I’ve been doodling ever since I can remember, in every book and notepad I have had. From the very first textbook at school, to my first diary and now my work notebook – I doodle everywhere. I regard it is as serious from of art that I can do anywhere in any place in any format! Doodling as I call it is for me unadulterated adolescence combined with beautiful illustrative sketches.
Google is an amazing tool but they seem to have monopolised the concept of a doodle so heavily that the word doodle has become ubiquitous with the Google home page logo and its constant rotation of events & people orientated doodles. Don’t get me wrong the Google Doodles have done great work to commemorate worthy individuals, dates and events but for me I have always regarded doodles as a uniquely spontaneous and expressive art form.
Doodles are about daydreaming; an expressive distraction from whatever it is we are meant to be doing! Remember doodling in textbooks to break the monotomy of learning at school that had lost our interest? Or the long conversation on the phone when we didn’t have mobiles and we sat their on the notepad by the house phone doodling on the pad that was meant to be for phone messages?!?
One of the first doodles recorded was by Luise Kritzelzeichnung over 100 years ago can be seen below
As an illustrator who loves doodling, this is one of my artistic doodles
Doodles have even got their own celebrated day with the National Doodle Day where thousands of people including celebrities have created doodles to raise money for epilepsy. Over £275,000 has been raised to help support over 600,000 people in the UK with epilepsy. You can find out more here
Stephen Fry’s doodle can be seen here
