The title of this photo was "247
Butt" because it was number 247 in my project 365 for the year 2010. Butt
is included for obvious reasons. Little did I know, this title would lead many
to my photo. I would look under the stats to see that quite a few people would
search "247 butt" in Google or something and then come to this photo,
I'd venture a guess that they would be quite disappointed upon arrival.
Apparently there's a website called 247 butt, you can guess what people were
actually searching for at this point. I find it absolutely hilarious when I get
a new tick on this photo from some person looking for some slightly more
entertaining photos.
The background of this photo is quite simple, really. I like to
doodle. I doodle at school, work, just about anywhere there is a little down
time. I love to doodle words mostly. So I guess they aren't officially called
doodles, huh? What would word doodles be called? Wordles? Anyway, I doodle
words... a lot. This particular set of words was doodled while I was supposed
to be working on school work. Why would I choose the word "butt"?
Well, that's kind of my nickname...or something. My guy calls me butt. Mostly
because I act like one, admittedly so. I like to think it's also because I have
a nice butt. Maybe that's just what I tell myself to keep the name attractive.
It's funny, he just says it and I'll respond like it was written on my birth
certificate. I'm awesome.
So, I was doodling words on this paper while I was supposed to be
working on school work. Go me, but why take a photo of it? Because I can. No
really, I did it because it was late in the day and I had not taken a photo for
that day yet and because it just so happen to match another photo challenge
scavenger thing I was doing with the prompt "something in writing".
What better than the word "butt" in writing. In different hand
written fonts, too!
Now, why is it black and white? This has no awesome reason. When
taking the photo all lazy-like, the color turned out funny and uninviting. The
white paper wasn't white, the highlight and color pens I used didn't come out
quite correct and the entire tone of the photo was warm and had a poor indoor
quality to it. I was much too lazy to take the time to edit it
in Photoshop to make it look nice, so I turned down the saturation
like the lazy person I am and called it good with a little sharpening. When all
was done, I really liked the result. I think that even if I took the time to
color-correct it that it wouldn't look as nice. Something about the neutral
feeling of black and white corresponds well to the fact that it says
"butt" all over it. Maybe I'm over-thinking a silly photo,
but I'm not filtering my thoughts here. 1000 words come from everything that
flows in one's mind when looking at the photo. For me, that might take us to
unrelated topics and if so, so be it.
I will now explain my favorite way to doodle words. I used this
technique in the photo, it's really simple. I'm all about simple. So, you take
your highlighter and you write your word all bold-like. You can even draw a
simple smiley face, the technique seems to work best with bold lines regardless
if they're words or not. After you've written your bold word in your
highlighter, of course the color is optional; you find a corresponding colored
pen. You could also just use black. The black pen ink against the bright
colored highlighter gives an amazing contrast. You could go a bit more
complimentary, like orange highlighter and blue pen ink. My favorites are the
Sharpie highlighters in their bright pink, orange, blue, and traditional yellow
colors. My favorite pens are those G-2 ones from Pilot in all their fancy
colors. Most often than not, I'll use a black ink pen. Anyway, back to the
process. The next step is taking your pen and tracing the bold highlighter word
or doodle you just created. You want to be careful that you follow the lines
just right. Though, sometimes you will slip if you're hurrying, like when your
boss or professor is headed your way. If you slip and go too far out or in to
where you aren't following the line anymore you can try to fix it by making the
pen line more bold or filling in the gap with the highlighter. Whichever works
best for you. Usually, I just make the pen ink bolder and try to do so around
the whole letter so it comes off more even. Man, I'm rambling.
So now that you're familiar with my useless pen and highlighter
word doodle technique I'll tell you my other favorite way to doodle words. This
is much easier to explain. I like to write in cursive. Cursive handwriting is
my favorite. I love the look and feel that good cursive handwriting has. If I
take the time, mine looks nice, but I definitely have to take the time. I'm not
one of those talented people that just have amazing and almost flawless cursive
handwriting. I wish I was. When doodling in cursive, I like to write certain
people's names. In the family, of course. I'm not like a creepy sixth grader
doodling some guys name all over my school work. Anyway, my older brother's
name is my favorite of the family's to write in cursive. His name is Jaymes.
The capital J is beautiful and the y just flows.
Would you look at that, I have actual techniques and favorites in
terms of my word doodles. It makes you think that I don't pay attention or get
any work done. What a butt.
