An amazing thing is happening on the internet. Hundreds of people all over the world are drawing every day  and posting their images on smart phones and tablets using an app called Draw Something. Not only are they drawing, they are making beautiful and interesting drawings.

The most amazing thing about it is that it is a game in which you are required to draw a word for another player. It is like charades using drawings.   The object is for that player to guess the word.  However, people who like to draw have been using the game more as a drawing app than as a game app. Instead of worrying about guessing the word, people are working hard at drawing a very good picture of that word. I am not talking about the many players who draw stick figures and doodles. I am talking about artists, like myself, taking this opportunity seriously. It is a motivational driver for creating art. The game provides the tools in the form of color palettes and a few different line sizes. In addition, there is a limit on the amount of “ink” you are allowed to use in a drawing. This is really a file sever limitation because many artists, myself included, run out of ink way before the drawing is finished. When you have played the game for a while you learn how to manage your ink supply. The game serves as a learning tool for finding out how other artists work. The partner player needs to watch the drawing as it is being made in order to guess what is being drawn. Even if you know what it is beforehand, most artists playing watch the creation of the entire drawing before guessing the word.

 

imageFor an artist to be able to watch another person think and draw an image is an incomparable resource to their own creativity. Many of the artist players use these drawings as preliminary sketches for more complete drawings that may be drawn by hand using traditional methods, or they may expand their drawing experience into more complex digital drawing using various drawing apps that are also available for smart phones and tablets.