Geometric versus Organic Doodling
In the “How to doodle” post way back when, I examined how I doodle around geometrically, creating geometric designs, subdivided and filled with yet more shapes. That method can be done using dice for inspiration.
My organic doodling is less structured – take a scribble – any scribble – on paper or digitally and then expand on it.
How to Doodle
- Scribble. I often use pencil for this. The key when making it is to truly scribble — don’t think and don’t try to make anything. In fact, scribble a bunch of these randomly on the page without looking. I like to keep a stack of pre-scribbled doodles to work with whenever the mood strikes, or several pages of them in my current studio journal.
- Now, pretend you’re a kid again, lying on your back on a hill watching clouds. What do you see? Each scribble is a cloud.
- At this point I like to use a brush tip pen to delineate what I see. The brush tip makes it easier to make some of the lines stronger and more obvious. You can get the same result with a different color of pen, or a pen over pencil, or whatever works for you. Remember – you don’t have to use all of the scribble – you can make multiple pictures out of the same scribble, or combine more than one scribble into one picture.
There are no rules in doodling – and it’s about playing, not “real” art.
Love this! It’s so much fun to just see what even a single line/stroke can suggest.
I’m glad you like it. It’s my way of drawing when I’m in a “I can’t draw” phase, which is more often than you might think….