Doodling with the Fountain Pens ... or the Fingers

[amberleadavis]

@Tas asked me once how at my advanced age I was still able to draw like a child. If you have seen my doodles, he overstated my abilities.  He also explained that as artists become more proficient, they lose the ability to draw childlike and spend time and effort relearning that skill.  So, I'm going to take the time to tell Tas how I do it.

 

Here is my first suggestion:

 

Embrace and Enhance the teachings of such illustrious artists as Ed Emberley.

https://www.amazon.com/Ed-Emberleys-Fingerprint-Drawing-Book/dp/0316789690/

 

In my case, I didn't want to spread my fingerprints all over the internet, but using FPs to doodle is totally okay.

 

 

Please feel free to add your own doodles.

 

 

 

 

[kestrel]

Doodles Weaver, uncle of Sigourney. 

 

You asked.

 

 

[amberleadavis]

lol

[knarflj]

I keep saying I am going to learn to draw.  Maybe learning to doodle will get me started.  (I'm not sure I ever doodled even when I was a child, but I hope it's not too late to start.)  I have just requested the Ed Emberley book from the library; thank you for the suggestion!

[amberleadavis]

11 minutes ago, knarflj said:

I keep saying I am going to learn to draw.  Maybe learning to doodle will get me started.  (I'm not sure I ever doodled even when I was a child, but I hope it's not too late to start.)  I have just requested the Ed Emberley book from the library; thank you for the suggestion!

 

I am so glad to offer a suggestion.  I must warn you, I cannot draw.

[amberleadavis]

@Tas I will be mailing the originals to you.

 

[amberleadavis]

[amberleadavis]

[knarflj]

21 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

 

I am so glad to offer a suggestion.  I must warn you, I cannot draw.

 

Compared to anything I do, I think your doodles are drawings.   

[amberleadavis]

2 hours ago, knarflj said:

 

Compared to anything I do, I think your doodles are drawings.   

 

LOL

I'm hoping you share your results.

[AmandaW]

Doodles ARE drawings.

[txomsy]

The point to remember, I think, is that thanks to the 20th C now, anything can be Art. So, get your pen out and start scribbling, doodling, even simply making lines or blots.

 

Note to myself, I must remember to upload tomorrow a sketch I made recently.

[amberleadavis]

3 hours ago, txomsy said:

The point to remember, I think, is that thanks to the 20th C now, anything can be Art. So, get your pen out and start scribbling, doodling, even simply making lines or blots.

 

Note to myself, I must remember to upload tomorrow a sketch I made recently.

 

 I look forward to seeing it.

[kestrel]

On 11/14/2023 at 4:21 PM, amberleadavis said:

 

I am so glad to offer a suggestion.  I must warn you, I cannot draw.

Those few unfortunates who have seen my attempts at drawing understand full well why I am a photographer.

[txomsy]

8 hours ago, amberleadavis said:

 

 I look forward to seeing it.

And here it is. I think it is a good example of "self-shamelessness".

 

This is supposed to be the skyline of Madrid as seen from Debod's Temple. We went to Madrid last weekend and just couldn't enter Debod's Temple (there was a long queue and after one hour wait we didn't make it to the last pass). So we sat down outside and, instead of the Temple I decided to sketch the skyline. At 8 PM and < 8 C it was cold and dark (it's in the middle of a park), so I would hardly see what I was doing (at some points I simply didn't even see, as can be noted in overlapping/disconnected parts of the sketch, tilted lines, the floating hotel name and failures in perspective/proportions) with shaky hands. I had to complete and fill some shapes (e.g. the big trees in the foreground) later (the tress hadn't been drawn, likely because I didn't hold the pen correctly, but didn't notice).

 

Long story short: I wouldn't allow being in the dark bore me: I had some time sitting in the cold ahead, with nothing to do but rest, and I just didn't care if the result was good or bad, all I wanted was to entertain myself while we were sitting there.

 

BTW, the sky should be pitch dark with some glow around the buildings. Just complete it yourselves in your head.

 

 

So, whether you can draw or not, even if you do not see what you are doing or even you are not actually drawing at all... do not let that be an excuse or stop you. You do not need to get anything "right", just enjoy the doing.

 

Actually, one of the "lessons" I read in a drawing teaching book is that many artists use "blind drawing" to sort of "train their unconscious hand" (or something like that). Of course everyone expects blind (drawing without looking at the paper) sketching to produce aberrant results, but even these are good to develop your technique. I remember seeing some such doodles from Picasso in one museum or another.

 

So, don't be ashamed, everyone -even Picasso- does (did) "awful" (well his were less) doodles. What make the great artists different is they are not ashamed of them. You may also be one too if you allow yourself to try.

[AmandaW]

8 hours ago, kestrel said:

Those few unfortunates who have seen my attempts at drawing understand full well why I am a photographer.

The solution is to draw more. It will slow you down and make you look. Really look. That's why artists draw: so they can see. It has nothing to do with making pretty drawings - those are pot-boilers...

 

It will make you an even better photographer.

[amberleadavis]

On 11/16/2023 at 6:40 PM, kestrel said:

Those few unfortunates who have seen my attempts at drawing understand full well why I am a photographer.

 

LOL

[amberleadavis]

20 hours ago, txomsy said:

And here it is. I think it is a good example of "self-shamelessness".

 

This is supposed to be the skyline of Madrid as seen from Debod's Temple. We went to Madrid last weekend and just couldn't enter Debod's Temple (there was a long queue and after one hour wait we didn't make it to the last pass). So we sat down outside and, instead of the Temple I decided to sketch the skyline. At 8 PM and < 8 C it was cold and dark (it's in the middle of a park), so I would hardly see what I was doing (at some points I simply didn't even see, as can be noted in overlapping/disconnected parts of the sketch, tilted lines, the floating hotel name and failures in perspective/proportions) with shaky hands. I had to complete and fill some shapes (e.g. the big trees in the foreground) later (the tress hadn't been drawn, likely because I didn't hold the pen correctly, but didn't notice).

 

Long story short: I wouldn't allow being in the dark bore me: I had some time sitting in the cold ahead, with nothing to do but rest, and I just didn't care if the result was good or bad, all I wanted was to entertain myself while we were sitting there.

 

BTW, the sky should be pitch dark with some glow around the buildings. Just complete it yourselves in your head.

 

 

So, whether you can draw or not, even if you do not see what you are doing or even you are not actually drawing at all... do not let that be an excuse or stop you. You do not need to get anything "right", just enjoy the doing.

 

Actually, one of the "lessons" I read in a drawing teaching book is that many artists use "blind drawing" to sort of "train their unconscious hand" (or something like that). Of course everyone expects blind (drawing without looking at the paper) sketching to produce aberrant results, but even these are good to develop your technique. I remember seeing some such doodles from Picasso in one museum or another.

 

So, don't be ashamed, everyone -even Picasso- does (did) "awful" (well his were less) doodles. What make the great artists different is they are not ashamed of them. You may also be one too if you allow yourself to try.

 

I love it.

[knarflj]

So I doodled a thing, and figured out eventually how to get it into an album here.  Now if I can just figure out (again) how to get a picture into a post...

 

 

[txomsy]

Well, it seems you did very well in all your goals. Congratulations. And a pretty charming doodle.