My preferred way of doing art the past few years has been more of a doodle and less of a conscious thinking effort. I got a degree in art never feeling like an artist in the first place. This intuitive way of doing art has been my attempt to deconstruct all my pre- and post conceived notions of what art is, or who an artist is. These days it is more important for me to express what I feel and/or let my inner creative beings have my hands and eyes to create themselves with.
So I made this “comic” by letting it draw itself. I enjoy not knowing where I’m going. It’s like looking at someone else’s work (and in a way, it is). I’m always amazed at how the pieces of the puzzle fall together long after the drawing or painting is finished. I think that’s true even with intentional art. That’s why we do it.
As you can see, spirals loom large in my symbolic lexicon. They were the first things that appeared when I decided to let go of control. What do they mean? I haven’t really asked. Some part of me is afraid that if I find out what all this really means it will go away.
Is it a comic? I don’t know. The line between comic and illustration and storytelling is almost nonexistent for me. I like to think that it is a comic panel drawn by the heart angel herself.
As for doodling, I like it so much I made a Squidoo lens (also known as a web page to the uninitiated) about it: Doodle Art And in case you’re wondering, I drew this in Photoshop.
03/28/2009 at 07:37
And thank you for being you, Hon… I really like this one!
03/28/2009 at 12:44
So… Where’s your doodling, Eric?
I like it too. I don’t usually get into the Whys of doodling or drawing. Except technically. The why of the spiral is just good eye-hand coordination. Ever try to draw one on a Spirograph? Straight lines are merely dragging ones hand and mark making tool across the page.
The part of doodling that I am most aware of is the “handwriting” part. That and negotiating two-dimensional space. If I can’t make a doodle as a kind of hand twitch, it usually doesn’t get done.
The exception is those that are more like puzzles–the one on the cup is an example–where my mind is fully engaged in the process. It’s still not “drawing” as someone else might perceive it. Just connecting dots that I put on the page.
Doodling is both the object and the act. It is the way to become as familiar with the visual world as we are with the verbal one. I finally get this! It’s no different than writing. We just need to take it one “word” at a time.