A friend contacted a small group of illustrators, including me, about his friend who has a granddaughter, age 4, who just had surgery and needs to wear a neck brace.
The problem: This little girl loves princesses, wants to be a princess, and believes princesses don't wear neck braces. Especially ugly neck braces.
So the little girl refused to wear the one thing which would insure that she would heal quickly and properly.
Enter the request.
The grandmother wanted art of princesses which either the artist or the grandmother could Photoshop a neck brace into, to collect into a book of images for the little girl, in hopes it would inspire her to see that princesses do indeed wear neck braces when it's important.
I loved the challenge.
I didn't have any images of princesses that would work, though. Either a neck brace wouldn't fit into the picture legibly, or the image was too small or old.
But I did have a drawing I did a short time ago of my youngest daughter with a cat.
Add a few princess accessories and -- voila!
A princess.
The grandmother will add the neck brace.
Let's hope it works for the little girl. I love happy endings.
(And I think my daughter will be charmed by seeing herself as a princess.)
-- Ruth McNally Barshaw
