The Animated Woman

April 24, 2012

EPIC #DrawSomething ...with Pickle Weasel.

What's your fave?

I like Vader. Start a game of Draw Something with me, "The Animated Woman", and I will draw something just for you.

April 23, 2012

#bewbLUV - A message of love and hope.

The #bewbluv hashtag was started on Twitter by the well loved Brandie McCallum AKA @lttlewys - who bravely underwent surgery for breast cancer this morning. Her story is here on her blog.

But it has become so much more than just a hashtag - it's a message of love, hope and friendship, fueled by the power of social media. You may have noticed some avatars popping up with Venus de Milo in the Twitterverse and a #bewbluv Twibbon as well. Feel free to grab them and use them to tweet the hashtag for breast cancer awareness and support.

These days it seems that cancer is all around us. One thing is clear - we need each other.

The Internet has got your back Brandie!

April 20, 2012

How to #DrawSomething in 10 easy steps.

My strategy with the game is to keep you guessing until the very end, and hopefully make you laugh. So I plan what I'm going to draw and leave out the crucial details until the end. Here's how I play Draw Something in ten easy steps:

Step 1: choose the widest brush and fill in the background, if there is one. In this case, I want black, to set the mood.

Step 2: Add any details to the background using smaller brushes. Note that the new update to the Draw Something app has a single stroke undo, which is really useful if you choose the wrong brush size. I was so glad to see that cuz I'm constantly using the wrong brush and having to repaint over my mistake.

Step 3: I like to put Pickle Weasel in all my drawings. So here's where I block him in. I'm already thinking about his final pose in the drawing, even at this early stage.

Step 4: Block in the colour areas on the character's body. It's important to do this before the outline stage, cuz it's hard to fill in colour in this app. I suck at keeping in the lines, so I like to do it this way.

Step 5: Add the outlines! Not all character's need outlines, but Pickle Weasel does. At this point I also throw in the facial details: eyes, nose, mouth etc. I have to get his expression just right - if you've played with me, you prolly notice I spend more time on this part. Or maybe I just imagine that.

Step 6: Now I paint in the details on his "costume".

Step 7: A few clues begin to creep into the drawing!

Step 8: Adjustments to Pickle Weasel's pose by adding his arms.

Step 9: Lastly I may add some text - this part is a great opportunity to inject humor.

An artist needs to stay in shape. Playing Draw Something is like exercise for me. It forces me to create a funny drawing with limited drawing tools, in a short time. It's like getting really good abs.

I also like the idea of doing a drawing just for someone else, and I enjoy getting others to draw too. Drawing is good for your brain.

Step 10: It's a 3-letter word. And here's your letters below.

What's the answer?

Play Draw Something with "The Animated Woman".

April 19, 2012

Death of a child.

Tomorrow I will attend a memorial for the daughter of my friends, lost to leukemia.

The death of one's child is possibly the most profound loss that one might have to endure.
Does it make it any easier if the child is grown up? ...I think not.

I could barely draw this.

April 17, 2012

Addicted to #DrawSomething.

I'm pretty sure I have an addictive personality. So when I first got this iPad 3 a couple weeks ago, I was wary of getting addicted to playing Draw Something. A few people (you know who you are) were trying to get me to play with them - but I knew that Draw Something is basically a gateway to harder games, so I said NO!

Then @Void_Liminality suggested I include my Pickle Weasel character in my drawings. Next thing I knew I had to have my daily fix.