Articulated Illustration

Send us Fan Mail You can still show up, handle your responsibilities, laugh, work, and take care of everybody else — and still not be okay. In “You Look Fine. You’re Not.”, Dwane Richardson Sr. explores what happens when we get so good at functioning through pain that even we start believing everything is fine. Using the metaphor of a dashboard warning light, this episode looks at the difference b...

Send us Fan Mail   Why do we tell somebody to “stop beating around the bush” when we want them to get straight to the point? It’s one of those phrases we use without thinking twice about where it came from. In this episode of Words We Never Question , Dwane Richardson Sr. explores the history behind “beat around the bush,” what the expression originally referred to, and how it became the phrase we...

Send us Fan Mail You showed up. You made the sacrifices. You stayed disciplined. So where’s the result? In this episode of Articulated Illustration, Dwane Richardson Sr. talks directly to the person who has been doing the work but is starting to wonder whether any of it is actually working. Sometimes the problem isn’t failure. Sometimes you’re measuring the process too early. This episode explores...

Send us Fan Mail Why do we say “it’s raining cats and dogs”? It’s one of those phrases most of us have heard our entire lives, but very few people ever stop to question where it came from. In the first episode of Words We Never Question , an Articulated Illustration segment, we look at the history, theories, and possible origins behind this familiar expression. Some explanations sound believable....

Send us Fan Mail Why do we say “it’s raining cats and dogs”? It’s one of those phrases most of us have heard our entire lives, but very few people ever stop to question where it came from. In the first episode of Words We Never Question , an Articulated Illustration segment, we look at the history, theories, and possible origins behind this familiar expression. Some explanations sound believable....

Send us Fan Mail Absolutely. Here’s the Buzzsprout VIDEO description for Tired of Being Strong? in copy-and-paste form: Tired of Being Strong? Everybody knows the person who always seems to have it together. The dependable one. The strong one. The person everybody calls when something goes wrong. But what happens when the strong one gets tired too? In this episode of Articulated Illustration , we...

Send us Fan Mail Everybody depends on you. The family. The job. The bills. The decisions. The problems. The people who need support. But who checks on the person carrying all of that? In this episode of Articulated Illustration , Dwane Richardson Sr. takes a hard look at what happens when being “the strong one” becomes an identity instead of just a role. Strength is valuable. Dependability matters...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever looked around and felt like everyone else is making progress while you’re standing still? New jobs. New houses. New relationships. New opportunities. And after watching everybody else move forward, you start wondering: “What’s wrong with me?” In this episode of Articulated Illustration , we explore what it feels like when the people around you seem to be advancing wh...

Send us Fan Mail Ever feel like everybody else is moving while you’re standing still? In this episode, Dwane Richardson Sr. explores comparison, patience, unseen progress, and the dangerous space between doing the work and finally seeing results. Today’s Word of the Day is latency — the delay between something happening and the result becoming visible. Sometimes nothing visible does not mean nothi...

Send us Fan Mail What if people really knew you? Sometimes the fear of being seen doesn’t look like fear at all. It looks like saying, “I’m fine.” Going along with what everybody else wants. Making the joke before the conversation gets too real. Giving people the safe, polished version of what you actually think and feel. In this episode of Articulated Illustration , Dwane Richardson Sr. explores...

Send us Fan Mail You ever work what feels like 45 minutes, look at the clock, and realize only eight minutes passed? Then you do something you love and somehow hours disappear. Why does time do that? In this episode of Articulated Illustration, we look at the difference between how time passes and how time feels—and what that difference may reveal about the way we’re spending our lives. Because ti...

Send us Fan Mail Some people don’t believe they’re talented until somebody gives them a trophy. In this episode of Articulated Illustration , we explore a powerful line from Phife Dawg’s verse on A Tribe Called Quest’s 1993 classic “Award Tour” : “I’ll never let a statue tell me how nice I am.” That “statue” represents more than a Grammy. It represents every award, title, paycheck, platform, posse...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes we remain in a situation not because we cannot see the warning signs, but because accepting what they mean would require us to make a painful decision. Using Daniel 5 and the familiar phrase “the writing on the wall,” Dwane Richardson Sr. examines why we keep reaching for an emotional eraser when a repeated pattern has already made the truth clear. This episode explores...

Send us Fan Mail Check Your Tag: Carry Only Yours Before you carry another bag into the next season of your life, check the tag. Experience can give us wisdom—but it can also leave us carrying expectations, assumptions, disappointments, and old ways of thinking that no longer belong in the life we're trying to build. In Check Your Tag: Carry Only Yours , Dwane Richardson Sr. uses his own stru...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever blamed the road when the real problem was your vision? In this episode of Articulated Illustration , Dwane Richardson Sr. uses the simple illustration of cloudy headlights to reveal a profound truth: many of life's biggest frustrations aren't caused by the road ahead—they're caused by the lens through which we interpret it. Fear. Fatigue. Old wounds. A...

Send us Fan Mail What if the greatest financial lesson wasn't about making more money—but about seeing ownership differently? In this episode of Articulated Illustration , Dwane Richardson Sr. uses an unlikely lesson from Rocky and Bullwinkle to explore one of life's biggest misconceptions: the belief that we truly own the things we've accumulated. From car payments and mortgages to...

Send us Fan Mail What if the reason you feel like you never have enough isn’t your circumstances—but the fear controlling your decisions? In this episode of Articulated Illustration, Dwane Richardson Sr. breaks down the scarcity mindset and how fear can make us hoard our money, opportunities, resources, and faith—even when holding on is keeping us stuck. Using the powerful story of Elijah and the...

Send us Fan Mail Factories rely on vision systems to catch defects before they move to the next stage. What if your life needed one too? In this episode of Articulated Illustration , Dwane Richardson Sr. uses a manufacturing illustration to explore why unchecked thoughts, habits, relationships, and decisions often create unnecessary pain. Sometimes our greatest challenge isn't what comes agai...

Send us Fan Mail The Illusion of Understanding Have you ever been absolutely convinced you understood a situation... only to discover later that you were missing the most important piece? We often mistake observation for understanding. We witness an event, hear part of a conversation, or see someone's behavior and quickly conclude we know the whole story. But what if what you didn't see...

Send us Fan Mail   Most people don't lose their dreams overnight. They lose them one distraction at a time. In basketball, a well-executed screen—also called a pick—isn't designed to stop the defender completely. It's designed to delay them just long enough for the offense to create an opportunity. What if distractions work the exact same way? In this episode of Articulated Illustra...

Send us Fan Mail When the Badge Lies Have you ever noticed how quickly we judge something based on the label attached to it? A luxury car badge.  Without realizing it, we often assume that a familiar name automatically means higher value. But what if the badge is influencing our perception more than the actual substance? In this episode of Articulated Illustration, we explore how branding, status,...

Send us Fan Mail The most exhausting thing a human being can do is trying to make something work that was never designed to work. In this episode of Articulated Illustration, Dwane Richardson Sr. explores why so many people are exhausted—not because they aren't strong enough, but because they're spending their strength on the wrong things. Using powerful illustrations involving doors, ch...

Send us Fan Mail Fear doesn't always arrive with panic, anxiety, or obvious warning signs. Sometimes it sounds reasonable. It tells us to wait. To think about it a little longer. To make sure everything is perfect before we move. In this episode, we explore the dangerous intersection where caution becomes paralysis and where hesitation quietly steals opportunities we were meant to pursue. If...

Send us Fan Mail Episode Description: Have you ever given your best to someone only to watch them walk away? In this episode of Articulated Illustration , Dwane Richardson Sr. explores a powerful lesson that came from something as simple as a stray cat and a cracker. What started as a random moment became a deeper realization about rejection, relationships, support, and why some people never seem...

Send us Fan Mail Some atmospheres don’t destroy you immediately. They slowly loosen your grip. In this episode of Articulated Illustration, Dwane Richardson Sr explores the powerful metaphor of carrying balloons through a violent gust of wind — and what it reveals about emotional control, mental environments, stress, discipline, relationships, and self-awareness. Because sometimes the real danger...