Minecraft Steve with a Diamond Sword

Victor got up, prepared his own breakfast, ate it, and got ready for school all by himself again today. He was ready to go even before I made it downstairs.

"What'll it be today for the snack sack?" I asked him. He was relaxing on the couch playing Minecraft.

"Can you help me pick something, Dadda?" I love it when he calls me "Dadda."

"You don't have any ideas?"

"Nope."

I wondered if he was tired of the Looney Tunes snapshots or if he just didn't want to pause from playing Minecraft to flip through them.

"How about something Minecraft?" I suggested. At the moment, he was building a lighthouse and I couldn't help but think that Minecraft building blocks are like LEGOs for the digital age.

"That will take a long time for you to draw, Dadda."

"I mean a Minecraft character."

"Oh, okay."

"Which one?"

"Do a search for Minecraft characters."

"Okay, I will."

It didn't take him long to pick this one. Drawing it was much harder than I anticipated. If I had to do it all over again, I'd use a different strategy — one that would help me plot out the grid better. The proportions are all wrong here, but it looks okay as a finished product.

"What do you think of this guy?" I asked him, pushing the snack sack in front of his face.

He was too busy playing and hardly looked up. "Good. Good. It looks a little bit messed up."

"I told you it'd be hard." Looks like he's back to being critical. Oh, well, I try.

Robot Knight

His "How to Draw Robots" book was due back to the school library today so I knew we'd be doing one last robot.

I did not wake up with the same energy that I had yesterday so when he picked this robot knight, I gave an internal sigh. It was just about as complex as yesterday's robot man. I wondered if my low mood would affect the outcome. To my surprise, it did not. I worked for over 30 min with the Extra Fine Tip Sharpie again. I like how it gives me more control. I worked deliberately, but felt rushed toward the end. I had to draw the lower half of his body in half the time I did his upper half.

I was disappointed that I hadn't left enough room for the full sword; but, I am happy that the angles and proportions came out pretty good. It's not quite as tight as yesterday's but it still looks cool. 

"He's fat Daddy," was what Victor had to say when he saw it finished.

"No he's not," I said defensively.

"To me he is. His shoulders are a little puffy."

I ignored him and packed up our stuff to go. After all my work, it was a little disappointing that he was critical. I could have used some good will today to boost my spirits.

Davy Jones

"What'll be today?

"A house with Christmas lights," he said thinking of something Christmas-y like yesterday's Christmas Tree. But he remembered what he really wanted yesterday and quickly changed it up, "No, no! Davy Jones! Now we can do it."

He was right. We had plenty of time so I did a search and handed him my iPhone. He couldn't decide. I kept prodding him to pick one but he just kept scrolling and browsing. I got frustrated with the delay and threatened not to do it. I wasn't in the mood for something complicated, but I knew this one would be. I was extra sleepy and just wanted to go back to bed.

He finally picked a screen capture from the movie, knowing full well that I expected him to pick one of the many illustrated options.

"I don't think I'll have time to do it anymore," I warned. 

"How about this one?" he said picking a drawing this time. It was a terrible illustration, simple but not cool at all. 

"I'll pick," I said, taking the phone from him. I found two good options right away. One was Davy Jones's full body. The other was just of his head. "Of these two, which one?" I asked, still giving him the final decision.

He pointed to the one with his full body. 

I sat down still sleepy and more frustrated than before at all the wasted time. I would have had plenty of time, but now I was expecting to feel rushed. Instead, I fell into a zone. I lost myself to the outside world and I looked up twenty minutes later to see the completed drawing. I was very pleased with what I saw. Wow! I thought, He looks cool!

Victor saw it and said, "Oh my god! He looks creepy!"