T Puzzle: Whoa--I Know Drawing!

by Francis Heaney (with help from Craig Swanson)

This puzzle features the amazing Craig Swanson, local artist and cartoonist (check out his work at http://www.perspicuity.com/!).

The 8 video clips are clips of Craig's hands as he draws with an etch-a-sketch. Solvers must recreate the pictures to solve the puzzle. This is best accomplished by watching the tape slowly, with one person imitating the left hand movements and the other person imitating the right hand movements. Practice helps with this- but after 2-3 attempts at each picture they should average out to a decipherable version of the drawing.

The drawings are:

  1. Down (arrow)
  2. Plug
  3. Salt (shaker)
  4. Alpha (the Greek symbol)
  5. Heart
  6. Pen
  7. Block
  8. Odds (1,3,5.7,9,11)
Each object forms the first part of an associated pair:

  1. Down & Out
  2. Plug & Play
  3. Salt & Pepper
  4. Alpha & Omega
  5. Heart & Soul
  6. Pen & Ink
  7. Block & Tackle
  8. Odds & Ends (or Evens)
Taking the first letter of each of these complements gives you OPPOSITE.

Here's the sort of drawing Craig can do when he really cuts loose. This portrait of Francis was done on a pocket Etch-a-Sketch, and was drawn so quickly that Francis didn't even know he was being drawn: Portrait