Drawn to Life - Volume 2

3 Don’t Be Ordinary

Ever try to take the lid off a jar that was stuck tight? You end up bent over with the jar between your knees, all doubled up, your face all contorted in the exaggerated effort. Only an Arnold Schwarzenegger could twist the lid off by just holding it at a normal position in front of him.

When my wife, Dee, asks me to unscrew a tight lid, I first try to do it the Schwarzenegger way — to show how strong I am. If that fails, I most certainly ignore the ordinary way, that is to hold it under the hot water tap until the cap expands, but go right into the face-saving, cover-up routine — the overexag-gerated cartoon version, exclaiming, “Boy, this cap is really welded on!”

So the next time you have to draw or animate a guy unscrewing ...