Cacti and Books

On their heads?!

I have made a new Australian friend. His name is Dylan. You might recall my previous Australian drawings for Vincent, my Number 1 Australian, such as the Fluffy Sheep in a Silly Hat and Underwater Smoke Break. Dylan presented a different kind of challenge for me. He requested that I draw a cactus with a book on its head, but I had to draw it with my eyes closed. Since my new job requires my eyes to be open, it took me a little while to figure out the best way to draw something with my eyes closed, but not really closed. I thought maybe I could take my glasses off and try drawing it that way, however, I may be blind, but I can still see basic shapes. I eventually decided to draw it with the monitor turned off, that way I could Alt+Tab my way out of Paint if a student came in requesting a study room. Then there was no chance for cheating. He said I couldn't color it until the drawing was completely done, so not only did I have to create something that wasn't superb, I had to color the results, which is painstaking for me, being a bit of a perfectionist. Here is the result: 

As you can see, the mind makes you think you're actually on the correct side of the page, but you're totally not. It was really fun to try and make it work. And I've got to hand it to Dylan, it looks pretty darn creative! But I couldn't leave it well enough alone. I decided to go ahead and attempt to draw the cactus actually being able to see. The masterpiece is below.

Behold, the cactus! I am very proud of this little guy, which is beady eyes and his big grin because he has a book stuck on his head. Since the cactus was so simple to draw, I decided to go head and draw the cactus with my glasses off. I'm pretty blind, so brace yourselves. 

I consider this one to be like the Second Cactus's inbred cousin. He looks pretty normal, but there is definitely something off about him. Thank you Dylan for the inspiration, it was a lot of fun.