Frequently Asked Questions:
How do you do it? (#1 question)
It's amazing! There are these two knobs. One goes vertical and the other goes horizontal.
How did you figure out you could do this?
I was entertaining my family by drawing a simple picture of Woody, from Disney's Toy Story. When I finished, I looked at how I had figured a way of creating cacti in the middle of a horizon line with an Etch A Sketch®. I continued drawing simple drawings, took a picture of them and then erased them. Now, I want my collection to expand beyond anything I can imagine.
Can you draw, like on paper?
Yes. One of my first jobs out of college was as a Clean-up Animator for an animation studio.
How do you preserve or save your Etches?
Once I have completed my drawing, I drill holes in the base and drain out as much of the aluminum powder that I can. I tape up the holes with black electrical tape and clean up the powder that might have stuck to the frame. That stuff is really messy! At this point, it is safe to hang it on a wall or place on a plate stand. As long as it does not land on its face, the image should remain safe. I have not found a way to completely wipe out the powder. There will always be a threat of a faded image, when dropped on its face.
* The White House fell on its face two or three times and this is what happens.
How does an Etch A Sketch® work?
Turning the knobs will move the stylus around, causing a line to be created. That much you already know. What is actually happening is the stylus is scraping away the aluminum powder that is stuck to the glass. The line created is actually a clear space, with a view of the back plastic of the Etch A Sketch®.
You could also look at the inside of an Etch A Sketch® on How Stuff Works.
How do you ship them to people?
I have been limited to local (Southern California) buyers. I have some theories on shipping, but have not come up with a fool proof plan.
How long does it take you to finish a drawing?
That will depend on the detail of the drawing. The more I have honed my skills, the more detail I put in my drawings. The original version of God Creating Adam took an hour an a half. The recent version of God Creating Adam took five to six hours on each half.
Since I have been asked this question so often, I have included the times each drawing took in my Collection.
What if you make a mistake?
I have made many mistakes in my Etch career. Some times I have had to start over and the other times I cover it up.
When I first Etched Yoda's head, it was amazingly smaller than his arm. I started over.
When I was working on The Last Supper, I couldn't find the stylus. I moved the stylus, just to find that I drew a line right up the wall. There was to be nothing in that part of the wall. I turned it into a crack on the wall. Other cracks followed to allow continuity.
How many Etch A Sketches® do you have?
I get the question a lot. Most are expecting me to say somewhere over fifty. The truth is, I would only take pictures of my early drawings and have only kept those from recent years. It is safe to say, the drawings shown on the Dealers' page is the extent of my current collection. The rest are only photographs.
How did you get the Etches on your computer?
Many people wonder how I can scan these drawings into the computer without putting it face down on a scanner. The answer is simple. I take a digital photo of the drawing and add that photo to the web site.
Do you really have to put that "®" after every time you print Etch A Sketch (R)?
The Ohio Art® company has welcome me into their family, as an Artist. They have looked at my web site and made a few suggestions. The "®" was one of them. In case you didn't know, there are not dashes (-) between the words Etch A Sketch®. They also gave me the wording for the phrase listed at the bottom of every page.
Visit their Etch A Sketch® site.
You should do it in Color!
For those who have recommended that I invent an Etch A Sketch® that can create a drawing in Color, please refer to the question How does an Etch A Sketch® work? or look at How Stuff Works.
The only other option for color is to mix medias and paint the Etch A Sketch® itself. This has been done and I will be delving into that world in the future.
Please send me any Questions you may have.
