
The Art of Doodling - CrocodileStreet
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/05/22/the-art-of-doodling/
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grenoire
One thing that always fascinated me is that in constrained mediums like
doodles (the constraint being time spent on it and the reliance on lines),
there still are hints so as to the artist being _professional._

The doodle of King, who is not a visual artist, is just incomparable to the
one of Cocteau, who did work in film and visual arts. There's something
charming to both of them, but the way trained artists can make even the
shoddiest of their work beautiful to look at is something I am quite envious
about.

Disclaimer: My doodles are shit.

~~~
TuringTest
It's not necessarily a thing of being professional. There is this mental trick
of being able to switch your mind from a symbolic to a visual processing
style, which is easy to do once you learn it. [1] (Betty Edwards[2] uses this
explanation to sell her books, but the first free exercises are enough to
understand what it's all about).

In the article, Stephen King's and Queen Victoria's doodles are clearly using
the symbolic brain, creating "drawings" equivalent to writing in hieroglyphs -
the parts of the drawn objects are unrelated to how something _looks_ in real
life, only to what each shape _means_.

You don't need to become a professional of visual arts to overcome that style,
only realize that you're doing it and _practice_ drawing from pure visuals,
without symbolism, and turning off the analytical brain.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOh4eIEjqvY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOh4eIEjqvY)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Edwards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Edwards)

~~~
dtn
I don't really agree with this. Betty Edward's process is great for drawing
from reference and learning to see. Drawing from imagination relies on a
completely different skill-set.

In Cocteau's case, I would even argue that it leans more towards symbolic
drawing, but with a more comprehensive visual library to draw upon- one that
would've been developed from his profession.

~~~
dbcurtis
I will disagree with your disagree. Edwards demolished a barrier for me in
learning to see and draw. YMMV but it was profound for me.

Edwards does focus entirely on drawing from observation, but I see that as a
necessary step on the way to drawing from imagination, in much the same way
that you must first learn circuit analysis in order to do circuit synthesys.

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prashnts
I realised recently that doodling during meetings (yes, work meetings as
well!), and brainstorming has helped me capture more details than just writing
in my notebook. Having ADHD, it’s often difficult to follow so many ideas and
points being discussed.

My colleagues noticed that and I’m grateful that they specifically asked me to
doodle during a workshop we hosted. Here’s a cartoon I did during that time:
[https://twitter.com/prashnts/status/1104060675205316609?s=21](https://twitter.com/prashnts/status/1104060675205316609?s=21)

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kristiandupont
I always carry a note book with me. It has my plan for the day
([https://medium.com/@kristiandupont/high-resolution-
planning-...](https://medium.com/@kristiandupont/high-resolution-
planning-a76175574e7f)), random notes and random doodles. I got into it after
purchasing an old copy of Thinking With A Pencil
([https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Pencil-Henning-
Nelms/dp/1626...](https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Pencil-Henning-
Nelms/dp/1626541841)) which I think was a recommendation from some thread in
here.

I am not sure what it does for me, but I've been quite consistent for well
over a year now and I do find all my old note books are quite fun to scan
through.

