May 7 is National Barrier Awareness Day, so I did a Google search in order to draw a wheelchair, and discovered that the icons for disabled access have gone through a big transformation recently. The newer icons show more active, capable humans; the older icons show more passive, dependent humans. The way we depict people plays a powerful role in how we see them, and how they see themselves. 🖍
When these things don’t impact us directly, we tend not to even notice them. But now the light has been turned on, I cannot un-see it. Those old, passive icons make me ANGRY! And having hobbled around on crutches for several weeks after foot surgery and knee surgery, I’ve learned to appreciate barriers in a way I didn’t before. It’s all about EMPATHY—being able to experience the world through someone else’s eyes for a moment. To feel even just a taste of what it’s like for them.
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Empathy and compassion. We could use some more of this, please.
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#creativesandboxchallenge
#tinyanddaily #smalldailyacts #doodleart #dailydoodle #visualthinking #visualcommunication #barrierawarenessday #originalart #doodleicons

So here’s a confession: every time I post one of these, I think “Everyone is going to laugh at me, and think ‘that is SO LAME! She draws STICK FIGURES!’” Because it’s true. I draw stick figures. That is about the limit of my human illustration abilities, especially when said humans are engaged in any sort of activities (like carrying a tray with a glass of lemonade!) And right now it takes me several tries to get this even close to acceptable, and even then the proportions are ridiculous (I mean, who ever saw a lemonade glass that ginormous???)
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But here’s the thing: I share these stick figures even though I’m embarrassed that they aren’t more masterful, precisely BECAUSE they aren’t masterful. Because I hope they get YOU to pick up a pen and draw, too! 🖍
I watched a couple of talks by @evalottchen on YouTube this morning, which were so inspiring, and a little bit of what she did in those talks was get people drawing. She demonstrated a few simple icons, and exactly how she draws them. And that’s the thing: drawing is not magic—it’s steps that you can learn. The kind of drawing I’m excited by right now is INTENTIONALLY simple, because it has to be done FAST, and the goal is not photorealism, or even artistic value, but to communicate IDEAS. So the more quickly and efficiently I can draw those concepts (i.e., stick figures!), the better!
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Still, my gremlins are afraid you will laugh at me, shun me, think I’m unworthy of love and attention because what I create is so lame. But again, I share it DESPITE THE GREMLINS! Because I hope it will make YOU think, “Hey, if Melissa can share a stick figure, maybe I can draw, too.”
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It’s fun. It’s empowering. Give it a try.
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#visualnotes #visualthinking #creativesandboxchallenge #tinyanddaily #smalldailyacts #originalart #stickfigure #nursesday #lemonadeday

Happy National Cartoonists Day and Start Seeing Monarchs (as in butterflies) Day! It’s also Hoagie/Scrapbook/Homebrew/Silence the Shame Day, so if I were really ambitious I could have fit a few more in there for today’s Creative Sandbox Community creative challenge daily prompt! I felt rather pleased that I managed two in one, though. 🖍
Baby steps. We’re all about tiny and daily and small daily acts in the Creative Sandbox Community. 😉 After all, “Think tiny and daily” is Creative Sandbox Way Guidepost #4!
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#creativesandboxchallenge #tinyanddaily #smalldailyacts #visualthinking #visualcommunication #cartoonist #butterfly #monarchday #monarch #originalart

For Star Wars Day, my original thought was to draw R2D2 and Princess Leia together, so I did a Google search, but all the images I found of them seemed much more complicated to draw than I felt willing to take on…
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…so I gave myself the challenge of “How quickly can you draw Leia?”
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Then it became fun, rather than daunting! And after a few attempts to get sleeves and hands right, and figuring out whether to show feet or not, I drew this.
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Fast, simple, and gets the point across. Which is precisely the goal. 😊
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#visualcommunication #visualthinking #starwarsday #princessleia #r2d2 #creativesandboxchallenge #tinyanddaily #simpledrawing #originalart #dailydoodle #doodlesofinstagram #starwarsdoodles

It’s day 4 of the May creative challenge inside the Creative Sandbox Community. Our prompts this month are “National Days,” and one of the National Days today is Star Wars Day! Who knew?
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I was contemplating drawing Princess Leia, or even Leia with R2D2, but then I got wrapped up in all the details of R2 (which, yes, I know are not accurate, all you Star Wars fans, but close enough that people will know who this is supposed to represent, which is my goal here).
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I’d still like to try my hand at Leia’s hairstyle… How quickly can I draw Leia—that would be a fun question to answer in drawing!
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#r2d2 #creativesandboxchallenge #tinyanddaily #smalldailyacts #creativesandboxcommunity #doodleart #dailydoodle #originalart #100dayproject #starwarsdoodles #starwarsday