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I was going to write up an essay on how to draw comic books, but after spending a while with my pencils and paper, I cut myself too many times and got completely confused. So instead I thought that I’d share something my friend Jenni and I have been talking about. The emotional mobile.

To get started what you’ll need is a pencil, some construction paper, some string, scissors, tape, and either some long, thin sticks, or a coat hanger, or something to make the actual frame of the mobile. I suggest something like those weird wooden sticks that you sometimes find in the kitchen, but have no idea what they’re used for. These are the sticks which come in boxes for kebabs, sometimes someone in your house will buy them for a dinner party, but since it’s not as easy to make kebabs at home as it seems like before you try them, there are usually a pile of sticks left over, hidden somewhere near the tooth picks, and often either scattered in the junk drawer, or back behind stuff in the pantry.

The first thing we want to do is cut out the shapes for our mobile. Here’s what makes this an emotional mobile: Cut out shapes which reflect your life’s priorities. For example, if you really, really love cats, then it would be a good idea to cut out a huuuge kitty from your construction paper. If you are one of those people who say “Oh, I can’t draw” all the time, forcing yourself out of any degree of effort or creativity, then you may choose to cut out spheres, selecting color and size to represent the emotional significance in your life, rather than spending hours cutting out whiskers, or dollar signs.

You should cut out at least eight things. But if there are more things with deep significance in your life, then be my guest and cut them all out. The more the merrier!

Once you have all your representational shapes cut out, it’s time to construct the frame of the mobile. Lay your sticks across one another at a 90 degree angle making a ‘cross’. Tape them together at the center. It should be fairly stable, to test this out you can hiss wildly and hold up your cross to ward off vampires if you like. This sort of horseplay can really test the construction of a cross, and determine if it’s going to stand the test of time.

If you haven’t broken it, then you did a good job, and we can now connect the representational shapes. There are eight points at which you should consider connecting your shapes (see diagram.) This is because we want our mobile to be interesting, and hopefully raise questions from house guests, or even the neighbors (if we hang it in the window when we’re done) which can save money on therapy, and save some time by having our friends ask us about the mobile. Then we can launch into tedious monologues about how we’re feeling, and why we made the mobile. Pretty sweet, right? I’m getting ahead of myself aren’t I? Sorry.

Tape the shapes to the connection points in any arrangement you like, taking into consideration the theory of weight distribution, balance, and good taste. Since we’re using tape and string, you can cut the string at different lengths to make your emotional mobile as droll or dynamic as you like. Play, let loose, try things out, and don’t be afraid to pick the tape off, and start all over again until you have something which is a delightful expressive representation of your emotional priorities.

Remember, this is play. We’re here to reach into ourselves as well as reach out into the world. This exercise is intended to occupy some time, open us up creatively, and to surprise us with the quirky results. You can’t do this wrong, there’s no such thing as wrong when it comes to our feelings, and their exploration.

To get you started with some inspiration, here’s my emotional mobile:

Pretty awesome hunh?

Now head out into the world and create!