Like all of you, I’ve been playing Draw Something constantly. Even though Dan Porter is a jerk, it’s a good social game. I’m sure Zynga will find a way to manipulate the fun out of it, though. Until then, I’ll keep playing, and here are some strategies that might help you with it.
Colors!
Colors are your best friend. When you first begin, you won’t have that much variety. You need to get green as soon as possible! I suggest the Mardi Gras pack, so you’ll get green and purple. You’ll need ’em.
In the meantime, if you don’t have the right colors, think of creative ways to get the idea across. Of course, this means your opponent needs to know what you’re trying to say. You should usually substitute whatever closest color you have available, but then try to point out what color it’s supposed to be. For instance, if you’re drawing Shrek in blue ink, add a notation of a yellow blob plus a blue blob pointing at your blue Shrek. Hopefully, your opponent will understand how primary colors work.
Once you purchase new colors, then there’s no stopping you! Don’t let them go to waste. There’s no reason to draw simple, black and white drawings. To get the point across, you need the image to come to life. Color will make that happen. Use the right colors, and you’ll draw the word right out of their subconscious.
Multiple Pages
You don’t have to trash a drawing just when you make a mistake. If your word is complicated or difficult to get across with a single image, use multiple images. Just hope that your opponent remembers them all. Think ahead so you can end on the strongest, most obvious image, as that’ll be the one they rack their brains over the longest.
Keep in mind that once you trash a page, it goes away. So, you might want to help that image linger a bit to make sure they take it all in. As long as you’re drawing, the image will stay on screen. Try dotting some ellipses in the lower corner.
Erase = White
You want something to be white, but the canvas is white and you don’t have white ink! Well, one option is to substitute gray, but that could be confusing in some cases. If it’s important that something is white, paint a solid background (gray works well for a neutral backdrop) and then use the eraser to paint white on top of it.
Don’t be subtle
If there’s ever a time for racism, it’s during a game of Draw Something. You have to get the point across, and subtleties will not do that for you. If it’s important that your stick figures are Asian in order to guess the word, then they probably shouldn’t have round eyes.
Tilt the screen
Hours and hours have passed, and you still can’t tell what that squiggly crap is trying to tell you. Maybe you’re looking at it wrong. Some artists might be inspired to draw landscape. So, make sure you know which way is up.
Use some arithmetic
Some words are really just two words stuck together. So, divide the canvas in half with a black line and draw two images. Put a plus sign between them. Think about this method when choosing a word. If a word seems incredibly difficult to get across, maybe you can think of a way to break it into easier parts.
Drawing arrows
When a drawing gets particularly complicated, you might have a lot of elements that are only there to support the scene. So, you’ll want to point an arrow at which specifically is supposed to be the word. Unfortunately, on a touch screen, it can be tough to get lines to match up precisely, so your arrow could end up looking like chicken scratch. Try drawing arrows in two motions instead of three. Start at the end, move to the point and, without lifting your finger, draw one half of the head. Then you just need one more swipe to finish the other half of the head, and if you miss it, at least you already have a pointy line that should get the…well, point….across.
Layers
Think about layering your drawings. It’s okay if you don’t account for a hat when drawing your stick figure’s head. The hat can be drawn on top of his head. You can make your drawing in thin lines, and then use bolder colors to fill it out. This is especially useful for drawing people wearing specific clothing or doing specific actions. The stick figure is simply a skeleton for you to throw the clothes and other objects onto later.
Cheat
I don’t condone it, but if you do want to cheat, here’s how you can do it. If you can’t figure out the word, all you need to do is quit and reload the game. But remember the letters you had! They’ll be different next time. Keep going until you’ve locked down exactly which letters are in the word, and it should make unscrambling it a lot easier.
Notice: Sometimes the game doesn’t even give you the right letters! So, before passing, try quitting and coming back into the game. You might get the letters you need then.
Don’t write letters!
This is cheating. Don’t do it. It’s a drawing game. You can’t articulate hints by writing out “This is Italy” to help someone guess “Rome” instead of trying to spell “Boot” without any B’s. If a letter or a number is part of the drawing itself, then perhaps it’s allowable. But drawing a city skyline and adding “HK” above it for “Hong Kong” is cheating as far as I’m concerned. Keep things challenging. Set some rules for yourself.
Got any tips?
Let me know your strategies in the comments below.