Clumsy Ninja Sitting on the Manhattan Bridge

I can't believe I agreed to draw two bridges in one night.

My sons considered my suggestion that the Clumsy Ninja should sit on the Manhattan Bridge to be almost as good as the idea of Kirby eating the Brooklyn Bridge.
Nevertheless, the younger son pointed out that I did not do a very good job of drawing the bridge as sagging under his weight.

It's true.  Two New York bridges in one night clearly exceeded my abilities.

Squirrel RIding Chicken

I can never pass up an opportunity to draw a chicken.

The kids are still rather enthusiastic about Clumsy Ninja by Natural Motion Games. 
They have each managed to attain a level of 30 out of a possible 99.  Clearly, many more hours could be spent not doing homework or playing outside.

They particularly enjoy some of the minor characters in the game like the Squirrel and the Chicken.
I am not entirely clear on the role that these animals play.  I think they might actually give the Ninja assignments, but they seem mostly to provide companionship and comic relief.  On occasion, the rodent rides the poultry, which is a highlight for our kids.

When my younger son asked me to draw them, I am sure he meant me to copy the image from the game, but my selfish compulsion to draw a realistic chicken won the day.

The critters in the game are much cuter.

(You can see my other poultry napkins that were unpopular with my son at this link...particularly the very similar, and very unloved, zombie baby riding a chicken)

The Clumsy Ninja Takes on Ultron

What level does the Clumsy Ninja need to achieve in order to take on Ultron?

Of course we had to see the new Avengers movie "The Age of Ultron" when it opened last weekend. I observed the usual family movie viewing phenomenon where the kids' attention tended to wander during any scene with dialogue, and conversely, I found it hard to pay attention during the battle sequences.

"Ultron" has some nice light interpersonal moments like the scene when all the super-powered boys tease each other about who can pick up Thor's hammer. But the movie is mostly devoted to complex digital orchestrations of objects and bodies flying through space and crashing into one another and the surrounding architecture....And why would you be there to see an Avengers movie anyway if not for that?

It is remarkable what can be done with millions of dollars of CGI...But it all looks like a video game to me. To which my sons would say, "So what?"  Or, more likely, "Yes!!"

While we are on the topic on digital animation in video games: the kids are still enthusiastically working on "Clumsy Ninja." The game features some subtle and realistic interaction with the ninja character which is not just about running around whacking things. Despite their diligence, however, the kids have only managed to advance their ninjas to level 21 out of 99.

They're definitely going to have to make a lot of progress before the ninjas are ready for Ultron.

Paddington and Clumsy Ninja

Big headed characters that are popular this week at our house:

Yes, the Paddington movie was released on DVD and iTunes a couple of days ago.  I had been wondering why the hat wearing bear was on my sons' minds, but now I know it must have been put there by  advertising.

Clumsy Ninja continues to be a popular game.  The kids report that they are at levels 17 and 20 respectively...this is out of a potential 99 levels. I can see we have a lot more Clumsy Ninja to look forward to.

Clumsy Ninjas

High Five between Ice and Forest Ninjas:

I  am afraid my sons may have spent an excessive amount of time playing "Clumsy Ninja" today.
It is an interactive game by Natural Motion. One can "train," tickle, tie balloons to...or if you are my sons, let him dangle pathetically a few feet off the ground, legs kicking haplessly, while shouting sarcastically, "Look! He's Superman!"

My sons just read the above and told me that I made them sound like jerks...but they would like me to add that they have discovered that inflicting dizziness and a tornado on the ninja simultaneously results in something that looks very much like break dancing.

This image is drawn on actual sheet of paper, and not a napkin. It was a sort of a test run because in the not too distant future I need to produce a drawing that is considerably larger than the average dinner napkin. I spent a significant amount of time shopping for paper that would behave sort of like a napkin. I cannot say that I had any success. Napkins are a horrible, uncooperative surface to work on, but ironically, (and pathetically) I cannot seem to cope with a less fragile and less absorbent paper surface.

I'm giving some serious thought to paper tablecloths as a medium.