More Empathy Cards by Emily McDowell Tackle Illnesses with Humor and Compassion

In May, illustrator Emily McDowell launched a series of greeting cards that tackled difficult subjects with humor and compassion. Aptly called Empathy Cards, they were immediately a huge hit as a clever-yet-caring way to approach those dealing with serious health conditions like cancer, chronic illness, or mental illness. McDowell was blown away by their success and challenged herself to come up with more ideas, which she recently debuted on her blog.

For the second installment , McDowell used a combination of customer feedback and life-changing experiences to write seven more amusing sentiments. Whereas the last set focused a lot on cancer treatment, her newest cards directly address mental health and chronic/long-term illness. In addition to being a cancer survivor, McDowell has suffered from major depression, off and on, for almost 30 years. These issues give her a unique perspective from which to write the cards–the result is support that's positive, witty, and without clichs.

All of these cards are now available in McDowell's online shop.

Emily McDowell: WebsiteBlog | Instagram | Facebook
via [Laughing Squid]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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