Draw a Picture of a Doodle

I'm not certain if this novel use of computer technology is "funny," but it and the hard copy Ohio Art Etch A Sketch you hold in your hands are meant to be amusing.

I recall when I was a pup, I had to have an Etch A Sketch. TV commercials revealed in vivid details all of the keen masterpieces I would quickly, undeniably bestow upon humanity.

My seven-year-old creative compulsions forced me to beg and pester my mother, herself fully frazzled into exasperation fits. I could not go on living without an Etch A Sketch. I think Mom assessed her life similarly. The boy must have one. Deep breath. Exhale.

Christmas morning arrived to find me exuberant, curled up with a special gift beneath the tree. I immersed myself into chain-sketching and etching, my artistic career duly inaugurated.

I'd swivel the control knobs to start a fresh classic, then watch it go horribly wrong. I'd shake the marvelous sketcher and erase the old image, replacing it with a blank screen. Trying again, I'd note swift improvement in my artistic mastery. After several years of constant effort, the toy wore out.

Often, through the intervening decades, I'd pick up an Etch A Sketch at a store, practice my craft, advance my skills.

These days, after engaging in a few moments of warm-up doodles, lung-taming regimens, and random Psalms, I go real slow on the Etch a Sketch. By doing so, I'm able to reproduce my personal best artwork. I manipulate the drawing cursor flawlessly along the four edges of the screen and make a big rectangle.

Online Etch A Sketch

~ Mike Durrett