Expressions From My Inner Child
By Shanelle Powell
As a slightly twisted 80's kid, I thoroughly enjoyed reading new Mad Magazines, R.L. Stein and Shel Silverstein books every chance I got. I thought I was meant to be an author because writing was my first big thing, however my love for drawing and coloring quickly caught up.
Lisa Frank schools supplies inspired me to doodle everyday in class until it became apparent that I should major in illustration. Yet, futile attempts at making picture books proved that I wasn't very interested in repeatedly drawing the same characters over and over like traditional illustrators. For years, I rejected the idea of writing my own books and pursued music and entrepreneurship instead.
It wasn't until recently, while scrolling through my old notes, that I realized how much artwork had effortlessly flowed through me over the years. My random doodles were so amusing to look back upon...it baffled me why I drew half of them! The more doodles appeared, the more I considered them to be more than just "worthless one-offs".
I decided to screenshot several of my doodles over time and put them altogether in a folder. After collecting over 250 doodles, I was surprised by how strongly childlike expressions came through my body of work. I recognized the familiar artistic voice as my own inner child's...but what was it saying?
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My inner child discovered her favorite medium to work in: the Notes App. It allows her to use an Apple Pencil to draw and color pictures on her iPad Pro whenever she wants to have a blast playfully creating art.
Who would've thought that even with Photoshop, my inner child prefers using the tools found within the Markup App the most!
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Watch the screen recording of me revealing what seems like an endless scroll of doodles drawn within the Notes App of my iPad Pro.
Perhaps I was subliminally reminding myself: "Hey adult you...you've never really outgrown your compulsive doodling habit...and you know how much you've always loved reading those edgy publications with extra dry humor, fun illustrations and creative stories?...it's for a very good reason!"
The purpose of my doodles has finally become clear to me. I'm so proud of how much I've preserved my inner child's creativity by giving it free time to play with its favorite high-tech toys every day.
