Darth Vader 2

"Another one from the book?"

"Darth Vader."

"Also not really a monster, but at least he's a bad guy," I remarked. I find it so odd that the "Draw 50 Monsters" book has so many non-monsters in it.

"I know," he replied.

I'm surprised that he's been choosing the most familiar characters for me to draw. It'd be nice to draw an actual monster from the book before we have to return it to the school library. I would have picked Medusa today, but I don't get to decide. He does.

I've done Darth Vader before, almost a year ago, but I didn't want to deny him today.

I'm not happy with this one and he didn't make any special comments about it. I drew Vader too thin, just like I did Yoda yesterday. Oh well.

Yoda

"Do you want to pick a thing from the book or something else?" I asked him. Turns out the "Draw 50 Monsters" book is full of lots of things that aren't really monsters.

"The book!" he exclaimed. He started flipping. Literally two seconds later he shouted, "Here it is!"

"Yoda?"

"Yup."

"Do you thank me for picking fast?"

"Yes, thank you," I said graciously. I often give him a hard time for taking too long to pick something.

I wonder what Yoda would think about being in a book of monsters. "Wrong, it is," he might say.

I started strong and confident but had to throw out my first attempt. I hadn't left enough room for his right ear. Victor took notice. After that, I worked diligently, hardly looking up from the page.

"Oooh, I like it!" he said sweetly. "It looks just like it," he added encouragingly. "You left enough space this time."

I overcompensated is what I did, I thought. Overall, Yoda is proportional, but because I needed all that space for his ears, his face is tall where it should be wide. Luckily it still looks like Yoda, but in retrospect I needed to have turned the bag sideways, drawing in landscape, to fit his wildly wide ear-span.

How about two lightsabers making an X...

How about two lightsabers making an X...

He woke up early today and ate quickly. He hurried into the bathroom and after a few minutes yelled out, "The snack sack! Just draw a Hot Wheels!" he exclaimed. 

"That's a good idea!" I shouted back. But then I ran a search looked at the pics. None of the options looked like a toy and none were drawings. 

He messed around in the bathroom while I made his lunch. I had to keep reminding him to brush his teeth and get ready. With all the time wasted, I no longer had time to draw a complex race car. 

I asked him for a different idea. 

He quickly suggested, "How about a lightsaber?" Then he added, "How about two lightsabers making an X. That's easy right?!"

"Yeah, it does sound easy," I had to admit. It was so easy, in fact, that I decided to add color, something I've never done before. I knew it just wouldn't look right if the lightsabers weren't classic green vs. red. It took me almost no time at all to draw them.

"Ooo, lightsabers! Ooo, you used markers this time!" It's a simple one, but he was super excited about it.

Stormtroooper

Stormtroooper

"What's for the snack sack today?" I asked wondering if he'd continue taking on the artwork himself.

"Stormtrooper."

That answered my question. I knew he didn't intend to try drawing a stormtrooper, plus we didn't have a lot of extra time for me to encourage him to. Besides, I was in the mood to do something a bit challenging after having mostly sat out the last two times.

We picked this one pretty quickly and I got to work. The drawing went fast this time. It's not perfect but it's a pretty good rendition of a stormtrooper.

"You don't have to draw the gun," he said as I was working on his shoulder. He thought better of it, "Um, never mind. You can draw the gun." He thought about it some more and clarified, "We already did a gun." He must have been thinking of the NERF gun we did.

"Why don't you want me to draw a gun?" I asked wondering what his answer might be. "I don't have to draw the gun."

"Because at school you're not allowed to bring guns."

"Oh," I said carefully considering the options. In the end, we decided that in this context of such a well known Star Wars character, it'd be okay. But this was definitely a good thing to stop and think about.

Star Wars Angry Birds

Star Wars Angry Birds

"Can you do two Star Wars Angry Birds?" he asked with hesitation. "Two?" he repeated.

"Yes," I said, sensing he expected me to say, "no."

I handed him my iPhone and he picked an image with R2-D2 and C-3PO as Angry Birds. I wasn't thrilled about doing just those two and told him so. He found this full version with all the characters and sheepishly asked, "Do you think you can do all this?"

"Yes!" I said confidently. We had plenty of time today.

When I first started he came over to my side of the kitchen table and asked, "How's it going?"

"I'm having a little trouble with the proportions," I said honestly, wondering to myself if it would all come together.

"Well, it doesn't look much like it," he said ruthlessly without intending to be. "At least not right now," he added to soften the blow. I did my best to ignore the comment.

I had to take a break in the middle of drawing to send off an email. When I came back from the office, he told me that there was a surprise on the back and flipped the sack over. He had drawn three small hearts with long balloon-like strings flowing to the bottom of the back of the sack. He added his name too which is why it's not on the main drawing on the front of the sack. I could tell he was proud of the additions. It was very sweet.

When I was done he said, "I like it! I like it, Daddy! Looks cool!" more than making up for the early criticism. The drawing had come together despite all the mistakes I made.

"Thanks, Buddy!"

"Jeez, you're really good at drawing, Dad! You're the best!"

I'm not sure about that, I thought to myself, but he sure does make me feel special sometimes!

Luke Skywalker

Luke Skywalker

"What's for the snack sack today?"

"Why do you keep giving me ideas?!?!" he said again today, just like yesterday.

"What then?"

"A Jedi."

"Which Jedi? They each have names."

"I want Luke Skywalker."

This one had much less detail than yesterday's Darth Vader so I finished quicker than usual...a refreshing change.

"Let me see your snack sack," he requested with anticipation. "Oh, I like it!" he said with a big smile.

Darth Vader

Darth Vader

"What's for the snack sack today?"

"Why do you keep getting me ideas!!??!!"

"What?" I said not sure of what exactly I had done.

"Why do you keep getting me ideas!!??!!" he repeated.

"What's for the snack sack then?"

"Darth Vader!" he said as his voice pitched up. We hadn't really been talking about much of anything, but sometimes he attributes our conversation to a new idea that pops into his head.

As I added in his name he said, "Make the 'I' a lightsaber." I did as instructed.

He picked a cool reference drawing and I tried hard to match it. This is one of those times where we were both equally happy with the completed work.