In honor of the end of New York City’s 701-day snowless streak, I want to tell you how I came to incorporate a pair of snowBoobs… snoobs?… (yes, you read that correctly) into a project with a serious subject matter.
My cousin JoAnn Pushkin is a breast cancer survivor, a tireless advocate for women’s health, and co-founder of DenseBreast-Info. (Ladies of a certain age: you know the note on your mammogram that informs you of your breast density? We have JoAnn and her co-advocates to thank for that.) She reached out and asked for my help to update a flyer that promotes a course for medical professionals.
Here is the original flyer to be redesigned:
The team wanted the winter theme to be refreshed. My initial reaction was that the snowman artwork looked too masculine. Since we are talking about women’s health, I wanted to update her to a more feminine SNOWWOMAN and add the breast cancer ribbon. Some initial sketches:
The upward, “waving” stick arm looked too similar to the old flyer, and it’s a generic pose that doesn’t make for a compelling illustrated character. I thought, maybe she could hold something… like a snowball! More sketches:
I realized the placement of the snowball in her hand was just about the same spot as her breast would be. Then came the EUREKA moment we all love to experience. This is a breast health flyer, I thought. I must go in this direction! She must have snoobs!
Knowing that JoAnn’s team is creating content about a disease that can be frightening and traumatic for women, I was sensitive to the fact that my cheeky rendering might be funny to me, and me only. But… could it also make people smile?
I floated a sketch to them for a gut check before I went any further. Luckily, they loved it and reviewed it with their medical board, who had a similar reaction. Yay for science-people with a sense of humor!
Here is my final artwork:
Are those actual snoobs, or, is the snowwoman holding two plain old snowballs in just the right spot? I’ll never tell. 😁
What are you working on that could use a little humor? Challenge yourself to push it a little bit further than you think you could, or should, go. You just might make someone smile.
P.S. If you know any health professionals who may be interested in the course on supplemental screening for dense breasts, the info is online here.
See you next time,
xo Lori
I believe art should be Fun. Fearless. Fuss-free. Feel-good.
I love everything about this! Snoobs forever!
Love it!
You nailed it and I am still smiling