Games of Skill and Laughter

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting Harvard Elementary in Houston, Texas, where the students there were reading the Terrible Two for the One School, One Book reading program. They kindly asked me to join them and talk a little about my job and my role in the making of the book. As expected, they were consummate hosts, laughing at my jokes, enthusiastically participating in the drawing games, and not once did they make fun of my shoes.

For that, Harvard elementary, I thank you!

Special thanks to my contacts Kara and Chanelle, Megan, who made the amazing Terrible Two display, Austin, the teacher with whom I had a lovely chat about drawing, and of course, Principal Lashway, who, judging by the fact her car did not appear on the front steps of the school, is an even better principal than Principal Barkin.

As a bonus, I was invited to a luncheon with the winners of a Terrible Two drawing contest! If I had been quicker with my phone, I would’ve been able to take pictures of all the wonderful drawings that won, but as such I only have two on record. So I added a picture of this little spaghetti magnet that Kim made while I was gone, which I feel also deserves recognition.

Upon my return home, I made a quick flyer sharing several of the drawing games we played during the presentation, and I thought it would be nice to share those games with you, the people who sneak into, and read with impunity, my secret diary…

Scribble vision

This is a game that I discovered, rather than created, because humans have been playing this one since the days of cave painting. I was first introduced to it as a child, while staring at the wallpaper in my Aunt Angie’s bathroom. Or maybe it was my Aunt Rose... it was someone in a housecoat and curlers. Anyway, staring at the wall, I’d see all kinds of shapes in that 1970’s faux marble messiness—twisting bodies, contorted faces, leaping critters. Skip ahead several decades later, and I found a way to translate the experience without getting yelled at for drawing on the walls with eyeliner.

Essentially, the way the game works is you make a bunch of scribbles like so:

Then you take a long look at those scribbles. Try to see what’s living in there. Does that curve look like the back of a creature? Does that spot where the scribbles overlap kinda look like a face? Then take a pencil and try and tease out what it is you see…

And hey—you don’t always have to draw cute critters. You can draw whatever you want, but I find it’s helpful to apply a theme to what it is. It depends on the kind of freedom you need to inspire your creativity. One of my favorite variations of the game is drawing faces:

Satisfying!

Okay… next game…

The Doodle Association Game

This is a game I invented… holy crap… about twenty years ago. Good lord, I’m old. I originally posted about it on Bearskinrug, so I’ll just steal the meat of that article and paste it right here…

Last week, in an effort to kill some time, Kim and I invented a little game. Basically, it’s just Word Association with doodles instead of boring ol’ words. We didn’t really make up any rules before we started — they just kind of formed as we played. But I’ll do my best here to explain things to you.

Person A draws something. Anything. A shape, a bridge, an amorphous blob; whatever strikes A‘s fancy. Person B then draws something of their own, influenced by the previous drawing. Sometimes it may be the shape; sometimes it might be the subject matter. Sometimes it might just be one little piece that looks like it could be a piece from something else. Then... it’s Person A‘s turn again.

Pretty simple, right? It’s fun to do with multiple people, but there’s no reason you couldn’t play all by your lonesome self. Don’t fret about rules, or about creating a masterpiece; the point of the game is really just to kill time. And to tell you the truth, the simpler your drawing, the easier and more imaginative the game is.

Boy, that Kevin from twenty years ago sure had a way with words. And all that early 2000’s fashion is now back in style, so I guess he was kind of a fashion innovator as well. Maybe that’s why no one at the school laughed at my shoes!

The Superest

This next drawing game actually became my personal obsession for a few years there. From about 2007-2010, I ran a website called The Superest, where myself and fellow artist Matt Sutter played for the amusement of the internet at large. The rules to the game (originally created, and shared with us, by the writer Andy Havens) are simple: first person draws a hero with a superpower. The next person draws a hero with a power that negates the first hero’s power. The next person draws a superhero which negates that hero’s power, and on and on ad infinitum.

Simple, right? Here’s a few of the lovely heroes I drew over those many years…

So there we go. I highly encourage you to play these drawing games. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how versatile these are! You can play them anywhere, with just a paper and pencil, no electronic power required. In fact, I recommend you play them without electronics! Get rid of your electronics altogether!

Unless of course you’re wearing a pacemaker.

Gasp!

I gotta cancel that retirement home gig!