Author: Erik Lokensgard

One of the best games I have learned in years also comes from William Steig. If you’re ever stuck in a bus station, waiting for a train, a flight, an order at a restaurant, whatever, this is a great game to know. It’s called Five Lines.

It’s quite simple. Draw five lines of any direction, curve, or squiggle on a sheet of paper. Then, give the lines to your friend, son, daughter, father, mother, sister, brother, cousin, uncle, aunt, stranger, student, teacher, grandparent, grandkid, or whoever’d like to play. Their instruction is to turn those five lines into a face, by adding lines. You can add as many lines as you’d like, but you should incorporate the original lines into your drawing.

Many of my favorite illustrations come from William Steig.

For instance, here’s Steig’s illustration of his character Dr. DeSoto, a classy dentist who later risks his life to fix a toothache inside the jaws of a fox.

William Steig wrote Shrek. He wrote Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. He wrote Dominic and C D B. Children’s books, but like many good children’s books, possessing themes that transcend children’s literature.

Credits:

Thanks to Charlotte for the inspiration of writing about books.

Image source.