poop with two eyes and a smile directly on it.

Needless to say, I asked him to think of something else. He pointed his eyes toward the ceiling and considered his options. "A whale shark!" he exclaimed. Before I could ask him what exactly he meant by that he corrected himself, "No, no. Um, how about a dolphin?" We forgot to incorporate his name into the drawing, so it ended up taking a ride on the dolphin's back.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

This looks totally awesome...

This looks totally awesome...


"A castle." He picked something very quickly this morning. And I drew it pretty quickly too. I wish I had done something better with his "letters," as he calls them. Putting them on the bricks is cool, but I think I could have done a better job cleverly integrating them into the picture. I have a desire (perhaps beyond my current drawing capabilities) to work his name into the actual drawing more, instead of just writing it in almost as an afterthought.

Monday, September 24, 2012

I want my letters to be on the dots...

I want my letters to be on the dots...


I knew it wouldn't be very long before we got into drawing animals. I also knew that a whale would be his first choice. He's always loved whales and there are so many movies that have great whale scenes. 

After the last sack took me more than 15 minutes, I gave Victor a constraint by saying it had to be "easy" enough for me to do quickly. He understood and picked the whale. He was specific too. It had to be a humpback whale. But there was one problem, he asked for his name to be in the "dots" on his back. None of the images or drawings I saw had dots anywhere but the mouth area. They also weren't as big as what he probably remembers from the whale in Finding Nemo. I did my best. His name is small on this one and he almost couldn't find it himself. 

Friday, September 21, 2012

Can you draw a carnival?

Can you draw a carnival?

Okay, so this one was a lot more difficult to draw than it looks. It was very time consuming and, again, we had to rush out of the house to make it to school on time. He wasn't very impressed with it either. There was a third carnival ride in the original picture, but I had no time to draw it. He told me that it was alright. "Just do your best," he said to me. His letters, which were once again an afterthought, made their way to the yo-yo chairs. He loves that ride as I'm sure most kids do.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

What if my letters were in a treasure box...

What if my letters were in a treasure box...


I'm never sure what he's going to suggest in the morning and that still scares me. After the extra time spent on the New York skyline yesterday, I asked him for something simpler today. I've certainly seen my fair share of treasure boxes throughout his fascination with pirates and their booty, but I've never tried to draw one. Thank goodness for Google Images because I can't draw anything from memory. His letters are tiny in this one, finding their way onto 6 coins of the treasure. He wanted to add gold coins to the top to show that they are flying out of the box. I didn't realize until after I had finished this one that I drew it on the "wrong" side of the bag. Oops!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

How about my letters are in a city...

How about my letters are in a city...


My boy loves New York City and so do I. Our family trip there earlier this year was an absolute blast. We didn't go to the Empire State Building itself, opting to go instead to the Top of the Rock. It was a great view of the skyline and a great view of the once tallest building in the world. It was fun to draw this iconic skyline and I took my time. In fact, I took too much time and we were nearly late to school.

He really loved this one and added the fireworks in the sky. What was super cool is that he was impressed with himself as he noticed that the fireworks looked pretty good. He admired them since they do indeed look like real fireworks in the sky. His letters, with their eyes and expressive eyebrows are a real treat for me to stare at. I love that our collaboration is growing.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Happy Birthday, Victor!

Happy Birthday, Victor!


My boy turned 6 today! This isn't a perfect cake drawing, but who cares. I was thrilled to draw it for him no matter how it turned out. I knew last week sometime that I'd be drawing this today and have been looking forward to it since then.

This time I absolutely loved that he helped out. Those are his swirls on the front. And I watched with admiration of his attention to detail as he added "smoke" above the candles.

I'm so proud of him and so excited for him to turn 6 today after so many weeks and months of build up. This is a big milestone for him and I can't wait to celebrate with him after school. What a great day!

Monday, September 17, 2012

How about if my letters are in a hole...

How about if my letters are in a hole...



I had dodged this one at least once already. I'm not sure what his fascination is with holes, but they come up all the time in his musings. I was so not into this one that I drew it on the "wrong" side of the bag. Up to this point, I've always used the side of the bag that lays completely flat. It's hard (at least for a guy like me) to make a hole look like a hole, especially on a paper sack. The only thing going for me here is that the sack is brown. He knew I wasn't happy about trying this one, so he politely encouraged me to do my best. What a nice kid. This was indeed the best I could do today.

Friday, September 14, 2012

How about my name is on the TV...

How about my name is on the TV...


I loved this idea the moment he said it. I wasn't sure exactly what to do or how I would draw it, but I wanted to to it right away. I drew the TV and stand first. Then I asked him what he wanted on it. After some back and forth with various ideas, we settled on drawing Ninjago Warriors. I was pretty pleased with the TV set and then good ol' fear settled in. I didn't want to mess it up. I wasn't sure if I could draw the warriors right. I had a feeling I might mess them up and make the whole drawing look bad.

Just as my anxiety was building, he offered to draw them himself. "Uh, no," I thought to myself, "I'm not sure if I can even do it." I certainly didn't want him in trying. Not today! Funny how I keep getting prideful over these sacks. He actually walked over and picked up the Sharpie as my heart took a pause. As we browsed pictures of Ninjagos I kind of discouraged him from doing them himself by telling him that it looked hard. I felt bad, but I really wanted this one to look cool.

Once we decided on which warriors to draw, I got to work on them myself. He was a little disappointed so I decided to throw him a bone (or a sword as it were). I lightly sketched the sword of the warrior on the right and let him fill it in with the dark lines while I nervously watched over. The sword looks great and he was happy to contribute. After I was done with both warriors, he decided to add speakers (the 3 rectangles on top of the TV). I have to admit that I didn't want to let go of the Sharpie, but I do, in fact, love that he added them. He thought to do so because our TV has those speakers over it. It always amazes me how observant he is. He really thinks this one is cool and so do I.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, ...

Bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, ...


Some objects just don't look right on a sack. And I'm clearly not the best artist in the world either. This looks like a bent can. It's not. It's one of those bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, things that you get at a zoo or museum gift shop. We bought Victor's at the Air and Space Museum a few weeks ago. It's been in the kitchen ever since. I had very little time this morning, so I drew it mainly because it was right in front of me and I liked the idea of drawing his name in the stream of bubbles. Everyone in the house loves watching those bubbles on the real thing! Bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Victorwood...

Victorwood...


Oh, there are troubles with using permanent marker and having a fixed time constraint! I really only have 5 to 10 minutes every morning to draw something on his sack. By the time I finished drawing in the Hollywood sign, I realized that I should have drawn Victorwood instead. There was no time to start over and even had I had the time I wouldn't have thrown it out. So I decided to just add Victorwood to the bottom. He loves Hollywood and loved this sack.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Can you draw the Eiffel Tower?

Can you draw the Eiffel Tower?


The Eiffel Tower? Sure! Why not? At this point, I'm pretty scared each morning to ask him what he wants drawn on the sack. It's a challenge for me to draw anything considering I haven't done any sketching since I was in high school. I'm working in Sharpie, no tracing, no chicken scratch, no do-overs. Did I say I'm scared of what he'll ask me to draw next? Terrified is more like it.

Until now, I had spent on average about 5 minutes per drawing. I had in mind to do this one very quickly. This is about 10 minutes of work and it changed my thoughts on what type of drawings might end up on these sacks in the future! This project started out as a simple creative exercise to challenge myself to print his name in different ways. Now I'm drawing complex scenes and stretching my artistic capabilities beyond what I thought I could handle. I wonder where things will go from here.

I drew his "V" at the top of the tower just as he finished his breakfast. He came around to my side and asked to fill in the other letters. To be honest, I didn't want him to draw on it at all. I was pretty happy with how it turned out considering and I was worried he'd "ruin" it. Uh oh, there I go again getting a little too attached to a throw away sack. He filled in his letters throughout the tower and even in steam coming from the small boat he asked me to add to the Seine.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

How about my letters coming out of a volcano...

How about my letters coming out of a volcano...


Now this one was fun to draw! It was only a matter of time before he asked me for a volcano. If you ask him to draw something, 9 times out of 10, he'll draw a volcano. His don't look like this one, but that's what Google Image search is for. I'm starting to feel a little guilty about borrowing good drawings, but I can't draw from memory, so I need a reference of some sort. I've found that searching for a "drawing" helps me find something with the right amount of fidelity for drawing with a Sharpie on a paper sack. I love that his name is exploding out of the volcano. Fun, indeed!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Can you draw a stage?

Can you draw a stage?

Stage with instruments

What? A stage? Sure, I suppose. I wasn't even sure what to draw to make something look like a stage, so I went to Google Image search again. Most example pictures had the big red curtains, so I focused my energy drawing those. Who doesn't love those big red curtains in a nice classic theater? Once I had those drawn, I forgot to actually draw a stage as you can see. I asked him what he wanted on the stage and he said instruments. Again, I really didn't know what he had in his mind, but I was feeling time pressure so I searched for pictures of a few instruments and simply drew them. After that, I had no idea where to put his name. He suggested to write it on the instruments, so there they are in tiny print across the instruments. This isn't one of my favorites, but he liked it nonetheless.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

How about my letters on some flowers...

How about my letters on some flowers...

Vase of flowers

This one is one of my own personal favorites so far. I loved the idea he had to put his letters on flowers. We happened to have a tall glass vase of gladiolas on the kitchen table, which is probably why he had the idea in the first place. With the vase in front of me, I repeated to myself what my 8th grade art teacher taught me. "Draw what you see, not what you think you see," he would repeat. On the rare occasions that I find myself drawing something from sight, I repeat that phrase over and over to remind myself of this simple yet critical lesson in drawing.

Victor and I weren't sure what type of flowers to draw. We brainstormed lots of ideas, but none seemed easy enough to do quickly. I wasn't confident that the gladiolas would look nice either. So I just made up these spiky daisy looking things. I like the way the letters feel hidden in the flower bulbs. I was pleased with myself again today, feeling that my 8th grade art skills were surfacing in a good way over 20 years after my art class.

He looked at it and felt it was missing something, so he grabbed the Sharpie. Although I should have been encouraging, I felt a strong impulse to snatch it back. "You're going to ruin it!" I thought to tell him. But I bit my tongue. For some reason he felt that it should be surrounded by a bowl. There it is drawn around the vase. I'm glad he felt confident enough to add to the picture, but in all honesty, I do feel like he took away from a drawing I was proud of. I have a feeling I'm going to discourage him contributing in the future. I'm a terrible father aren't I?

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