Doodling for dollars?

It's no secret that I'm a compulsive doodler.  I have been, my whole life.  

Lately I have enjoyed using white and metallic Uni-ball Signo gel markers and Sakura Moonlight Gel markers on black paper, at least until my pad of Fabiano Black Black paper (yup, that's the name; it's awesome stuff) ran out.  I need some more.

Meanwhile, I also have a nice pad of bright white marker paper that I've been using with black Sharpies or black Signo Gel pens, and also with color added (my favorite colored marker pens of choice are Flair pens.  Great colors!)

Sometimes I'm not sure whether I like them better in black and white, or color.

Recently, I posted the black ink 'daily doodle' pictured below, on both Facebook and Instagram, and I debated over whether I wanted to add color to the ribbons and/or the orbs, or whether to leave it black and white.  (I still haven't decided).  A friend (who teaches a mixed class of 5th and 6th graders) asked if she could print out my drawing and color it herself.  She mentioned that her students absolutely loved the drawing.  And I had several friends remark that I should design coloring books. 

But here's the thing.  I like to doodle, and evidently, people like my doodles.  But my reason for doodling has nothing to with making money.  While it sounds lovely to make money from my doodles, I have no desires or skills regarding publication and marketing.  So unless someone miraculously volunteers to figure out how to publish and market my doodles, its not gonna happen, because it is not my personal priority. I doodle because it is a part of who I am and has been my whole life.  But you know, it's not really that hard to do!  I suggested to my friend that her 6th graders could easily do drawings like the one above.

Here's how:
Draw the ribbons looping and overlapping, lightly in pencil.  Figure out where they cross each over each other, erasing as needed where they cross.  Trace over the pencil lines with Sharpie.  Add orbs to further break up the space.  Fill all the shapes created in the negative space, with repeating patterns, a different pattern in each space.

 Or, as I did above, try radial designs that grow and attach to each other.

You can find several other posts on this blog about doodling.  To find them, use view the blog in the web version and search the labels/tags on the bottom of the blog!

Here's one last doodle for tonight!

Doodle gifts

It is no secret that I'm a compulsive doodler, and I love a good challenge and a reason to do a large doodle.  So I recently made three gifts by/for family relatives.  One was a gift from me, and the other two were 'commissioned' by a family member for her adult children.  I wanted to share the results with you.  Sorry the photos aren't great; I don't really have a good setup for photographing artwork in my home and its frustrating. If I try to make the mat look bright white (which it is), the drawing colors look washed out to me.  Plus some of the markers are metallic, which is tough to photograph.  Anyhow, the pics above are a couple of closeups.  The entire pieces can be seen below.  For the first two below, I was given a list of items and names to include, and the rest was up to me.  The required items were a challenge!  Celtic knots and crosses, unicorns, lions and tiger - none of these things are typically in my 'wheelhouse'.

 I did the one below for my adult stepdaughter and her family as a gift from me.  Because it's already framed in this shadowbox frame, it doesn't photo well at all. 

 And here's the other two, in their frames.  My medium of choice for these sort of doodles is Flair pens, a black Sharpie, and some wonderful metallic gel markers.  I don't usually pre-draw with pencil, but I did need to do that for the Celtic knot and cross, the lion and tiger, and the unicorn. 

Doodlemania!

It's no secret that I'm a compulsive doodler.  I've blogged about doodling on other occasions, HERE, HERE, and HERE, for example.  There are more if you choose to look for them. I'm getting ready for a little art display in a local library, and thought it would be fun to mat and display a few of the more elaborate doodles.  So I started digging though some old little sketchbooks.  I got a couple of mats cut with six windows, figuring I could pull at least a dozen doodles to put in them.  The two above didn't make it into one of the mats, at least not yet.  Here's what did:

And here's another six.  The six below remind me somehow of the circus.  Not sure why, but I think I'll call them 'circus doodles'. 

 I realized  I had so many pages of doodles that I  will need to cut some more mats!  And these are just the ones that are in three little sketchbooks.  There are more...  Anyhow, here's another batch of 6:

 Occasionally I just leave a doodle in black and white, like the two below.  Then I have friends and acquaintances insisting that I should get a job designing for adult coloring books.  But here's the thing - I doodle WHEN I WANT TO, and not to anyone's specifications.  I don't think I'd be happy doodling if it was for a job. 

 Sometimes two disparate doodles seam to belong together.  That's what happened with the two below.  I was surprised to find how much I liked them next to each other.

 A lot of my doodles have been done at meetings and such. Case in point, the one below, done at a Temple Board meeting.  A few little notes sneaked into the doodle. 

 I came across these old doodles from union meetings, from my time when I was union president and/or on the negotiation and grievance committees. I bring a little pouch to meetings loaded with a batch of colorful Flair pens, black Sharpies, and an odd assortment of other fun pens and markers and such.  And of course a little sketchbook. 

And it appears I did a LOT of doodling at those Temple board meetings.  Others on the board would make sure to sit next to me so they could watch me doodle while we argued about finances and the religious school and such. 

 I think  this doodle below was from a speaker or workshop at an art conference.  I don't recall who the speaker was, but I like a lot of the words I wrote down. 

 If you are interested I've also written blog posts about the value of doodling.  Yes, it's a good thing!  To find any of these posts, just go to the labels on the bottom of the blog and click on 'doodling'.

Sharpie shoes! Doodles for my feet!

 I've been doodling on shoes again...

I've had these ankle boots for a year, but I also have a pair of black clogs, and a pair of black knee-high boots, so these boots were sort of redundant.  They are very comfy, but I thought they were were kind of blah, so they deserved a makeover. 

I bought oil-based silver Sharpie paint markers, and tonight, while watching some brainless TV, I went to town on the boots.  I'm looking forward to wearing them!  I have no idea how the Sharpie will hold up if/when I wear them in rainy or snowy weather.  Hopefully, OK?

Last summer, I did this to a pair of ugly but comfy orthopedic sandals, with a white Sharpie oil-based paint marker.  I think it really helped.  Now I actually WANT to wear them instead of hiding their hideousness in the closest!

I've doodled on other stuff, such as this purse below, with regular Sharpies.  The purse is several years old, and the Sharpie has held up well.   I have a black purse I'm bored with.  Maybe it will get the silver Sharpie treatment next.  But it has a gold clasps, so maybe I'll use silver AND gold, so it will go with more. 

And then there's iPad covers.  This one below was my first iPad.

 And this is my current iPad cover, done with black, white, silver, gold, and bronze Sharpies.

And this one was a gift for an old friend.

 

I've decorated bowling shoes with Sharpies, both for me and a colleague.  Thank goodness I doodle a LOT better than I bowl.  I may roll lots of gutter balls, but hey, at least my feet are gonna look good!  I decorated the bowling shoes probably 8 years or so ago; it took me until this summer to realize that I could doodle on other shoes, too.

Hmm, I wonder what I can doodle on next?  My car is already decorated, and my husband would not be happy if I attacked his shoes....

My doodles are not Zentangles

 I'm a compulsive doodler, and I've written about it several times before in my blog.  What I create are doodles, not Zentangles.  I want to talk a little here about the difference, and why you haven't even seen and won't ever see me presenting Zentangle art lessons here on this blog.  By the way, all images in this post are from the latest of several little sketchbooks I take with me to meetings or workshops, so that I can keep my hands busy while I focus my mind.  They are done mostly in a combination of black Sharpie and a set of multicolor Flair pens.

I first wrote a blog post on the topic of Zentangle vs doodle in March 2011, and while it is not in my list of most popular posts, it has certainly sparked more response than most other posts.  As a matter of fact, it has received more comments than any other post I've done since the inception of this blog, with today's total of 60 comments (yes, some of them are my responses to commenters, but there's still a lot.)  New comments still frequently appear on that post, so I know it is still a topic of interest.  I also wrote another post about doodling here, with the link to a great TED talk on doodling, too.

 

So why am I writing another post on the topic today? I've actually been planning it for quite some time, but I would see posts written by other bloggers, or in the Facebook Art Teacher group, about projects/lessons taught that incorporated Zentangle, and I did not want anyone who wrote these posts to think that my blog post was referring to them directly.  So I waited until a 'neutral' time to write this.  This blog post is not directed at any specific person but is intended to make you think about what you teach and why. 

 Here's my concern.  Throughout my long teaching career, my students did lessons and projects that incorporated line, texture, shape, balance, repetition, rhythm, pattern, unity, contrast, and so on.  If you are an art teacher, these words should be very familiar to you, since they are all part of the basic Elements of Art and Principles of Design.  The word 'Zentangle' appears nowhere in the Elements and Principles, nor will you find it in your Core Art Standards or in the Mathematics Standards either.  That's because Zentangle is a trademarked method taught by CZTs (Certified Zentangle Trainers).  In other words, it's a money-making business.  They teach classes and sell products. 

Searching the web, I came across a wiki that gave this definition: "A Zentangle is an abstract drawing created using repetitive patterns according to the trademarked Zentangle Method. True Zentangles are always created on 3.5 inch (8.9 cm) square tiles, and they are always done in black ink on white paper."  It further went on to say that it should without orientation (no up or down).  Already, I certainly know that MY doodles don't qualify.  Mine often incorporate color, they absolutely do have a certain intended orientation, and they are not square.  Further, they do not include the pencil shading that is a part of the Zentangle method.  

Then then I went to the official Zentangle® website, and I learned that "Zentangle's teaching materials are subject to copyright owned by Zentangle." According to the website, they have a patent pending on their teaching method.  Also, I found this: "Many aspects of the Zentangle® Method, including our materials and teaching tools, as well as the material on this site, are covered by copyright which is owned by Zentangle, Inc. All rights reserved."  (So it's a good thing I'm not calling my drawings Zentangles, I guess...)

If you are doing a project with your students that includes drawing something with a specific shape (whether a cat, a tree, an owl, a flower, a whale, an ice cream cone, or whatever...) and a major part of that lesson involves having your students divide up the internal space of the subject and fill each part with repeating patterns, rhythmic designs, or repetitive textural lines, WHY are you calling it a Zentangle?  Isn't it really a lesson on repetition?  On line?  On implied texture? And so on?  You can reference almost every Element and Principle in such a lesson, and that is much more valid to justify as part of your curriculum than calling it a Zentangle!  I would think your administration, looking at your curriculum, would much prefer seeing that you are teaching long-established elements of art and principles of design.  (Just my opinion, I know.)  As a matter of fact, I could probably dig through my ancient School Arts magazines and other resources from my early days teaching elementary art, and find many articles on lessons using repetitive pattern and design that were published before Zentangle® was ever conceived!

 Let's try to put this another way.  I love papier-mache.  Let's say I invent a specific papier-mache mixture, call it "Dragon Drool" (which is already the nickname my students use for mixed Art Paste), copyright it and sell it, train and certify "Dragon-Droolers" in training sessions that cost money to attend, and copyright my specific method calling it "Dragon-Drooling".  Now, every time you use papier-mache, should you be referencing my copyrighted name, even though you might not be doing the process the same way, or using the same material?  Even though you haven't been trained in Dragon-Drooling by a CDD ("Certified Dragon-Drooler")?  No!  You simply call it a papier-mache project!  Similarly, unless you are a CZT, and are using the specific process and materials outlined in official Zentangle classes, should any lesson in repetitive design be called "doing Zentangles"?  

I'd love to hear your thoughts.  In the meantime, please understand; this blog post is in no way criticizing the Zentangle process or the people who teach it.  I simply don't think it's what we are actually doing when we are teaching art to kids!

A new doodle!

This is an iPad cover that I decorated as a gift for a milestone birthday for my lifelong friend.  

I've written before on this blog about my compulsive doodling.   I've doodled on everything from purses to bowling shoes and an iPad cover for myself.  My friend loved my iPad cover so I thought making one for her, with a few personal touches, would be the perfect gift.  I hope she likes it!  

Next blog post will be part 2 about my state conference and the workshops I taught, so stay tuned!  It's been a busy couple of weeks, but if haven't forgotten you, readers!