MMH5 – Five Things to Doodle On the Church Bulletin
The Monday Morning High Five
Continuing our list of all things 5 to hopefully bring a smile to your Monday.
If I’m sitting down with a pen in one hand, and a church bulletin in the other, doodles will be drawn. For me, doodling has nothing to do with boredom or lack of attention. Doodling actually helps me to pay attention. It helps my mind stay focused. Otherwise, I’m off creating Monday Morning High Five lists, thinking of how much I hate the word “irreguardless”, or wondering how long my beard would grow if I just stopped shaving. But I digress…
I do take a lot of sermon notes, but during the down time, I doodle. Here’s five types of doodles that often make their way onto the piece of paper in front of me.
1. The Classics – These are the oldies, but goodies. The bubbly daisies, the five point stars, the transparent 3-D cubes, these are the tried and true. Also, you can always fill in all the letters with enclosed circles in them. Some people just go for the “D”s, “B”s, and “O”s, but any and every letter with an enclosed circle in it must be filled in when I’m in “The Zone”. No little “e” or lower case “a” is left behind. They are the go-to doodles when I’m waiting for true doodle creativity to strike.
2. The Photo – Any photo in a bulletin is the sticks and matches for a creative doodle fire. Any smiling face is met with a tweedly mustache and a Monopoly man monocle. Of course there’s the eye patch, blacked out tooth, Viking horn helmet, or a dashing toupee, etc. that can be added. If it’s a building or landscape, maybe you add a nice apple tree, or kids playing hop-scotch, or a killer above ground pool with a swirling slide and pool noodles… The possibilities are endless!
3. The Crazy Weird Monster – Maybe you were actually trying to draw a dog or monkey, 
but half-way in you realized that this looked like nothing of this world. So you try to pass it off as just a monster that you came up with. If you’re struggling in how to improve on your monster, here’s some helpful tips:
- Give him tiny arms. Tentacles are ok too.
- Give him a passive, unimpressed look.
- Give him people clothes (ie. a nice shirt and tie or a Jason Mraz Fedora)
4. The Autograph – This is when I try out different variations of my signature, or I work on speeding up my signature time. I try out an elaborate swoop on my “T”s, the fancy underline of my name, or I’ll add my basketball number in the event the Cleveland Cavaliers FINALLY sign me as their back up point guard.
5. The Stick Figure - My stick figures have accomplished some incredible feats. They ski down large “J”s, they play pickup games of basketball, they yodel, and even travel to the moon. Anything can be accomplished by living vicariously through these skinny, faceless lemmings. My favorites are when I can incorporate the stick figures in with the words or clip arts on the bulletin. Maybe one is sliding down the inside of the letter “C” in “Church”, while another is noshing on the pot luck announcement graphic. With stick figures, who knows what will happen!
I’m sure you have some much better doodles than I do. What are some of your favorites?
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This made me smile so big
(and I was needed one) We don’t have a bulletin, but I am a HUGE fan of doodling ANYWHERE! I doodle a lot in class (mainly Islamic History) when I am bored out of my mind. I’ll have to try the Crazy Wierd Monster soon.
If the MMH5 made you smile, then mission accomplished!
The Cavs could use a new backup point guard…
I'm not personally a big doodler, I'm a horribad artist and despise my own handwriting. I mostly just distract those around me when I'm bored.
My wife is usually displeased with this tactic.
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haha! I think I would be that same way if I didn't have a pen and paper in front of me.
Seem as thought I remember coming across some bulletins around the house that had Bible cartoon stories on them, which at first furrowed my brow, but upon closer inspection made me smile to see the sermon brought to life in cartoon form, although these were not always doctrinally correct.
Yeah, replacing Moses' staff with a light saber probably wasn't biblically accuate
Thanks mom!
My iPhone has replaced the doodle pad (church bulletin).
that's why my wife won't let me take mine out of my pocket during church. haha
I don’t doodle- I write silly little poems about the people sitting around me… ‘An Ode to the man in the fuzzy orange sweater’ ‘brown eyed girl why’s your face so blue?’
You didn’t come last Sunday
I wonder what kept you away
You sit there so sad
Sometimes you look mad
Your eyes are brown
But you seem so blue
What’s goin’ on with you
You should give this to Brown-eyed Girl.
Def. brought a smile my way too, Brett.;) Very amusing.
I can be found doodling "the classics" or my autograph with sidewalk chalk, water colors, or crayons….the perks of being a nanny! My doodling canvas will usually have a rainbow somewhere as well…..you have to use all the colors, people!
I am an insane note-taker/doodler. I am sure that my non-stop scribbling irritates people at least 3 rows away, but I can't help myself. I like to keep my doodles relevant: I draw little pictures or icons of themes being taught in the lesson, sometimes there is a caricature of that guy coughing, or the little girl shrieking through the service (I swear it helps me cope), and then there's those times when Pastor accidentally says things like "the raft of God will come down upon the earth…"