The Art of Doodling

I think a majority of us could be accused of letting our pens wander while our mind tries to focus on serious work, and be found absolutely guilty of the fact.

The seeds are planted during an early age when the mind is extremely prone to wandering and distractions, leading to absentminded gestures, like fidgeting, tapping, knuckle cracking, lip biting, etc. Do you remember your school days, where the margins of books and end pages of notebooks used to get covered in mindless scribbles and scrabbles?

But could those scribbles become a work of art?

Here’s how to turn your idle doodling into an aesthetic:

· Start easy: begin with basic shapes, lines and curves to get into the smooth flowing strokes.

· Work your way up to outlining general shapes, as close to reality as possible.

· Keep it simple: do not plan and try elaborate structures, keep to simple everyday stuff that feels ingrained in your brain through constant exposure, like furniture, cutlery, animal shapes etc.

· Play around with it until the pencil strokes start coming smoothly.

· Work your way up to things you like, which could require you to use your imagination, instead of real-life imitations.

· Try combining doodling with sketching.

· Concept idea- use tiny doodles to fill in spaces within bigger artwork.

· Don’t be afraid to mess up. That’s the first step of becoming better at something.

· Most importantly, have fun with your doodles.