When I Was a Kid

    When I was growing up, I doodled all the time. I was constantly drawing something. Anything. I went through Crayola markers monthly. I was always begging for new colored pencils. I adored drawing.

     I wasn't super creative about the content of my drawings, however. I began thinking last night about what I remember drawing often and I narrowed it down to only 11 subjects. I even went through my 8th grade sketchbook and found some actual proof, along with some doozies that made me question my upbringing. But it was mostly funny to see what 14-year-old me was thinking about.

     Let's start with my discovery of real music. I had grown up mostly on Christian music- not that there's anything wrong with it, DC Talk were the bomb, but sometime into my early teens I was given a Beatles CD and I was never the same. I began to branch out listening to other well-known artists, and in that search I found Sir Elton John.

    I was impossibly good at memorizing music lyrics. I always learned something better when there was a song to help me remember it. And since this was the days of CD players, and I was in school, I had to rely on my head to "listen" to the songs that I loved. The contents of my 8th grade sketch book were almost entirely drawn during my final period study hall. So most of the time I was bored. So bored that this was the result:

I don't know why. I just don't know why. 

      I had no clue back then that I would now be a graphic designer. I was just trying to deal with braces and frizzy hair. I don't know the story surrounding this next photo- all I  know is I don't think it would be a huge success. 

Who is Jared? The Subway guy? Has he been around for that long? I have so many questions. 

      I'm sure most children has their go-to scenes when their parents told them to "go color". Really you can only draw multi-colored squiggles for so long before your parents wonder what kind of brain damage you suffered and you need to move on to something better. Mine drawings came down to the following: 

Every kid drew the corner sun. Mine got squiggly lines because I liked to think UV rays were happy rays. 

It always had the hole. Always. 

Not only did I draw this flower. I think every girl I knew drew this flower. I always wanted to get every petal perfect. As you can see I don't care anymore. 

The palm tree varied over the years but it was always a constant. I might have even thrown a corner sun in there with it. 

I loved the Powerpuff Girls. A lot. I was particularly fond of Bubbles. Which is weird because I usually don't like blondes (sorry). As you can see I still have the ability to draw her likeness with astonishing realism. *note: her left eye got struck by a lazer from Mojo Jojo and she's really insecure about it so stop staring at it. 

CATS. I've always loved cats. And you almost couldn't be my friend if you didn't love them too. I always gave my cats tails with personality. This one I call Zazzles. I think you'll find he's quite zazzy. 

One trip to the Scottish Highland Games and I was obsessed with this flag. I don't think I ever drew it proportionally correct. But that didn't keep me from trying, yo. 

I have pages and pages of pillow designs. I'm not sure why I wanted to sew my own pillows, but I never learned to sew and most of them are pretty ugly. 

I was not a fan of the typical star that children drew. You know the one where it's all one continuous motion and there are lines EVERYWHERE. No that didn't fly for me. So I decided I was going to draw them the real way. Except that's actually pretty difficult. So they ended up just looking like happy stars. And I was okay with that. 

The only reason I can think drawing lots of tornados is okay is that they're relatively easy to draw. Squiggly lines galore. 

Particularly the flags hanging in my classrooms. I almost never attempted the American flag. There were too many lines and stars. But the Christian flag was perfect. I have pages and pages of these flags. They were probably the thing I drew best. 

"I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag and to the Savior for whose Kingdom it stands. One Savior, crucified, risen and coming again, for life and salvation for all who believe." 

For eleven years I said that pledge every morning. Christian school gets into your bones. In a creepy invasive way. 

I will leave you now with retarded Simba. 

What did you used to draw when you were a kid? Leave a comment!