Kirby Eats the Brooklyn Bridge

More fun with giant video game characters and New York City.

We were once again talking about the upcoming movie "Pixels," when my younger son suggested that we should do a napkin with a giant Kirby in New York.  The older brother said, "Yes! and he should be eating the Brooklyn Bridge!" This unfortunately touched off a volatile argument about who was going to take this hypothetical napkin the next day. Since the kids were, once again, sitting in the cargo bike on the way to camp, I did my best to come up with another equally desirable image for the non Kirby recipient before the situation devolved into something that threatened our forward progress.

Despite the fact that Kirby is one of Nintendo's most popular and iconic characters, I have managed to remain pretty ignorant about him.  I gather, however,  that he interacts with the world primarily by swallowing things.

The debate about who was going to take this napkin to camp continued right up until we left the apartment this morning.

Sea Otter and Harry Houdini in front of the Brooklyn Bridge

So long Second Grade....
One last image that doesn't make any sense without an explanation:

Our younger son is finishing up the school year tomorrow, and I am further behind than usual in figuring out how to express some small portion of the gratitude we feel towards his teachers and learning specialists.  Since I try to solve far too many problems by drawing on napkins, it is not a surprise that here we have a thank you napkin for his teachers. 

In addition to the class study of the bridge, our son did his independent research projects on Sea Otters, Harry Houdini, and Jacob Lawrence. My apologies to Mr. Lawrence for not including him here. While Mr. Houdini was well known for jumping off bridges while handcuffed and generally submerging himself in water, I could not make any such argument for Mr. Lawrence. Perhaps he would not be sorry to skip being submerged in effigy in a toxic urban waterway.

As it is, both the bridge and Harry look a bit off.  My older son glanced at the napkin yesterday and said, "Whoa! What is going on with his head?!!" When I responded self-defensively that I didn't think it was a terrible likeness, he soothed me, "Ok, it's probably just that I am not used to seeing him in color." Yes, that must have been it.

Harry, sans Sea Otter

Velociraptor and T-Rex visit the Brooklyn Bridge

Jurassic Tourists.

Years ago, our sons bypassed the little boy dinosaur obsession phase. Skipping ahead to Star Wars and Batman, they neglected the parent pleasing business of learning all the names and attributes of Brachiosaurs and and Pterodactyls.

However, this doesn't mean they don't appreciate dinos, particularly if a movie trailer suggests that they might be running alongside Star Lord on a motorcycle. Our younger son insisted that we should prepare for the upcoming "Jurassic World" by watching the preceding Jurassic Park movies from the 90's.

Since the second grade class is taking a walking tour of the bridge today,  it seemed like a good venue for a T-Rex and a Raptor. I originally included the human tourists mostly for scale, not meaning to suggest that they were going to come to a bad end.  Near the end of the first "Jurassic Park," the humans are saved from the Velociraptors by the intervention of the Tyrannosaur, so maybe it is unlikely that the reptiles would be working together to catch dinner.

But it really doesn't look good for the humans, does it?

Elephant on Brooklyn Bridge

On May 17th, 1884, P.T. Barnum walked 21 elephants over the Brooklyn Bridge in a publicity stunt ostensibly designed to demonstrate the safety of the bridge. The bridge had already been open for a year at that point, but many people still had doubts about its stability.

This image was a late night, last ditch idea on my part. I had received a request from the boys that involved several Disney Infinity characters in a scenario that I could not quite get my mind around, much less draw... something about the "Gravity Falls" golf cart, and characters from "Big Hero Six" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" chasing and/or shooting at one another.

As challenging as I find the bridge to draw, it is easier than wrangling several characters with weapons and vehicles.

Ghost of John Roebling with Brooklyn Bridge

Our son did not get the role he wanted in his second grade play. he was hoping for the "Ferry Boat Driver."  His older brother had that part four years ago, and played it as "Sarcastic Scenery Chewing Ferry Boat Driver (who has had too much coffee and is waving the cup around in a troubling manner)" The younger brother was eager to reprise the comic role, but it did not make it into his class's version of the story.

Instead he has been cast as several characters: "Narrator of Scene 10," "Albert," "Michael," "Trustee #3,"  and, most importantly, "The Ghost of John Roebling." It looks like he might have the opportunity to follow in his older brother's footsteps and provide some comic relief after all.

Unfortunately, my drawing of Mr. Roebling's ghost is not at all humorous. I did put some effort  into getting a reasonable resemblance to his photo...and to making sure that he was a glowing ectoplasmic green.

Emily Warren Roebling with Rooster on Brooklyn Bridge

Lady Engineer with Loud Male Poultry:

Our second grade son's class is finishing its study of the Brooklyn Bridge by writing and performing a 45 minute play about the drama surrounding the bridge's construction.

Slipped inside the story of the struggle to get the bridge completed is a feminist message. The bridge was originally designed and overseen by John Roebling. Early in the project, however, he succumbed to a foot crushing injury (compounded by the misguided belief that dipping it in water repeatedly would heal the wound). The bridge construction was then overseen by his son Washington.  When Washington became bedridden from caisson disease ("the bends") his wife Emily was grudgingly accepted as his representative and eventually as the de facto chief engineer. This was a rather remarkable feat for the time when it was commonly believed that women's minds were biologically incapable of comprehending complicated science and math.

On opening day, she was the first person to ride across the bridge. According to the second grade play script, she did this "with a rooster in her lap. It is a sign of victory." One source I stumbled upon in my 3 minutes of Googling said that the bird crowed constantly and did not appreciate the role it had to play in the spectacle.

It seemed to me ironic and sadly appropriate that Emily would carry a symbol of distracting chicken-brained male virility during her moment of triumph.

Alas, my portrait of Emily is not particularly accurate, but I did enjoy drawing the bird.

Bigfoot Poses on the Brooklyn Bridge

Sasquatch Selfie:

We seemed to be doing a series of cryptids on the bridge... But my son has asked me to stop the Brooklyn Bridge stuff, so sadly, I don't think there will be any Chupacabras or Loch Ness Monsters posed with New York landmarks.

I had thought the Sasquatch might be a safe bet as the last two library books my son brought home were both literally titled "Bigfoot." But after my son looked at this particular image, he told me solemnly that napkins like this were making him look weird in class. I think maybe we will focus on some video game characters or main stream superheroes in the near future.

Dragon Perched on Brooklyn Bridge

"If dragons are real, can we have one, please?"

There are some periods of time when my sons are not obsessed with dragons. But, they never lose interest entirely. 

I am not sure how we got started on this recent surge in dragon enthusiasm, but suddenly the kids are carrying around "Dragonworld: Secrets of the Dragon Domain" by S.A. Caldwell again. Or more precisely, I am schlepping the giant book around in my backpack. Our younger son needed as it a visual aid this morning so that he could discuss with his friends what sort of dragon he is going to have as a pet/companion. But the book was much too precious to leave at school...or maybe just too heavy.

At any rate, it seemed like it was time for a dragon to appear on the Brooklyn Bridge. As usual I was not quite up to the perspectival challenge, but fire is always fun to draw.

Brooklyn Bridge with Giant Tentacles

The Kraken has been released.

I am not getting any better at drawing the Brooklyn Bridge.  The more I draw it, the more I throw up my hands in despair at the idea of getting the lines straight and the perspective correct.

I am not good at drawing straight lines. And then there is the napkin excuse: No line stays straight on the napkin surface anyway. (Or, maybe I am just plain lazy when it comes to this sort of thing.)

Tentacles, however, work nicely on napkins.
And I feel pretty motivated about drawing them.

Peregrine Falcon and Brooklyn Bridge

A rare napkin appearance of a realistic animal.

My son's 2nd grade class is studying the Brooklyn Bridge until the end of this school year.
In my continuing effort to draw something slightly related to school curriculum...yet still cool enough to impress 8 year olds, I tried a real animal.

I somehow tripped over the information that Peregrine Falcons nest on top of several of the bridges here in NYC. It is unclear to me whether falcons live on the Brooklyn Bridge itself. There are "falcon cams" on several other area bridges. (Here's a link to the NYC government page for Peregrine news)

I am pretty sure, however, that a Peregrine might fly past the bridge, so I went with that concept.  Drawing complicated rectilinear structures in perspective is definitely not my strong suit, so I tried to cover as much of the bridge as possible with the non rectangular bird.

I tagged along as a parent chaperone yesterday morning when my son's class walked to a nearby park with bridge views  and spent an hour sketching the Brooklyn Bridge. I tried unsuccessfully to draw the scene along with the kids. My son sat next me, complaining that his drawing was not as good as mine.

First of all, I want to record here for internet posterity: Kid, your drawing is much better.

He should not, of course, be comparing his drawings with mine anyway, and I feel like a lousy parent when he does. I do have memories of having similar conversations with my own parents. And I also remember not believing them when they told me that they liked my drawings better.  Sadly, I now  understand all too well that advancing age and training does not necessarily improve one's draftsmanship.

Baby Godzilla Blocks the Brooklyn Bridge's Pedestrian Walkway

A larger walkway obstacle than oblivious tourists with selfie sticks.

Since we had Godzilla and the bridge on the napkin yesterday, Baby Godzilla seemed like the only logical follow-up...well, other than Mothra...or Mechagodzilla. It appears to be a little unclear in the Kaiju universe just how large the infant is supposed to be. In at least one of the movies, he is conveniently person-in-a-lizard-suit sized. But I thought it would be appropriate if he were larger than that, but just small enough to fit on the walkway between the cables.

I used to bike the kids over the Brooklyn Bridge to an occupational therapy appointment in Manhattan on Friday afternoons. The bridge passage was invariably jammed with sightseers photographing themselves while standing  in the bike lane. Mercifully, this was a couple of years ago and before the invention of the selfie stick. I hear things have gotten even more complicated on the bridge since.

Godzilla Views the Brooklyn Bridge From a Respectful Distance

My son's second grade class is studying the Brooklyn Bridge from now until the end of the school year. It's rare that I can convince my sons of the goodness of a napkin image that is related to school materials, so I couldn't just draw the bridge or any of its historical characters. While adding Godzilla to the image made it more palatable, I also could not depict the usual destructive relationship between the giant radioactive lizard and urban infrastructure.  Let's say that Godzilla is just admiring the bridge's construction.

My older son was definitely disappointed in my portrayal of Godzilla. On the way to school this morning, he reprimanded me for not drawing the cooler 2014 version, and pointed out that the lizard's size in relation to the bridge was not right.... And, "Mom, it's green! Really! What Godzilla is green??!!"

As you might be able to guess, it was very late last night when I drew this and I did foolishly hope that I could leave it a bit indeterminate as to which version I was aiming for. No such luck.

Knifehead and Godzilla Chat Across the Brooklyn Bridge

The kids were so very excited to see "Godzilla"  that we had to go during the opening weekend.

On the way home, there was a great deal of discussion, (mostly driven by the obsessed 11 year old) of how this movie compares to other movies in the Godzilla canon and to "Pacific Rim."

Archer could certainly offer chapter and verse about the differences and merits  of all the Kaiju vehicles.  Perhaps I should only observe  that I felt about the same  about "Pacific Rim" and this most recent incarnation of "Godzilla."  This movie did not have the small boy pleasing giant drivable robot angle, nor the "Canceling The Apocalypse" rah rah spirit of Mr.  del Toro's effort, but maybe that was not entirely a bad thing.