Once upon a time there was a freaky little four-year-old. She had a frenzy of curly, dirty-blonde locks sat upon her head, a face spattered with little muddy freckles, teeth like a cabbage patch doll, and a pair of blue eyes, which, quite frankly, were far too big for her face. 

She saw the world through Disney-tinted lenses, and said weird things. Really weird things that either left people confused, humoured, concerned, or charmed. Sometimes all four. 

Her name was Issie. It still is Issie. I am her, and she is me. 

Little Issie thought a bit differently to the other kids in her class, and one day, this became very apparent:

On a morning in May, Issie skipped into Kindergarten, her usual grin planted on her face as her Barbie lunchbox bashed against her knobbly little knees. 

She greeted her teacher, and her classmates, then took her seat. 

Once the register was taken, the day began, and Issie’s first “brief”, a ball of playdough, landed in front of her. “Today I want all of you to make your favourite animal out of playdough. It can be any animal you want” the teacher said. 

A flurry of excitement erupted from the class and within seconds each child was digging their stubby little hands into their materials. Some decided to make wonky little lions, others chose lopsided-looking dogs, and there were even a few dinosaurs making an appearance. 

So what did Issie do? You may ask. Did she make a unicorn? Or the minotaur? Perhaps a crab? Or even a fish/ostrich hybrid? 

No. Issie made a human nose. 

A big, green, warty, human nose. Yup. 

Now, Issie wasn’t stupid. Bizarre? Yes. Eccentric? Yes. But stupid? No. 

She made the bulbous nose of a gouty alcoholic because she could. Yes, yes, it wasn’t an animal, but it was interesting to her. It was different, and funny, and she had fun. 

Plus, by breaking the “brief” she managed to impress her teacher, who thought it was one of the funniest things she’d ever seen and insisted on taking a photo of Issie proudly modelling her new witchy nose. 

In the eyes of 4-year-old Issie, this was a triumph. And in the eyes of 23-year-old Issie, it’s still a triumph, and the playful, puerile (thank you Mark Denton) thinking that incentivised little Issie to make the nose, is something adult Issie strives to tap back into. 

The point of this SCAB is to remind myself, and my SCAB readers, that we have most of our fun and wacky ideas, when we tap back into our playful child-like state. This is something I firmly believe every creative should never lose sight of. Always ask yourself, what would little me think of this brief? What would little me want to create today?

Everyday I try to be more and more like little Issie. She’s cool, and quirky. I look up to her, and there’s something extremely liberating about looking up to your three-and-a-half-foot tall self. 

Until next time!

Adult Issie x

@issie_peach