Despicable Me Minions

He brought home a bunch of Despicable Me coloring pages from school on Friday. This morning, they were still on the counter untouched. I shuffled through them and asked, "How about this one for the snack sack?" It was a close up of one of the minions.

"How about the one with the car?" he suggested.

Of course he'd pick the most complex one. This one had three minions riding in a car. I looked at the clock. We were running early. I had no excuse but laziness. "Okay," I told him, "I guess I have the time today so I'll give it a shot."

It was super hard for me to get the proportions right on this one. I should have started with the bag sideways for sure. As a result, the car looks a little squished in the front and in the back. Somewhere half way through I considered tossing the whole thing out and starting again. There wasn't time so I just carried on. Taking a step back, it still looks pretty cool and he thought so too.

Meatbalrus

After a day off, we were sure we wanted to do another Foodimal from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. We had already done a Tacodile Supreme, Cheese Spider, and Bananostrich. I did a search for the Foodimals and we looked at them together. We almost picked the Fruit Cockatiel but ultimately decided on the Meatbalrus. 

As I started out bottom-up I said, "The feet are kind of platypus-like."

He heard me but didn't make a sound.

This one was pretty simplistic compared to the others. I did my best to pay attention to the details to help make it come to life on the sack.

After he finished his breakfast, he came over to my side of the table and exclaimed, "I want to see the Meatbalrus! I want to see the Meatbalrus!" He took a look and added, "He-he. That is kind of platypus feet. Yeah. That's pretty good!" he said joyfully. 

Surfer Dude

His class had a field trip planned to the pumpkin patch today so I wasn't packing a snack. They asked us to put his lunch in a clear gallon sized Ziploc bag. I didn't expect to draw anything, but as I was about to fill the Ziploc, I saw that the Capri Sun juice bag had this cool surfer dude on it. I decided to see how quickly I could sketch him onto the bag. I didn't even sit down. It took me all of 3 minutes.

"Are you drawing a surfer?" he asked, reaching up onto the table, looking over toward the opposite end where I was standing.

"Yup!"

"Oh, cool!"

Once again, just like yesterday, I found that drawing even a little something felt better than drawing nothing at all.

Bananostrich

In sticking with the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 theme, he asked, "Remember a banana-dolphin?" I didn't even have to ask him for an idea today.

"I do, but I don't have much time. I'm not even sure I can do a snack sack today. Mom is taking you this morning, remember?" I had to go to work early today.

"Oh," he said in disappointment.

I could have easily decided to head out the door, but I had a few minutes to spare so I did a quick search instead. It wasn't a banana-dolphin after all. "This Foodimal is a Bananostrich," I informed him.

"Oh! Still looks like a dolphin to me."

"That's all I have time for," I announced after quickly drawing it in just a few minutes. 

"Aww. Cute!"

I just didn't want to skip a day and I know he didn't want me to either.

Cheese Spider

"What should we try today?"

"This time a Cheese Spider because you did pretty good on the Tacodile."

I had a feeling we'd be sticking with the Foodimals today from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. Yesterday's was fun to draw and it was no surprise that he wanted the Cheese Spider today. I had to really rush this one and skimp on some of the details in the webbing. I still spent 20 minutes but we got out of the house later than normal as a result.

"What do you think of the Cheese Spider?" I asked him on our way out. 

"It's good...except that it looks like it's freaked out," he said pointing at the eyes. He was right, as always. It did looked freaked out.

This sack came home (all crumpled up). He showed it to me in the afternoon and observed, "This way it looks like it's whining," turning the sack upside down. "This way it looks like it's angry," he said turning it right side up. He kept flipping it back and forth taking in the difference.

He hasn't been bringing the sacks home much lately. Perhaps he brought this one back because we were flipping through our collection and reminiscing before bedtime yesterday. I think taking a trip down Memory Lane made us both more sentimental about our mornings together and the art that we have produced.

Tacodile Supreme

"What should we do today?"

"One of those things from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2."

We saw the movie on Friday night. We loved the first one and didn't want to wait until Saturday to watch the sequel. This was the very first time we went out in the evening for a movie all together as a family. We had a lot of fun and the movie was quite funny and clever.

"Good idea," I told him. In the movie there are many cool food-animal creations called Foodimals.

I ran a search and saw lots of options. I knew it might be tough for me to draw any of them, but I handed him my iPhone anyway.

He debated between the Tacodile and the Cheese Spider, finally choosing the Tacodile Supreme. I had a feeling he'd pick that one. It was a nice isolated shot on a white background as opposed to many of the other options that were complicated screen captures from the movie.

"Good choice!" It wasn't easy, but I took my time and am I'm happy with how it turned out. All the Foodimals in the movie are cool, but this one may be my favorite.

"You gonna do the drool?" he asked. 

"Yup."

"I love you Dadda," he told me from across the table.

"I love you too!" I replied.

Mickey Mouse Riding a Scooter in Croissant de Triomphe

"What should we do today?"

He mumbled something I didn't understand.

"What?"

He strung a bunch of random thoughts together still not making much sense. After some more probing, I was able to discern that he was describing the Mickey Mouse short with the fish in it. It's called Gasp! and I did a search for stills from it. In the end, though, he picked this image from the French one, Croissant de Triomphe, where Mickey rushes throughout Paris to get Minnie fresh bread for her bakery across town.

I worked slowly and steadily on this one because I had plenty of time. He wrapped up early too and came over to watch me draw. 

"Can I color in the arms?" he asked.

"Sorry. I'm still working on it," I said coloring them in myself. I was focused on making it all come together.

"Can I color in the next thing?" he persisted.

I could see that he really wanted to contribute today. I was pleased with how it was turning out which actually made me a little reluctant to share drawing duties. But I do love it when he shows his own creativity on the sacks. I decided to save the leg for him to color in. "Sure. When I'm done."

"Can I do the mouth?"

"You can. Later."

"Are you going to do the detail?"

"I don't think I'll have time for the city in the background."

"Can I do it?" I could tell he was anxious to get his turn.

"Here," I said as I finished, handing over the Sharpie.

He went to it. I expected him to add the "detail" of the city, but instead he added a "meteor" around the scooter, "because it's going so fast."

As he continued to add lots of lines to the drawing, I couldn't resist passing on a little reminder, "Too much stuff makes it not easy to see what the picture is."

He pretty much ignored me and I decided to just let him have at it. He added his letters with expressive eyes, something he hasn't done in quite a long time. He added streaks to each letter because of their "speed." Of course the "R" had to be sneaky and ended up on the back as part of the "r Billd-ing" complete with a flag on top.

I finally had to stop the flow of creativity when he started pounding in the dots on the R, effectively ruining the Sharpie. By this point he had gotten marker all over his face. I sent him to wash up and did my best to admire his additions.

Mickey Mouse in New York Weenie

"What should we do today?"

"Another Mickey Mouse thing...and this time from New York Weenie." In this short, Mickey chases a runaway hot dog throughout Central Park.

I did a search and handed him my iPhone. He picked a snapshot of Mickey looking extremely enraged and not like himself. There are many such stills in this short since Mickey's frustration level is at an all time high. The hot dog is quite the foe.

"Let's pick something else. This is ugly."

Surprisingly, he agreed without comment. "This one then," he said picking a snapshot with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in it.

"I can't do three drawings."

"It's just one."

"Yes, but there are three of them. I don't have time today."

Frustrated, he went back to scrolling. After a lot of prodding, he picked this shot of Mickey peering through the bushes of Central Park. I started with the thick tip of the Sharpie today but couldn't control the ink spread. I had to start over on a new sack with the thin tip. I worked quickly and took shortcuts on the scenery to finish in time. Since it wasn't his first choice, nor his second, he didn't have any comments on this one.

We rushed out the door to walk to school as we do every morning. A few steps from school I got a strong feeling that I had forgotten to include the snack sack in his backpack. We stopped to double check. Sure enough, it wasn't there. We were running late already so there was no chance to go back together.

I asked him to just go ahead and I ran back home. I hadn't done any real exercise in months. My heart was racing but I was determined to get it to him in time. I made it home quickly and found it right on the kitchen table.

I ran back toward the school, faster this time. But as soon as I was in the sight of other parents, I started walking. I felt embarrassed to be running for some reason so I power walked the rest of the way. The school bell rang just as I stepped on school grounds. His class was already inside and settling down when I made it to the door.

Victor was waiting near his desk, ignoring the chaos around him, standing up looking out towards the door anxiously. He greeted me outside and I handed it to him. "Is this the same one?" he asked to no one in particular. "Yup, it's the same one," he answered to himself unable to hide his smile. I watched him head back into the classroom with a skip in his step and I breathed a sigh of relief as I headed back home. It meant a lot to me for him to have his sack today and clearly it meant a lot to him too.

Mickey Mouse Screaming in Yodelberg

"A monster truck."

"We've done several monster trucks already."

"Nooooa."

"Yeaaas." 

"Okay. Something else from the Mickey Mouse cartoons." He thought for a moment. "From the snowy place," he clarified. He was talking about the short Yodelberg in which Mickey tries to avoid starting an avalanche as he tries to get to Minnie who lives at the very top of the mountain.

I did a search and the moment I saw this snapshot of Mickey yelling I knew he would pick it. He did.

"Won't be easy, but let's see," I said optimistically. "I knew you'd pick this one."

"It's funny isn't it? How did you know I'd pick it?"

"Because it stands out."

"Yeah it does." He watched me as I worked. "Don't forget to not connect the tail," he cautioned quite observantly. The tail was indeed disconnected from Mickey's body. "It's so funny," he repeated, studying the finished drawing. "You're missing something," he informed me as he took hold of the Sharpie. He re-outlined the tail and made it "a little fatter."

Just as it looked like he might do a major overhaul to the whole drawing, I said, "Enough." It was time for some morning reading so we settled into the sofa, he in my lap, to read a story.

Toy Story Space Alien

I asked him several times about today's snack sack and he ignored me. I walked up to him and asked him very directly, "You're not going to pick anything?"

"No," he replied, "you pick."

He sounded pretty resolute so I didn't press him to brainstorm. I bet he's sore because he's been in trouble lately. In fact, he's grounded indefinitely until he shows that he can be more responsible and mature. He's actually a really good kid, but knows how to push our buttons and has been taking it a bit too far this past week.

I decided to do something from Toy Story because he had a Toy Story theme day at his summer program today. After browsing through lots of options, I decided to do the space alien trio who say, "You have saved our lives. We are eternally grateful." I ran out of time though and could only draw one of them.

"I want to see! Which one did you do?"

Ah, so he does care! I thought.

"Ah! He-he," he laughed. "Cool!"