The Floating Dog Embarks
Somebody Write This Book
Hi! Hello! I’m Kirk Reedstrom and this is the Somebody Write This Book newsletter where I send monthly, occasionally (okay, okay—often) absurd creative prompts to your inbox. You probably signed up for this on my website or on Twitter. If you’d like to unsubscribe, just click that link at the bottom of the newsletter. One click, all done, goodbye and sayonara.
A Prompt:
Look at that doggo embark bark bark:
A pupper who looks full of regret? A bunch of smiley-face balloons? How could this not be a picture book?! This will surprise no one, but one of my favorite illustration moves is to have two characters with big, contradictory emotions, and this image fits that to a T. So, let’s try drawing our own floating dog as a squiggle character. If you need a refresher on how to create a squiggle character, you can find instructions in my first newsletter. Ready?
Here’s my squiggle:
And my floating dog:
This month, I thought it’d be fun to try filming my squiggle character drawing. So if you want to see my process from beginning to end, I posted the video on my YouTube channel. This dog reminded me of my brother’s goofy golden retriever who’s always up for adventure so much that I decided to not add faces to the balloons. I didn’t think balloons with smiley faces would add much to the drawing. A couple days later, I remembered there are other expressions that faces can make. Whoops. Luckily, you can always go back to old drawings and stories!
Here’s my newly improved drawing:
If you want to keep this tail (or tale) wagging, here are some more questions to ask yourself:
Why did this dog want to fly?
Did someone else convince the dog to don those balloons?
Where is the dog trying to go?
Where is the dog actually going?
Who does the dog meet in the sky?
What would happen if one of the balloons popped?
Try setting a timer for 23 minutes and free write a little story that’s about 100-200 words from the perspective of the dog, or the character who set it afloat. You can go over or under that word count. You can write for a longer or shorter amount of time. If a story’s not your cup of tea, try a poem or four panel comic. One last thing—if you make something based off this prompt, let me know! I’d love to see it.
Three Neat Things:
A Book:
I just got my mitts on Marion Milner’s book, On Not Being Able To Paint. It’s full of squiggle drawings and Milner’s (she was a contemporary of Donald Winnicott) psychological analysis of her work. If you like books about psychology or creativity, it’s worth checking out.
An Album:
I’m a huge (HUUUUGE) fan of the composer/violinist/vocalist Caroline Shaw (her last album with Sō Percussion is one of my very favorites), and couldn’t be more excited about her upcoming album with the Attacca String Quartet. Go ahead and do yourself a favor, and listen to the teaser track, Nimrod.
Smoothies:
It’s too hot outside. Here’s to smoothies, and other cold beverages. I’m especially missing my favorite smoothie, The Dreamy Dragon from Tribal All Day Cafe in Dallas, Texas.
Thanks for reading. If you’re hankering for more prompts, you can read the archives here. If you really enjoyed it, forward this email to a friend or arch nemesis.
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-Kirk
www.kirkreedstrom.com