The Nacho Sketch Manifesto: Why Cheese Deserves Two Knobs and a Dream

Let’s talk about true artistic challenge. Not your iPad with 900 brush settings. Not charcoal sketches of sad fruit bowls. I’m talking about rendering melted cheese—in motion—using only two small knobs and your overconfident thumbs. Welcome to the fine art of Etch A Sketch nachos.

You may ask, “Why nachos?” And to that I say, why not nachos? They’re the perfect visual metaphor: messy yet composed, structured chaos layered in flavor and form. A single chip is a triangle. A pile of chips is a topographical map of unspoken desires. Cheese? It’s emotion. Salsa? That’s tension. Black beans? Depth. The Etch A Sketch isn’t a toy—it’s your gallery. And nachos are your muse.

Step one: embrace imperfection. You will not be able to make your lines clean. That’s the point. Nachos aren’t symmetrical, and neither is your hand-eye coordination. Start with one bold chip triangle. Then tilt your left knob ever so slightly while rotating the right to simulate gravity-defying cheese flow. It’ll look like spaghetti. That’s fine. That’s modern art. Add some scattered dots for jalapeños. Or maybe olives. You decide. You’re the flavor visionary now.

Midway through, you will want to shake the Etch A Sketch and start over. This is also part of the process. True nacho artists understand that destruction is part of creation. Just like that time you ate an entire platter alone on your couch and called it “dinner.” Pain is the price of passion.

So next time someone says “I don’t know what to draw,” hand them a photo of nachos and an Etch A Sketch. Tell them to stop being a coward. Great art starts with great snacks. And if your drawing ends up looking like a radioactive triangle tornado, don’t worry—so do most real nachos.