Get Your Doodle On!

I’m hoping by now you’ve had a chance to check out our new database, Creativebug. As a reminder, Creativebug is a collection of thousands of online art and craft classes. These videos can teach you a new skill or help you to polish up old ones.

It’s all free, courtesy of the Clarkston Independence District Library for you, our patrons. To find Creativebug, go to the homepage of our website: cidlibrary.org. Click on the link to research, then on A-Z databases, and look for Creativebug in the C’s. Have your library card handy to sign in.

I’d like to share with you one of the videos and crafts I’ve been having fun with. It’s called Creative Doodling: Get Your Doodle on! (After logging in, go to Classes, click on Art+Design, then click on Lettering.) I have long been a doodler. I’ve doodled in the margins of college notebooks; I’ve doodled on handouts of meetings I’ve attended. Give me a sheet of paper, a pen or pencil, and a minute or two to spare, and I’ll start doodling.

For that reason, when I saw the Creative Doodling class, I knew it was going to be one of the first I would try. There are actually four parts to Creative Doodling, and I started with the first: Get Your Doodle On! There are three videos to this session, a total of about 25 minutes. It’s a quick introduction to something we probably all do, but can now take to the next level.

If you’d like to learn how to doodle creatively, I suggest you start by watching the video. “Get Your Doodle On” is taught by doodle expert, Pam Garrison. She does a great job explaining how to take your doodles, elevate them, and create your own pieces of art. Or, just doodle. No big deal.

According to Pam, doodling is slow and meditative, and that it moves on its own. It should be fun, as there are really no rules. You do want to get closed segments or lines though, so that you’ll have areas that can be colored in later. So, I guess that’s kind of a mini-rule? 😉

Experiment to figure out what tools you like best. Do you prefer to doodle on one sheet of paper or in a notebook? Pam prefers ball point pens, but do you? Maybe not. So many choices and options for coloring with. You’ll decide your favorite. Or use them all, changing from one doodle to the next.

I’m going to try and give you the basics of what I learned from Pam and her video class. The best part about doodling is you can do it with whatever materials you have around the house: paper, pens, and whatever you want to color with.

Here is Pam’s material list from her class:

· Ball point pens

· Micron pens

· Gel pens (her favorites: Sakura Gelly Roll)

· Scratch paper

· Sketch book (She uses a Strathmore mixed media)

· Markers (her favorites: Koi Brush Pens)

That said, all you really need to get started is a piece of blank white paper, a pen and something to color with such as crayons, markers or colored pencils. I found art paper in an old art pad, probably leftover from when my daughters were kids, and used that. I grabbed three different ball point pens and one gel pen to doodle with. Rummaging through my cabinets, I found crayons, colored pencils and some markers. I was now all set to begin creative doodling.

I decided to start by figuring out if I preferred one pen type over another of the four I chose to work with. I doodled one of my go-to circular doodles, making a few with each of my pens. In the test run picture below, #2 is the gel pen, the others all ball point pens with a variety of tip sizes. Turns out I liked #4 ball point best because of the thickness of the strokes. I liked the looks of the gel pen, but the #4 ball point just moved much smoother. (It was a Bic bold point pen, 1.6 mm size.) Personal preference; you’ll use whatever works for you, for whatever reason.

Pam mentioned sometimes she doodles using single lines, and sometimes she likes to retrace her lines and get a double line effect. I played around with that at the bottom of my sample sheet and liked the looks of a double doodle a lot, and went with it for my doodle art.

Do you have a go-to doodle? If so, that's a great doodle with which to start. In Pam’s demonstration, she made leaves. Make some big, make some small. Place them close together, spread them out. Some go straight up, some lean left or right. Make some with single lines, and then do double. Try different pens and papers if you have them.

When I was ready to move on, I decided to experiment with flower doodling. I have long doodled flowers such as these, and I always add the roots. Back to that garden theme of which I’m very fond.

When Pam was doodling butterflies in her class, she talked about “doodle freedom.” She says you don’t really have to emulate nature. As she put it, “these are my butterflies!” I tried to practice that principle with my flowers, but I’ll admit, I was kind of in a rut. I need to doodle more out of the box next time. Nonetheless, I tried not to stress as I doodled and did vary them a bit so they wouldn’t all look alike.

Another tip Pam offers is that if you don’t like your doodle, just keep doodling and turn it into something you do like. You can’t make a mistake, it’s experimental. But, if in the end, you still think it doesn’t work, then you simply don’t have to use that doodle again.

When I finished my page of flower doodles, I allowed them to sit for a short while before coloring. I don’t remember Pam saying to do that, but I know ink sometimes smears, and I didn’t want that to happen with my doodles.

I actually took a break to eat dinner, and then went back to color them in, which gave them plenty of time to set. I had been tempted to order a set of the Koi Brush Pens by Sakura that Pam likes from Amazon, but I resisted. (Sooooo hard for me to do! 😊) As I previously mentioned though, I found crayons, colored pencils and markers at my house, and so, I used them.

In the picture of my flower doodles, the three at the top were my experiments using the three different mediums. From left to right, I used colored pencils, markers, and crayons. It did not take me long to figure out my clear favorite: markers! They provided a brighter, more intense color. They also colored quicker, and I liked the control the sharp point gave me to get in corners and small spots. FYI, the markers I used were Crayola Take Note! They are fine tip, permanent markers.

After I finished my color experiment, I colored in all remaining flowers using the markers. I have to say I really enjoyed coloring them in and seeing them come alive. I didn’t get into the adult coloring phase of a few years past, so I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this step in the process. But I did! And, I believe, coloring with markers was the reason why.

After I colored them in, I took Pam’s suggestion and went back with the ball point pen and added a bit more detail to my flowers. I think that was a cool idea, giving the flowers extra dimension. I’m not one to toot my own horn, but I like how the flowers turned out. Quite frankly, I think doodling can make anyone look and feel like an artist!

Are you asking yourself, why should I waste my time doodling? I’m here to tell you I don’t think it’s a waste of time. First of all, I believe it can be a great stress reliever. It’s fun, you can do it with a minimum of readily available supplies, and it doesn’t have to take up a lot of your time. I think you could take a fifteen-minute doodle break and come away feeling relaxed and rejuvenated.

And then I started thinking of ways that doodling could be a very productive hobby. You could use your doodling skills to make bookmarks, for yourself or to give as gifts. You could make gift cards or invitations with doodles on them. Do you keep a journal? Jazz it up with doodling. And, I think this could be a great team craft to do with kids. You could doodle and they color. Or, visa versa. You could keep a notebook of doodle art or create some individual pieces you might actually want to frame and hang or just set casually about your house for a pop of color.

I’m sure you can come up with even more ways to use your new doodling talents. And if you do decide to give doodling a try, send me a picture of your art, and I’d be happy to share it with my readers in a future blog. Send to graib@cidlibrary.org.

I know we are no longer under orders to stay home and are able to venture out into the world again. I, personally, will be taking baby-steps when it comes to leaving my home for a while. And you will do what’s right for you. So, for a change, I won’t remind you to stay home, but I do want you to stay safe! 😊

(Will you continue to hunker down like the spotted turtle or wander like a sandhill crane? Both seen recently in my yard.)