Color & Inspiration: Some Doodling Tips

Doodling Tips!

I received an e-mail the other day from Angelyne asking for some doodling tips.  Honestly, I always avoided making tutorials or giving my own tips because I didn’t have arts/graphics or anything related back in college. Sure I can probably help you with your math assignment or comment on your marketing paper but no, I won’t be able to produce charts, theories–or anything structured–about colors & such.

So I was about to send my reply and then I though, “Why don’t I just share this with everyone else?”  Well, the cartoon’s too short to explain everything so I’m going to blab further about each point here 🙂
1.  Stop thinking about having to please other people — In this day & age of social networking, everyone wants everyone’s approval and it’s dangerous.  If you only think about what everyone’s doing and how you’ll probably fit into everyone’s world then you’re bound to lose yourself in the process and worse, you’ll end up rejecting each idea you have and producing nothing.  As with writing, draw spontaneously first.  Don’t edit your work, let your creative ideas flow then clean it up later.

2. Inspiration is everywhere! — When you look at runway shows or clips of exhibits, you’ll often find the designer or artist being asked “Where did you get your inspiration?” You may debate with me in the next statement I’ll be dropping but no artwork is 100% original.  The style of a lines, the color scheme, the mood, tone, the shapes came from somewhere–it may have been absorbed by the artists consciously or unconsciously.  If that isn’t true, then Pinterest wouldn’t have had existed.  There’s actually a Kate Spade Tumblr dedicated to search for things that will inspire their future collections.  Brochures are also a good source of inspiration.  I must admit, I’m such a brochure hoarder.  I buy art books sometimes but Ponggo once told me that the freshest works are those that have just been released in the market–hence the brochure hoarding.  I also love taking pictures of posters wherever I go.  I was so happy to have stumbled upon blog because I’ve really enjoyed pictures of posters when I was there (much to the dismay of my travel buddies because we had to stop now and then).

3. Look for things to draw; not drawings to copy.  —  What I’m just trying to say here is that as much as it’s okay for you to look at pegs of works similar to your style, it’s also best that you also seek inspiration elsewhere.  Say for example you’re a cartoonist like me, instead of constantly updating yourself with cartoon blogs, it’s better to look at fashion trends, furnitures or whatever else. I just wish I can look for that quote by Stefan Sagmeister.  He was saying that if people just looked for inspiration from works within your style & genre then everyone will just be copying everyone’s work & there will be no growth.

 4. Pay attention to the details — Someone once said, you know you’re a graphic artist if you’re about to order your food and instead of reading what’s on the menu, you end up trying to identify all the fonts.  Aside from brochure hoarding, I also buy magazines and instead of looking at the latest fashion trends, I end up earmarking pages as lay-out and color references. 🙂

5. Train your eyes to look at outlines of objects –…and no, the outlines that you will draw don’t have too be perfect.  The lines and curves don’t exactly have to be where they are down to the last millimeter–well, at least not for doodling.  The beauty of doodling lies in its rawness & spontaneity 🙂

Oops. This was a long post. I just wanted to say so many things.  I hope this has helped you in any way….and as a rule, don’t be afraid to break the rules 🙂

-Tipsy

P.S. Here are more tips 🙂
5 Tips When Using Colored Pencils
Get the Colors You Want with the New Pantone Color Guide
Analog Photography 101 by Aleyn Comprendio
Rainy Day Dressing Tips by Camille Co
Tips on How to be More Productive
Beauty Tips by Nikki Tiu of AskMeWhats.com
Preparing for your big day by Patty Laurel