Wednesday 20 December 2017

A doodle a day

Hello. It is often said that if you want to be a writer, you should write every day. That makes sense to me because the more you practice something the better you become at it. This can be true of almost everything. Want to sculpture your body, go to the gym and pump iron every day. Want to create beautiful bridal gowns, sew every day. Want to create award winning cakes, bake every day. Want to make great art, practice every day. 
A lot of artists make journals, or sketches, or scrapbooks, with snippets of their work, which they refer back to for ideas. I have got a doodle notebook. Something comes into my head and I sit and doodle the idea for ten minutes or so. Sometimes I doodle just for the sake of it, even though I have no idea what I am looking for. I use felt tip pens, which most people now call sharpies for some reason. 
I draw straight lines with a ruler, and fill in the spaces. 

I use a template with lots of small circles.

Sometimes silly things come into my head, I make it up.

Use a plastic template, then add fillers of different colours. Squiggly lines to join up the squares.

Circles of different sizes can be filled in.

I have sparkly glitter pens which I like playing with.

Random shapes, colour them in and add detail.

I will probably go back to this one, it needs more colour and detail.

I saw some Mandala painting videos, I like the idea of lots of dots. 

Some of my templates, for basic shapes which then can be doodled on.

You might think this is all a bit juvenile, but it's surprising how the creative juices flow when you let your mind wander. Play with colours, see how they go together, mix up circles, straight lines, and squiggly shapes. Look at your creation as it is growing, work out which direction you want to go in.

When making a picture there are lots of techniques you can use. You can paint with oils, water colour, acrylics, add texture, collage, spray paint. Outline with crayons, felt tip pens, pencils. Paint with fingers, sponge, plastic cards. Use rubber stamps, glue fabric to the picture, doodle and scribble on it. There are lots of yoootoooob videos about making art with every medium you can think of. Nothing is off limits. People say to me, I don't know where you get your ideas from. Looking at other people's art gives me ideas, also reading craft and sewing books and magazines. One of my favourite web sites is Cassie Stevens. She is an art teacher, her link is on the sidebar.

I am going to carry on doodling and see where it takes me. something will click, there will be bits of it which I can use in future projects. A bit like keeping a notebook if you are writing a novel. If you want to make art, give doodling a go. Take a blank piece of paper, draw a shape, circle, square, or whatever, then fill it in. Draw lots of circles and link them together. Put them in a box. Colour them in. Scribble a few words on them. See where you end up. Happy doodling.

Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip

14 comments:

  1. When i was a kid,i used to have a Spiragraph,not sure of spelling!,and i used to love making the pattens then colouring them in.My daughter asked me when we was in Skipton the other day,if i liked doing Adult Colouring books?I think they even sell them in the pound shops.But to be honest..If im going to doodle anything,which is very rare,i would just do my own shapes like yours.I think ive had enough of colouring books,with the Grandkids when they were young!..Although,a thought just came to me..I used to get very upset,when i was a kid,if i went over the lines on my colouring book!!,Guess i was just a mardy kid,Lol,Debi,xx

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    1. I remember spirograph (googled it), can't remember having one though. Someone gave me an adult colouring book a couple of years ago, I haven't touched it. It's not the same as making up your own patterns and shapes. I saw a video the other day about painting flowers, she put splodges of paint on the paper first, then drew the outline in after. It looked nice but very blotchy. Maybe that's the way to do it now.

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  2. Your doodling looks very scientific Ilona x

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  3. hi Ilona I use doodling to practice making patterns for free machine quilting. It helps to get the shapes into your brain so it isnt juvenile. hope you have a lovely time over the holiday period.

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    1. Justjill, I looked up the word zentangle as it sounded familiar. It described it as a New Art Form. So much for that description, I was doing doodles like that in the margins of my roughbook at Grammar school in the 1960's. I also did it in art lessons as animals and people's faces! Clearly a child well in advance of her time! Just think, I could have been rich had I marketed the idea. Ha ha! Jean.

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    2. Not sure what you mean by Why? Ilona, assuming you were asking me not justjill. If you did mean me, then I was making a joke that had I been the one to make it popular, then it would be my books, pens, equipment and me giving tutorials on the craft channel, presenting my products. Only a few weeks ago someone was doing just that on Create and Craft and promoting their products whilst teaching those who hadn't thought of it, how to do it. I was joking that people make money when the public become involved in the latest trend, just look at those who draw those intricate pictures for adult colouring books. Also, I have just noticed that you have edited my other comment, as is your right. However, the way it ends misses the point that I was making about everybody being creative and getting their own enjoyment from it, regardless of what others think or say. I was trying to give encouragement to people out there by saying you don't have to be brilliant to create art and get enjoyment and satisfaction from your efforts. Is it possible that my use of the word "you" was taken personally to mean yourself when I actually meant it to mean you the people out there? I hope you didn't take it that way Ilona. Gosh, I was being encouraging to all, sorry if it gave the wrong impression. Assuming that's why you edited it.

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    3. My 'why', question was aimed at justjill. I didn't like the way she told me to do something in just three words, with no explanation. If someone gives me an order, I do the opposite. A polite, 'I think you might find this interesting', would have been better.

      Yes, I do edit comments and delete them. Too many are going off topic. I spend many hours on carefully constructing my posts, trying to achieve the correct terminology while trying to keep it simple. It irks me when people twist things around to suit their own agenda. This is not a forum. When a reader sends a comment they are speaking to me. When I write a blog post I am speaking to everyone.

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  5. Adult colouring books are all over the place, even sold on the craft channels, personally I can't see the attraction. Seems a waste of time, too many other things to do. They even sell things just like your first picture, to fill in the squares etc. There are many talented amateurs out there who create lovely work in various mediums.

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  6. Hi Ilona, just wanted to say thank you for the time you spend every day writing this blog! I so enjoy looking for your updates on all topics, even those (like crafts) where I am not yet involved. Merry Christmas and happy new year! May next year be even better!

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    1. Thank you. My blog is a magazine, you can dip in and out of it, take what you want, and discard the rest. I hope you have a Merry Christmas.

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  7. Very nice, Ilona! Looking forward to seeing where this takes you. Looks like fun.

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  8. Eighth picture reminds me on Victor Vasarely's op art paintings! :-)

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