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Doodles are the "milk" of the art world


Crotale

Crotale

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For me, doodles are milk when it comes to art. Doodles do a mind good when you need to clear your registers and buffers. Every artist will come to a time when he or she gets that notorious "artist block" syndrome in their life. The doodle can be very therapeutic in nature, but it doesn't have to be. The purpose of the doodle is not the endgame, but the path you take. It need not be project that you are compelled to complete.

I doodle when this happens to me. Heck, I doodle even when all seems to be going well and I am churning out piece after piece. I had a recent change in my life, a rather substantial one at that, and it left me feeling disinterested in art. I want to get re-engaged, so today, I doodled. After some time, I saw a vision take shape. By the time I was done with my doodle session, I realized the effort was about not only clearing my head of the bad mojo, but that my doodle was an exact expression of how I have been feeling towards that aforementioned change.

Please take a look at the image below and tell me how I am feeling. Well, if you are inclined to do so.

swiffrey2.png
 
Great image, Crotale, and good comments on occasionally completely relaxing and seeing what comes out of one's mind / fingers!

Now, w.r.t. your tell-me-how-I-feel question, the devil told me to caption it, "Don't get your panties in a twist", but my Rorschach response would be, "Yes, Doctor, it's obviously the braided hair of my long lost girlfriend". :-)


T
 
Tom Mann said:
Now, w.r.t. your tell-me-how-I-feel question, the devil told me to caption it, "Don't get your panties in a twist", but my Rorschach response would be, "Yes, Doctor, it's obviously the braided hair of my long lost girlfriend". :-)
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That is most awesome and hilarious!
 
OK, I see a skeletal/ghostly face with a twisted, frustrated body. But don't worry, it's resting on calm which will soon be soothing frayed nerves. See, they're already unraveling. Long as you don't!

Verry nice one. I love abstract art.
 
I see a Whirlwind of emotionally distressed thoughts,twisting so tight eventually it's going to break. And a couch with your name on it. :cheesygrin:,:bustagut: j/k
 
ibclare said:
OK, I see a skeletal/ghostly face with a twisted, frustrated body. But don't worry, it's resting on calm which will soon be soothing frayed nerves. See, they're already unraveling. Long as you don't!
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I'm working on keeping it all together.

Verry nice one. I love abstract art.
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Thanks, and me too.

iDad said:
I see a Whirlwind of emotionally distressed thoughts,twisting so tight eventually it's going to break. And a couch with your name on it. :cheesygrin:,:bustagut: j/k
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Oh snap! Not the couch.
 
This sounds very much like the stuff I got told in design class. Some people (Like me), just can't doodle. For assignments in design, I'd be asked to come up with various ideas as a solution to a problem, then choose the best ideas and improve on them until the finished product. I come up with a solution to the problem first, then have to work backwards just to show I'm conforming to their way of designing stuff. I can picture things in my head to see if they are going to work or not, why would I waste time drawing them.

Don't get me wrong, I like what you've created, you're just describing a process my brain just isn't wired to do.
 
I am not sure we are talking the same thing here. Doodling, as I am referring, is not about production. It is about getting yourself out of a funk and into a fresh frame of mind so that you may be productive once again. If you put yourself into a mindset that doodling is the means to completion of a project, then you aren't using it as the reset button it could be for you.

I posted the doodled image I created yesterday, but not because it was meant to be a project that I would finish and publish. I posted it because in my desire to clear my mind and reset my creative thoughts; the unintentional result turned out to be something so very identifiable to me. Then again, perhaps it was what I wanted to see.
 
How would you know you were in a funk if you aren't trying to create something? It doesn't have to be a project, the doodling itself is something one does to create an image.

I described it wrongly, it is a thought process. Again, one I can not do
 
I understand Spruce's POV. Not everyone needs or wants to doodle. I did paintings and drawings long before I came to digital art. (of course, I grew up before the personal computer, lol) So I have been a doodler in my time. I don't do much work anymore that I draw ahead of time. Logos are often a different thing and I'll draw out ideas, but that isn't free-flowing doodling. I did a series of drawings and paintings a few years ago that totally derived from doodling with my eyes closed listening to music. That was fun.

Maybe I will try doodling for inspiration. It is certainly a sort of mindless activity which I am sure stimulates the right brain, (I imagine there is considerable research on the subject) sort of like meditation I think.

Anyway, everyone has their own processes. The one point where I don't agree Chad is that doodling is a thought process. It is exactly the opposite, a no thought process. It seems that for you, creating is a thought process. For me too, most of the time.
 
You still need a certain amount of mental process to get that pen in hand to do something, right?

To me, its a matter of HEART.... go with the flow intuition. Doing what you feel makes sense to you and expounding on it.


Crotale... don't let the feeling of being alone get to you......
 
Doodling may not be the best option for everyone. Some may feel the need to step away from the tools altogether and take up another activity outside of the graphic realm.

One important item to note is that a doodle is an unfocused or unconscious drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be abstract shapes. There is no "proper" frame of mind required in order to doodle. Doodling is not a thought process. In the context of this discussion, doodling is a reset process.

Spruce, I get the impression that you feel doodling is a needless waste of your time. This might be true for you, but I ask that you consider that doodling in the respect that I am inferring is not intended to be a direct part of your creative process. It is intended to be therapeutic in nature, and should be spontaneous and free flowing. I am not advocating that you must doodle, but that you consider it if and when you run into a real block of sorts.

@ dv8_fxhttp://www.photoshopgurus.com/forum/members/dv8_fx.html, thanks!
 
Nope, I'm saying I can't doodle.

Although I am fully aware of the definition of the word doodle, which I think only says that a doodle is a drawing or scribble done without concentrating totally on what you are doing, I refuse to believe that somebody would spontaneously sit with a pen or pencil without the intention of creating an image, and it is very much conscious thought that allows you to do these doodles, unless you do them in your sleep. Describing it as a cure for artists block suggests to me that you use doodling as a way to create images after not being able to think of anything, which seems very much the opposite to unfocused.

You don't have to defend the act of doodling just because I not only can't do it, but don't think this way of creating images is helpful to me with my way of thinking, whether as therapy or as a way to come up with ideas. If I get a block, I go for a pint at the pub with my friends. I see doodling as effort, as opposed to the usual way of thinking, as automatic drawing.

I'm not trying to ridicule doodling in any way, and if it works for you, don't stop. Though please note, not once have you described doodling without it being connected to designing something else. Do you actually believe your doodles are random?
 
You mean that you WON'T doodle. There is a difference. Not doing something because you find no redeeming value in it is not a can't do, but a won't do.

I am not demanding that you need to or should bother with this activity. I was merely sharing what works for me and that in this one case, the act resulted in an image that to me reflected how I was feeling. Whether or not the strokes themselves or any part of what I was doing was random or not, the exercise was to create without vision or necessity.

I never said doodling is a cure for artist block, but that it can be therapeutic. This is not set in stone, as it is an observation for myself. As I said, I wanted to share this one occasion and doodle with you all, but if you want to claim snake oil, then fine. I won't make the mistake of sharing again.
 
As an English man typing in the English language, I mean that I CAN'T doodle.

I'm sorry you feel the need to go on the defensive just because I have a different point of view, I actually said I liked the outcome and can't understand these responses.

p.s. What is snake oiling?

Just looked it up, and this is not what I'm claiming at all. It is obviously a good thing to do for most people as it was a massive part of my uni course. I'm claiming it isn't an option for me.
 
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Hmph. This is what I call a circular argument. Nobody's wrong. Everybody's different.

I like to relax before sleep with a good book. Some people don't read well enough to enjoy this so they can't. Some just don't find books to be their thing.

Some people go dancing to get relaxed before bedtime. Some run, cycle, or other physical activity. Some don't have the physical ability for that kind of exercise, so they can't. Others may play an instrument or compose music. Surely many don't have this ability. They may listen to music or watch TV. Others pray or meditate.

I know some who drink themselves into a stupor. :rolleyes:

I guess my point is clear guys, lol. Kiss and make up! :bustagut:
 
Are you insinuating that these two men are gay?talk about off topic LMAO

ibclare said:
Hmph. This is what I call a circular argument. Nobody's wrong. Everybody's different.

I like to relax before sleep with a good book. Some people don't read well enough to enjoy this so they can't. Some just don't find books to be their thing.

Some people go dancing to get relaxed before bedtime. Some run, cycle, or other physical activity. Some don't have the physical ability for that kind of exercise, so they can't. Others may play an instrument or compose music. Surely many don't have this ability. They may listen to music or watch TV. Others pray or meditate.

I know some who drink themselves into a stupor. :rolleyes:

I guess my point is clear guys, lol. Kiss and make up! :bustagut:
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