Four comic panels that show the correspondence between my four steps to upstanding against social injustices (developed for the Life Outside the Box project) and Love’s (2013) four steps to a liberatory consciousness.

Reference: Love, B.J. (2013). Developing a liberatory consciousness. In M.Adams, W.J. Blumenfeld, R. Castañada, H.W. Hackman, M.L. & Zuñiga (Eds.), Readings for Diversity and Social justice (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge. pp 601-605

Doodles and stick figures representing the raw data can coax us down the “ladder of inference.”

Stereotypes and false beliefs keep us from seeing reality or coming into contact with the raw data. Doodles or stick figures representing the raw data can coax us down the “ladder of inference.”

Doodles demand we work on them to figure them out. Luckily, we are hard-wired to “lean in” to doodles.

“Doodle people” demand that we participate to make sense out of the comic. We are hard-wired to “lean in” to images and look for humanity. The fewer doodle details the more of us — and our personal story — we have to insert into the image to make meaning.

Fewer doodle details = More personal engagement.

When we express our notes accompanied by stick figures, our audience is more “stuck” to our message. Our hard-wiring to search for and see humanity — especially faces — compels us to “stick” with a stick figure diagram until we have found the meaning within. Stick figures come with a “super glue” superpower for educators who mix text with stick figures to get their message across to students who might drift away with text alone.

Superpower: Stick figures “glue” our attention to the message and can help us bypass our own confirmation bias when we analyze the data.

Life Outside the Box will be offering a prize at the Sketching-in-Practice conference this Friday, June 24.

Stan Lee’s “How to write comics” has everything you want to know about creating fully realized, interesting heroes and villains. The book is well-written and gorgeously presented. Good luck to the conference goers who sketch a quirky superhero scene! You will be able to put in one entry form for every 5 X 8 index card scene you post on the “sharing wall” at the conference. (Note: Be sure your name is on your work so you are sure to be entered in the prize draw.)

“Comics icon Stan Lee, creator of the Mighty Marvel Universe, has set about to teach everything he knows about writing and creating comic book characters. In these pages, aspiring comics writers will learn everything they need to know about how to write their own comic book stories, complete with easy to understand instruction, tips of the trade, and invaluable advice even for more advance writers. From the secrets to creating concepts, plots, to writing the script, the man with no peer — Stan Lee—is your guide to the world of writing and creating comics.”

I am taking Life Outside the Box to the Sketching-in-Practice conference hosted by Simon Fraser University. Participants there will get a chance to create their own “quirky superheroes.”

There will be a random prize draw for all those who sketch a superhero scene. Draw as many scenes as you like. You get one entry form for each scene posted on the “SHARE” board.