Doodling for beginners: how to learn when there are no rules

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

We have already talked about doodling as a phenomenon, and today, together with the Potpourri publishing house, we have prepared an article on the practice of drawing in the doodling style. Inside, newbies will find the “What Doodle Are You?” Test, tips, and a PDF with patterns.

Doodling (from the English doodle - "scribble") is a form of modern art and an irrational style of drawing.

Unlike school art lessons, there are no rules in doodling. Patterns can be both abstract and plot. You can apply and combine classic and.

Doodle evangelist Sunni Brown in her book Creative Doodles identifies three uses for doodling.

• Personal effectiveness (cognitive direction): memorization and recall of information, as well as its understanding, the birth of insights, increased creativity.
• Collective efficiency (organizational direction): access to the full picture, strengthening teamwork, developing creative, strategic and tactical thinking, actively participating in problem solving and creating innovations, meeting efficiency, visual meeting minutes.
• Dudling for fun (personal direction): focus, relaxation, empowerment.

Brown loves doodling and despises any attempt to "create a technique." However, on the pages of the same book, it tries to classify doodle artists and invites readers to take the test "What kind of doodler are you?"

Learn your doodling DNA exercise

Turn on the radio or music (but not the TV, because you can't resist and you will look at the screen), sit at the table with a pen and a notebook, and let your hand write something, draw something, react to what you hear. Don't get too focused on it, and don't think that the first thing you draw will be your doodling DNA. Sometimes the hand, so to speak, rusts, and you need to let it work out before it reveals your true insides of the doodler. After 5-10 minutes - or how long it takes you to truly become relaxed - look at the result of your creativity. Have you drawn vertical lines, cells, painted a face? Does something sound familiar to you, maybe a pattern or an object that you've drawn before? Close your eyes and remember how you used to doodles. What do you remember? What do you see?

Here are the five main types of doodlers that Sunny Brown distinguishes.

Brown is convinced that each of us has our own unique visual-linguistic handwriting, almost like a signature or fingerprints. And this can be the starting point for activating and developing the natural ability to interpret visual language and use it in different contexts.

Where to start

Dudling suits even those who have never painted and are convinced that they cannot do it. The main thing is mechanicalness and spontaneity. While the head is busy with something, the hand draws and reveals the secrets of the subconscious. You are free to choose colors, shapes and sizes. However, if you are just getting started with the practice, consider the following tips.

Get a creative notebook

It is better if it is a small notebook (A6 or A5) with thick paper so that you can always take it with you.

Choose convenient tools

Which do you like best: ballpoint pen, gel pen or pencil? Prefer to color with water-based markers or markers? Find tools that are comfortable for you to work with.

Take time to paint

As with any other business, in doodling, mastery comes with practice. Let your thoughts fly every day: draw over your morning coffee, on the subway on your way to work, in bed before going to bed. 15-20 minutes a day is quite enough. Soon, doodling will become your daily positive habit.

Experiment with color

Colors have a strong effect on a person: some calm, others, on the contrary, irritate; some are encouraging, while others are depressing. For many, doodling is black and white, but try playing with a rainbow. Apply a light background with watercolors to the paper and draw doodles on top. You can go the other way: first draw a pattern, and then paint its individual elements or in its entirety.

Use templates

A blank sheet of paper can cause stupor. How to draw? Where to begin? Templates will help you start your own creative way in doodling.

In Tonia Jenny and Amy Jones' Zen Doodling. The Art of Subconscious Drawing”contains the world's best examples of the art of doodling with step-by-step instructions. Try repeating them to get a feel for your creativity.

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As you can see, there are no strict rules in doodling. Flight of fantasy, and nothing more. Whatever pattern comes out, the main thing is that it reflects your soul.