ERROR

ERROR final day/ explanation pending. T-minus 24. Returning to schedule.

CRITICAL MISHAP

T-minus 48. System overworked /MELTDOWN avoidance procedure engaged/Drawing system OFFLINE>pinklettuce.bluetomato

MALFUNCTION

ERROR: --drawing malfunction--T-minus 72

SYSTEM OVERLOAD> failure

ERROR

ERROR

SPRING BREAK!

Hey folks. No drawing today. We're going to give one more day for Game-themed comments. A) because there aren't very many, and B) because I'm taking a Spring Break/Easter holiday!

Hippity hop! See you tomorrow!

I Will Drawing That For You! Day 13

Today's choice was the hardest one yet. There were SO many good suggestions. I couldn't decide. I was toying with combining several of your ideas, Ron's Wild Deck of Cards/attacking a Ranch/with a Hamster Ball/with a Hook dragging Chairs. There were so many fun ideas. I really couln't pick! Then, at 10:46 pm (and I don't often pick the late night entries--because I usually have one picked by then...) Anonymous sends in:

"a small man riding a large goat on the brim of a much larger man's cowboy hat."

Anonymous, I will drawing that for you!

Thanks for playing everyone. This was a good round! So many clever, funny ideas.

Weekend round, the theme is:

GAMES! Send in your game-themed comments! Video game, board game, wild game--you name it! Games! See you Monday!

I Will Drawing That For You! Day 12

"A mummy belly dancing."

R.G. I will drawing that for you!

Let's keep the wild card theme going--tomorrow's theme is:

More Wild Card!

I Will Drawing That For You! Day 11

"I'd like to see a picture of the hotdog king and his baby."

Alina, I will drawing that for you!

I love the hotdog king. This needs to be a picture book--only I have no idea what the story would be. Anyway, thank you Alina for a great picture idea!

Tomorrow's theme is...

No theme! It's a Wild Card day! Let your imagination run wild!

I Will Drawing That For You! Day 10

In The Golem's Eye, book 2 of Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy, there is a wonderful scene.
The djinni Bartimaeus is in the British Museum in the form of a big, tough minotaur. He has just realized that the enemy he was about to pounce on is way out of his league, so instead he tries to tip-toe daintily away unseen.

Chris, I will drawing that for you!

Thanks for the great concepts! This theme was a little too much like work. Time to go a little easier.

Tomorrow's theme is:

Hot Dogs.

Intermission

I'm taking a break from the drawing game today. I thought I'd give you all another day to get you book character-themed ideas turned in. In the mean time, I thought you'd enjoy seeing these library card designs.

My local library, The Provo City Library is holding a contest for a new library card design. I've always wanted to design a library card, so here are my submissions:

Bees! There is a large statue of a beehive in front of the library, so I thought I'd do a bee theme.

Then I thought it would be fun to do a series of cards that fit each library patron's genre reading habit. So there is a knight for Sci-fi/Fantasy readers, a cowboy for Western readers (one of my favorite genres!) a regency lady for Jane Austen fans (needs a revise, she's not very cute) and a vampire for Horror/Paranormal Romance readers. Some ideas that didn't make the cut were detectives, spies and lawyers (all just people in suits) a scientist for non-fiction (too confusing, a flying scientist?) historical fiction is covered in all of the cards but the vampire. Anyway, take a look. Which one would you pick? I'd go cowboy.

If you'd like to see the other entries in the contest, go to the Provo Library's Facebook page. There are some fun entries, including a psychedelic clown and a card featuring a hot dog. I hope my entries win, but if they don't, I want the hot dog to win. There has never, in the history of libraries, been a library card with a hot dog on it. I think that should change.

Book character ideas--get them in!

I Will Drawing That For You! Day 9

"Peregrine Falcon Vs. Cheeseburger"

Juliana, I will drawing that for you!

SWOOSH! Thanks for the comment, Juliana. It made me laugh out loud when I read it!

The theme for the weekend is:

Book Characters!

Describe scenes and characters from your favorite books!

I Will Drawing That For You! Day 8

"Bald Sasquatch."

Tessa: I will drawing that for you!

I've never not had fun drawing Sasquatch! Thanks Tessa!

Tomorrow's theme is:

VS.

Blank VS. blank. Fill in the blanks!

I Will Drawing That For You! Day 7

"A sad dung beetle in a party hat, because nobody wants to come to his party."

Helene, I will drawing that for you!

Oh, he's so SAD. Poor little guy. Thanks Helene--great drawing idea! Thanks to everyone who commented yesterday. The BUGS theme must have been a tricky one, it got the fewest comments of any theme so far.

Tomorrow's theme is:

TWO WORDS

That means you only get two words to describe your idea! Example: "Banjo Pig." Come up with a drawing concept in two words and two words only! Good luck!

I Will Drawing That For You! Day 6

"A game of musical chairs, where the chairs are angry and carnivorous."

Lindsay, I will drawing that for YOU!

Nice one Lindsay. This one was borderline, as far as scary/violent ideas go. But I couldn't resist!

Tomorrow's theme is:

Bugs!

I feel like I'm hosting Iron Chef when I do that. Take it away, Iron Commenters!

I Will Drawing That For You! Day 5

"A huge forest being burned down by giants to create a bonfire to cook their food on it."

Ada, I will drawing that for you!

Well, the forest isn't exactly huge--just a medium forest, woops. But I think I got everything else. Sorry about the forest size mix-up, Ada.

Great entries, everyone, as usual. Tomorrow's theme is....

Music!

Comments should have something to do with music. Good luck!

I Will Drawing That For You! Day 4

"A pink robot and she had so much fun that she called another pink robot and she had a fun idea to play."

This comment grabbed my imagination and would not let go!

Erin Shakespear's 3 yo: I will drawing that for you!

Wow! I continue to be amazed by all of your great ideas. Thanks for posting them--I wish I could draw them all.

It is now time to take the game to LEVEL 2! LEVEL 2 has themes! That's right, LEVEL 1 was a free-for-all idea-fest. But in LEVEL 2, each day will have an idea theme. The first theme (and you have all weekend to post your idea) is....

FIRE!

Your idea should have something to do with FIRE. That's pretty broad, it can be about actual fire, someone getting fired, a wordplay based on the word fire, etc.--the possibilities are endless. Go nuts!

Have a good weekend!

I Will Drawing That For You! Day 3

Good grief! Your comments are all so great! It's so, so hard to choose. The one I just couldn't say no to was: "A monkey in a snowstorm playing a flute on a yak."

Tessa, I Will Drawing That For You!

Keep those fantastic drawing ideas coming. Feel free to revisit themes from your previous (non-picked) comments--there's been some really good stuff.

I'm having fun, are you? Is this a good game? How does it compare to "Name That Dragon?"

I Will Drawing That For You! Day 2

Wow! Yesterday's comments were spectacular! It was almost impossible to choose just one. Be proud of yourselves--you have some great ideas.

The winning comment won because it immediately put an image in my mind. There were lots of fun concepts, but this one provided me with an instant visual. It was this: "A giant lobster attacking a coastal Maine town à la Godzilla." From commenter Katya.

Katya, I will drawing that for you!

Post those day 3 comments! All new drawing ideas!

I Will Drawing That For You! Day 1

That is a Banjo Pig! Do you know about Banjo Pigs? You should. Click over and see. You can spend hours looking at Banjo Pigs.

An illustrator buddy of mine (Guy Francis, one of the co-founders of Banjo Pigs) asked me forever ago to draw a pig with a banjo for his site. Well, I finally did it. It only took a year.

We're now going to play a game where the illustration results come in much faster. I call it:

I Will Drawing That For You!

Here's how it works:

Step 1: You enter an idea for a drawing into the comments section. Example: "A pig with a banjo!"

Step 2: I pick an idea that tickles my fancy.

Step 3: I draw the idea for the next day's post.

Step 4: Fun is had by all!

Get it? It's interactive!

Rules and Tips:

Tip: Be fun and creative!

Rule: Keep it kid-friendly! The Space Station is rated "E" for everyone! For example, I will not draw "Sonic the Hedgehog chopping off Lady Gaga's head."

Tip: Post your own made-up ideas! Or ideas from your favorite books (like the Hobbit!) video games (Zelda!) or even characters from the blog (Burger Bug!)

Rule: No politics or religion! For example, I will not draw "Sarah Palin and the prophet Mohammed on a riding lawnmower" or "President Obama high-fiving a sasquatch." (even though those both sound like fun drawings.)

Tip: Enter every day!

Rule: I only pick one comment to draw each day, so don't be sad if you don't get picked.

Bring on the drawing ideas! Let's do this!

The Waiting Swamp p.18

That's it for this chapter of The Land of Doom. We'll visit it again. There is more doom--there is tons more doom. I hope you learned something about the frightening world of children's publishing.

I'm starting something new tomorrow. It's going to be interactive. You, the reader, will be doing all the creative heavy-lifting. Should be fun!

The Waiting Swamp p.17