Step by Step: the Evolution of a Doodle Drawing (plus a blog break announcement)

Ever since I took Pam Garrison's creative sketchbooking class at Creative Bug last year I have been developing this whole new to me doodling style and I am so terribly in love with it! Even though what I'm doing now looks nothing anymore like what Pam does (which is of course a good thing) I can't help but still think of these drawings as 'pamdoodles', because she is the one who basically introduced me into the idea of turning a simple scribble into actual art.  She has a ton of other techniques in that class and I can definitely recommend it if only for you to step out of your own box.

As said I have made her basic technique my own so I could develop my own style. Mine is way more abstract and much more about basic doodling than about finding representative shapes. I also use very different materials than she does which gives a whole different look. I thought it might be nice if I showed you a bit of a step by step of how such a doodle drawing of mine comes into being, so that's what this post is all about.

Here we go!

Step One - Make a scribble drawing

I start out quickly with a simple scribble in pencil, trying to cover as much of the page as I can. 
Then later I look over the scribble and begin to draw more purposely over the lines with a black marker. I look for interesting parts, leave out and erase certain lines and add other ones until I have a composition that is pleasing to my eye. What is left is based on the original scribble, but obviously much more stylized.

Step 2 - Bring on the colour

Now I choose four to six (in this case six) colours from my stack of Pitt Big Brush Markers (oh how I love those, but you can use any marker you have on hand of course) and start colouring in the drawing until not a smidge of page is left white. I again try to get a composition that is pleasing to my eye. I'm not trying to represent anything. A doodle drawing is simply a feast of colours and shapes to me, nothing more.
Sometimes, as in this case, I like the coloured in drawing so much I'm almost afraid to move on to the next step, but I always do, and it's always worth it.

Step 3 - Black doodles

I divide my colours between the lightest and the darkest tones. Then I get a black drawing pen or felt tip and draw on top of the lightest colours with all kinds of diffferent patterns and doodles. I don't plan ahead, I just work as I go and see what happens. Already the doodle is coming to life as you can see.

Step 4 - White doodles

The last step is to take a white pen (in this case a white gelly roll) and go over the darker colours with again lots of patterns and doodles. This is where the really dramatic effects start happening, because of the contrast between the different coloured doodles and the colours at the base of the drawing. I love doodling the background colour too, because it makes the whole piece just one big doodle party!

And that's all there is to it!
I think it's a bit of a mix between pams work and zentangles, except with a lot of Caatje thrown in. I love these. I have the ambition to one day do a really big version of these doodles, maybe even on canvas or wood in acrylic with doodling on top in acrylic markers. I would love to see how that would look.

I hope you enjoyed this little step by step insight into my process. I always love to see how creative work is done and I'm sure you are the same. :-)

Now it's time for something completely different: the announcement of a blog break!

Starting today I will have a two week vacation and I will travel to the island of Texel again! I was there last March, but only saw about half of it, so now I am taking two whole weeks to fully explore our neighbours (Texel is the neighbouring island on the west of ours).

Of course I will make sure to take pics and try to keep a travel journal, so I'll be sure to have a full report when I get back, which will be at the beginning of February. Until then I wish you all a wonderful and artsy time!