Found items and doodles, mixed media, 2009
My friend Nathan L teaches middle school in New York and comes across all types of student doodles on a regular basis. Most of the doodles he finds are charming, but some of them can be nasty. Nathan recently found these two examples of mean-spirited notes on the floor of his classroom:
While I don't condone this anonymous attack on a fellow student, I decided to take a stab at improving the work. In my version, Stacy actually is a dinosaur who goes back to school and spooks the bullies.
I'm not sure if this helps Stacy. Probably not, I really just felt like drawing a dinosaur.
These dinosaur notes reminded me of another note found by my friend, Lila K, in an elementary school playground in Seattle. In this note, a young girl attacks her classmate Mia with a couple of harsh put-downs.
In response to the note, I drew an unflattering portrait of the note's author. I hope my drawing teaches anyone considering writing a mean note a valuable lesson: What goes around comes around.
UPDATE: Nathan was recently the target of friendlier caricaturists at his school:
That second drawing looks like my brother, circa 1976.
Posted by: Nico C | January 24, 2010 at 10:26 AM
Striking resemblance to NL.
Posted by: Carl W | February 12, 2010 at 01:42 PM