Draw something has got a bit of a spike lately – they say it’s been around for 4 years, but it wasn’t till the last few months, with iOS and Android apps out, that it really caught on.
I’ve done my bit. At first, I had two accounts to test it out, then though Sal might like it. He did. But he started playing strangers.
So I had to cut that out. I started gifting the app to others we knew, so Sal could play with them.
I am amazed at how much joy and pride and happiness I get when I see him guess my drawing. Or I watch him draw something that I could guess – his scorpion was much better than the one I had to draw for someone else later on – and i was even trying to channel his scorpion while I was creating my own. It was terrible. And he doesn’t turn away from clues like “victim” or “justice”. Admittedly, I couldn’t guess his drawing of “beef”…but it made sense to me later on as he described what he was thinking while we were chatting on the way to school.
Kalbi. Nice. (It had the string of 3 bones across the top…which made a lot of sense after hearing his explanation…)
But of course, for all those friends I’ve gifted the app to for him to play with, I’ve been playing my bit. And I’ve had way too much fun playing the game. Not because I can draw – I can’t. But I like to find fun outside of the normal confines of the game.
People have told me they don’t like me guessing words before they are done drawing. Especially if my guesses are things like “lame” or “bad” or “crap”. Why so sensitive?
I’ve also gotten in the habit of watching others do their drawing. I’m fortunate to have a few very talented (or at least, practiced) drawing friends out there. It’s so much fun for me to watch a drawing unfold, because it becomes so clear to me that they see the world in a different way than I do. They see layers and they share those layers and perspective with me over a few minutes. I feel like I’m insulting them by answering early and not enjoying the journey of the artistic process that they are sharing with me.
And I learn a bit too, about how to draw. Plus, it gives me time to make up snarky anagrams…
The learning to draw aspect is fun. I don’t think my drawing has really improved that much, except, I learned how to copy someone’s rendering of a wedgie. I didn’t know drawing a women’s hourglass was that easy. Forgive me, Draw Something partner, for wasting a few pages of your clue, just mimicking your wedgie. I wanted that lesson to burn in. But I’m at least learning how others do it. Since I suck at it so much, it’s like watching a magic show each time, as the overall picture unfolds. Then I’m a bad mimic…but who knows, maybe 9,700 more games of this and I’ll be able to draw a great bunny as fast as Sal’s kindergarten teacher.
Also, since I like twisting my own perceptions, I’ve lately found that others are really eager to get clues right. So I’ve gotten in the habit of when I feel like the clue should be guessed by “now”, I don’t stop drawing. And I try and transform my drawing into something different, so that when they guess the clue right and the rest of the drawing just “pops in” – that it’s a little jolting. If only I could draw better, it could be that much more jolting!
As it is, it’s my gift to my Draw Something friends.
Man. It’s late. I just drew a nice valley for someone (nice for me at least – I kind of crack myself up now with the attention to detail I put into my horrible pictures and wondering how impatient the person on the other side is getting with my useless, poorly rendered, details? I’m trying to put a sun into every one of my pictures now. My goto move…) Anyway, when I submitted my picture, I noticed I had selected the word “ride” instead. Good luck with that!