The importance of Doodling in your sketchbook?

[Nadesican]

Since I started posting my sketches here, and indeed since I started seriously drawing, I've been of the mindset that every sketch had to be Serious, with the motivation behind it being that of improving, or just in general making a finished picture.

I've learned a bit, but the progress is slow. A friend of mine recently said this was due to my lack of "Flow" and in general lack of unfinished sketches/doodles.

I've started filling pages (at a much faster rate then normal) with these, but is this in fact helpful somehow? These sketches are a riot..but I want to get better, too!

[Samari]

The progress can take years. Now matter how good or bad you are once you start. If you draw every single day though, it goes by much faster. It will just take time for your eyes to start seeing things differently. I've seen your sketchbook. Seems like how you are going about your sketches is fine to me. Just keep practicing. You'll be amazed at how different your drawings look in a year if you keep drawing every single day.

[Costau]

The reason for sketching and doodling is to not just instill studies. A sketchbook is mainly there for you to explore, play, and experiment without worry.

I look at it like this. Art is like a chinese finger trap, you can try as hard you want to get it, but until you relax it's the only time you'll make progress. That's what the sketchbook is for, it's there for you to relax and explore and if you make something good sure show somebody. Do not make that the focus though. Take your time man you'll get where you want to be in no time.

Don't force it!

[Nadesican]

Hmm..Thanks cole.ossus and Samari.
While these little unfinished sketches I've been churning out the last few days have very little educational value, I notice they have more personality to them. Perhaps this leads back to that Chinese finger trap metaphor?

[Liam Harvey]

from someone in very much the same spot, i think it should be important to try and achieve something with those sketches. That sketch?, should you get bored with it, skip it, and come back.

Try to make it a habit of going back to pics and going "well that could be better"-then rolling up those sleeves and getting stuck into it.


I see others around here who have achieved so much more in the time i have been a member than i certainly have. This is because they were determined to take things so far by not giving the hell up or slowing the fuck down for anybody or anything.

you will get better if you keep at it.

[Costau]

Learning how to draw and using the tools is the easy part, the creativity part is what is more important in the long run and has to be nurtured. Exploring helps with that. Quantity is important, and learn to accept imperfection, and just learn from it.

Edit* Always try to finish what you do, make sure you're not using an excuse to stay where you are. Challenge yourself.

[Liam Harvey]

hmm yes i totally somehow forgot the creative haven that the sketchbook represents and just.so.IS.

so iguess, go nuts, then be all " im gonna make this the most coolest zany awesome thing i have ever done ever!"

have fun. fast sketching is good though, as you are "feverishly" putting things to paper that becomes good in establishing a myraid of imaginings.

[Black Spot]

I doodle all the time at work; it helps me think. They sometimes turn into thumbnails that I use later. Nothing is wasted as just by drawing I'm considering line, form and composition - and it doesn't have to be perfect because it's a doodle! Not everything has to have a purpose and enjoying doodling for doodling sake is a pleasant aside.

[Slothboy3000]

Go at your own pace and learn what YOU want to learn. Of course there will always be bits you'll have to eventually learn which won't be fun to you, but starting off, why give yourself the trouble of learning something that's not enjoyable?

[darkwolf29a]

I doodle all the time at work; it helps me think. They sometimes turn into thumbnails that I use later. Nothing is wasted as just by drawing I'm considering line, form and composition - and it doesn't have to be perfect because it's a doodle! Not everything has to have a purpose and enjoying doodling for doodling sake is a pleasant aside.

I must agree with this. I have moments where I just start drawing. Sometimes, it's just a quick thing I need to get out of my head. Those are nothing more than doodles, really. Other times, those doodles will lead someplace else entirely. For me, I use those doodle time to practice line weight, speed, etc. Sometimes...those exercises are just the point to a whole doodle. Other times, I use the absent minded doodle to think about something entirely different. Say I'm working on a problem at work. I'll pick up a pen and start on a piece of paper, and come up with a bunch of lines that mean nothing to the casual observer, but to me they represent a thought process to get to an end result. Those marks on the page are just the thought process leading to a logical conclusion.

[Elwell]

Have fun. Why the hell would you draw if it wasn't fun?

[Chris Bennett]

Nah......I say let's put the pain back in painting.

[paperclip]

Doodling is a fantastic way to keep things up in the air. I constantly sketch in my lecture notes and work out ideas that way. It's surprising how much you can progress just from doing that sort of thing. Last year I had to spend less time than I would have liked doing hardcore art projects, but I made up for it by sketching constantly from life. Lecturers make great life drawing models- gesture drawings mostly but if you get an unusually lazy lecturer, there you go- long pose. Lab glassware setups make good still life pieces. You can create art wherever you go and yes, it does help.