Last updated on February 25th, 2023
Doodles are fun. Doodles are expressive. And, doodles are everywhere. You can see these sketches on different platforms expressing various emotions, themes and issues. Mostly, the purpose is to convey a message entertainingly and engagingly. Considering its popularity, even marketers have started using this art to promote brands. Therefore, if you are thinking of trying your hand in this art form, you must first know how to doodle before using the sketches in the best possible way. In this beginner’s guide, you will learn everything about doodling. Here we go!
For some, creating a doodle may be intimidating even if they are not creative people and certainly not artists. But, the fact is that anyone can create doodles. They are easy to draw. There are no set rules of aesthetics here. Moreover, even if you do not have the talent for art, still you can try your hand and come out with some unique doodles of your own. How? Let’s start with the basics.
What is Doodling?
Doodling originally means ‘to draw, sketch or scribble idly’. Generally, doodling is an activity that people take up unknowingly when not able to pay attention to something else. For instance, you are sitting in a meeting and bored. Then, you start scribbling different shapes and patterns on the paper. That is a doodle. This is the reason that doodles are simple random sketches with abstract shapes.
But when you are listening to someone, you can make doodles of the information, as some sort of a record that you can visit later. So, while doodling is the result of some boredom, it is also useful when done creatively.
Why should you create doodles?
Many people do not see doodles in a good light. In workplaces and schools, this art has even got a bad reputation and a bad image. Company bosses and school teachers think that if you draw doodles you are rebellious, unproductive and lazy. That is, of course, a wrong perception of this popular art.
In truth, some studies have shown the health benefits of doodles. According to a study, doodles help you improve memory and manage your stress well. Students can remain awake using doodling when they have lost interest in studies.
One of the advantages of drawing a doodle is that even people with non-artistic backgrounds can do this job. They can start drawing simple figures and then go on creating a bit more complex ones with ease later. However, you need to practice this art to achieve some perfection.
All you need to do is to have a basic idea of shapes and lines. After you have these fundamentals in place, you are ready to create your doodles. With more practice, you will ultimately be the master of this art.
Here Are Some Of The Benefits Of Doodling
01. Improve Your Memory
Several studies have shown that doodling activity helps in significantly improving memory. In one such study, the group who shaded printed shapes while listening to phone calls could recall 29% more information as compared to the other groups.
02. Helps You Relax
You are also relieved of any psychological distress if you doodle, which are spontaneous drawings. Doodling activity possibly activates the brain’s ability to find past experiences and bring them to the present. This helps us make our life’s picture wholly, which makes us relaxed. We get a greater sense of meaning and relaxation.
A common theory for doodling relaxing is that there are rhythmic motions and repetition involved, which relaxes the nerves. This activity is a counter-response to our body’s fight-or-flight intuition and helps in reducing the stress hormone.
03. Unlock Your Creativity
Doodling is not just for relaxation, it is also a creative activity. You can unleash your creativity even if you are not a trained artist. Sometimes, artists who suffer from a creative block, they can activate their brain by doodling. This sometimes triggers the brain to come up with new ideas.
What are the things you need to get started?
Unlike other arts, doodling is the least expensive to follow. You do not have to spend much on buying the basic things to start working on this form of art. You can start with what you have on your table.
Here Is What You Need
01. Pens & Pencils
Just grab any pen or pencil and start creating doodles as per your imagination. When picking the pencils, however, prefer graphite pencils for professional doodling art. A soft pencil which is a low HB grade is ideal as you can erase it easily to make quick changes in the drawing.
02. Ink Pen Set
You will need an ink pen also to draw the outlines of your sketch. These ink pens come in different thicknesses of tips. So, pick the one that suits your drawing and the character you are creating. You will also require the pen to shade your doodle sketch.
03. Color Pencils
Color pencils are part of doodling when you want to make colorful doodles. These pencils help you give different colors to your characters and enhance their personalities as per your imagination.
04. Washable Marker Packs
Washable marker packs are your alternative to color pencils. If you just do not like to use color pencils, you can opt for the markers to add colors to your doodle characters.
05. Paper Sketch Pad
You should also look for ways to organize your work so that you can go back to your work to examine it or get inspiration. For that, make sure that you have a sketchbook or a drawing book. Think of having a sketch pad for drawing if you love to sketch on the move.
06. Sketch Pad For Drawing
If you like to sketch on the go, then you’ll need a portable notebook.
How to start with when learning the art of doodling?
01. Shapes
One of the main characteristics of doodles is that they are mainly made of shapes and lines. If you have focused your art efforts on these two basics, you are on your way to achieving perfection.
When it comes to shapes, you should consider the basic shapes. There is no need for you to look for a perfect shape. As you are aware of the fact, geometrical shapes in doodles are not perfect. They are hand-drawn and so there is no perfect shape when creating the art. You need to pay heed to three basic shapes. These are:
- Square and Rectangles
- Circles and Ovals
- Triangles
This list is surely very short but you can add more to this list.
02. Visual Alphabets
You should pay attention to the basic shapes as you can then create a lot of varieties of doodles with their help. Take note of the visual alphabets and learn how to draw them. These visual alphabets are point, line, arc, loop, angle, triangle, rectangle, square, house, cloud, oval, and eye.
We call it basic because you can create different shapes by manipulating them in varied ways. You can refine these shapes into different new shapes. So, these shapes can serve as a guide to creating more shapes.
So, you have many shapes around you to observe and use. Objects such as a basketball, a compass, a donut, a clock, and many more come in a circle. That is a simple shape.
But if you look at some objects, they have more than one shape. For example, an ice cream cone is a triangular shape, the upside-down triangular. But at the top, it has a scoop of ice cream which is circular.
Similarly, if you want to create a simple house doodle, you will observe two shapes. The first one is the building structure which comes in a square shape, while the second one is the roof, which is mostly triangular.
03. Complicated Shapes
However, some shapes are not easy and are complex. For example, a lampshade doodle. A part of it is rectangular and the other part is in a small vertical rectangle shape. The base also has two shapes, which are oval and rectangle.
But, how many shapes will you see in an object depends solely on you and how you break down those images of shapes. What matters here is that you can draw those basic shapes.
You should be practicing it again and again to create the doodle drawings. Later on, you will develop this habit of seeing different shapes in objects around you. You will also have to spot complex lines.
04. Refine Basic Shapes
The next step is to think about the ways to modify the basic shapes. If you see a lamppost, it is not a perfect shape. It may be a quadrilateral shape and it may have diagonal sides as well.
But when you create a doodle, start by simplifying this shape. You can first draw it as a simple rectangular shape which is usually easy to make. The key is to break down a complex shape into many simple shapes for doodles.
To create doodles, you need a pencil, a black pen, and an eraser. So, all you are supposed to do is to first draw a usual and simple rectangular to create the lamppost doodle.
To draw the rectangular shape easily, a trick is to have a look at the space between the endpoint of your diagonal line and the top corner of your rectangle. These two sides have the same distance when seen between the two points. You have to learn how to draw other shapes.
05. Doodle Styling
Next, you need to learn how to style your doodles. You should give some flair to the art. There are many ways to add style. When talking about the style we mean to add patterns, embellishments, shading, shadows, and changing the line width, etc.
What are the main considerations to create doodles?
01. Get Warmed Up A Little
Before starting work on your doodle theme, you should do some warm-up drawings to awaken your art muscles. Pick up a blank piece of paper and draw some lines freely for about 10 minutes. Do whatever you want to do with those randomly drawn lines and shapes as part of the exercise.
02. Work With Basic Shapes
Do not worry about the details at first sight. You should focus on the basic shapes only. For instance, a book is a rectangular shape, a flower is a circular shape while its stem is two parallel lines. Similarly, when you look at an ice cream cone see it as an upside-down triangle. Then, see that there is a circle in the form of ice cream at the top. Start by observing such a shape first in an object.
03. Draw Lines Of A Variety Of Thickness
You may not be having all those pens of a variety of thicknesses of nibs at the start. But, keep this in mind that your doodle lines should vary in terms of thickness. This means that you should try to have a good collection of different sizes of nibs. You can then create a variety of lines. A professional approach is to draw the outer lines thick and keep the details smaller and fine.
04. Find A Dedicated Working Place
Since you wish to be a doodle artist, you should ensure that you have a separate place in-home or anywhere to work on your art. At such a place, your creativity just awakens as you are alone and your mind gets switched on and prepared to come out with new ideas.
05. Do Not Worry About Perfection
Doodle art is something about involving in some relaxing activity, though you should be a professional artist. But, doodling is one art where perfection is not the goal. On the contrary, just let your creativity flow freely. If you have a style, stick to it and do not change it to make your doodle look something else.
06. Get Inspiration
Inspiration is key to creating something unique that can stand out. You should think of getting some inspiration from your surroundings. See the things around you and you can get ideas to doodle. Just an intended look at nature and people can give you unique ideas.
Or, sometimes just drawing something randomly works well. You can find that you have come up with some exciting drawings. There is no need for you to wait for inspiration as doodling comes naturally just as you look around for some inspirational ideas.
07. Associate With Other Things Freely
While doodling, do not just restrict yourself to creating just one particular figure. A better approach is to freely associate that figure with many other things around. For example, if you are doodling a flower, then bring in your best friend in that frame of the sketch. Then, you can also sketch your other people, whoever pops into your head at that time.
So, try to draw many characters without thinking much about their personalities. Just doodle them randomly and it still will be creating some story.
08. Use A Variety Of Objects
To make doodling interesting and engaging, draw most of the shape in that frame. Bring in rectangular, circular, circular, and various other shapes to make the drawing look interesting.
09. Doodle What You See and Hear
You can doodle everything you see. Just start drawing those figures in your style and way on a piece of paper. They may be faces, flowers, leaves, garden, and all things around.
Doodle also from what you hear. You can doodle a song that makes you think something about it. If you hear two people discussing, draw that picture of what you get from their talks.
10. Experiment With Different Features
Once you are perfect at creating your doodles, it is now time to have a look around and see which things interest you more. Observe animals, buildings, trees, people, and a lot of things around your place. They can be the subject of your doodles. Even your thoughts are the great raw material. People can easily relate to them.
Then, share your doodles with peers and on social media to get feedback and appreciation. If you are a master in this art, you can even carve out a nice career for yourself.
So, this is the guide that you can follow while creating your doodles. This creative activity is surely engaging and easy, still, you need to keep the basics in mind.
If you are an artist, besides creating doodles, you may also be interested in doing illustrations and design works. If that is so, you can sell your artworks at Printshop.
At this print-on-demand platform, you can open your online art store to sell artworks at your set price. So, get started with this site and earn an attractive profit.
Wrapping Up
Doodling is a very entertaining activity that keeps you glued to what you are creating. It also helps you relax and sharpen your brain. But, you should know how to doodle to create unique figures. Just doodle everything that you see around and bring in more shapes and types of lines in the sketch frame. Shapes and lines are the souls of doodling.