Doodles and rainbows

                                                                         

Russ, our ToonGuy here, posted one of his doodles in his journal entry today. I've seen lots of doodles, and I think Russ must be the Doodle Master.

I like his drawings. His Pear Dude character defines words through illustration. I chuckle at the rightness of it, how he captures the emotion and meaning of words through such a simple drawing. He has also illustrated phrases submitted by readers. His "Dammits" series was charming. Here's just one entry of those.  If you have a word, a feeling, a thought, Russ can illustrate it simply. At least, he makes it look simple. That's what I like about his work.

I suppose my keen interest in his drawings stem from my recent trek into doodling. When school first began this August, I wondered how I would begin... where would I start in this new classroom, this new subject of which I had been entrusted to teach? How could I follow what their previous teacher had started? 

I thought the element of line would be a good place to begin. Kids love to draw. Making lines is a skill they had already acquired since pre-kindergarten days. Making lines well, with intent, using a variety of line patterns, shapes, thicknesses... well, sometimes they did it and sometimes theydidn't. I wanted them to be aware of what they were doing when they made lines.

Doodling seemed to be a good place to start with my third - fifth graders... structured doodling.* Most of the students doodled without being asked... they'd be caught drawing during math, or during reading... and told to stop drawing and get on with their work. With guilt and not so much speed, I have seen them tuck their drawings away carefully. Last year, one fifth grade student slid his carefully penciled drawings into a clear plastic sleeve. He valued them. His friends held him in high regard because of them. He had a whole collection of drawings in his bookbag. He couldn't find his homework every day, but he always knew where his drawings were. There are students like this in every classroom. How do I tap into that interest to treasure their work, whether it's writing or math or drawing?

Today I want to share some of the structured doodles* my students are working on. Now that they've gotten a good start, we can put them away and bring them out later when I need a substitute. Most of them do not want to stop working on their doodles, and a few of them are totally dissatisfied with their doodles because they started to scribble on them.

I cannot recognize by name the bold, young artists whose work I display in this entry.  

The difference between a scribble and a doodle is that scribbling has no intent, unless you are marking something out, trying to eliminate it, to destroy it. Or unless you are only two or three years old and you are trying to imitate the writing and drawing you see others do. In that case, there is intent: to make a mark.

                                     

Doodling is drawing with intent, it's about making and moving lines across thepaper, and usually you don't even know what the final drawing will look like. You just start. With a dot, or a line. Straight or curvy, bold or light, broken or complete... doodles always begin with a line. They often grow into shapes.

                                   

After explaining about the element of line, and demonstrating the different types of lines, I showed them some doodles I had found in books and magazines. I showed them my own doodles. They were impressed enough to be bold in their own designs.

                                     

You can see how easily the students took to doodling. Like I said, they already knew how to do it... most didn't realize it was something to be encouraged or even developed into a piece worthy to display. None thought of it as art. It's the beginning of illustration, I told them.

                                           

I did it with third through fifth graders because they seemed to have the dexterity with a pen that the younger students lacked. Each student was given two pens to draw with: a black flair medium point, and a black fine point roller ball (generic). They were not accustomed to drawing with pens. Pencils have been their choice of tool because ... they can erase! They love to erase. Crumble up mistakes, throw them away, and start over. Such waste!

They don't have that option with a pen. And good paper is too costly to throw away because of a "mistake."

Hmmmm. So what do we do when we make a mistake? one concerned student asked. I gave him the usual artist's answer: we don't make mistakes. That comment was met with expected quizzical expressions.

The philosophy was tested that very day. While drawing, one of them said, "I made a mistake! Can I start over?" That's when I explained how artists sometimes can't start over, don't want to start over. They move on. They work with the "mistake." They look at it in a different way. Step back from it, and think of a way to use it just the way it is, or work around it.

Sometimes, a masterpiece results from our mistakes. By emphasizing something in the 'mistake,' or making it part of the design, a drawing gains new character, a new direction, ... it takes a turn that seems far from the original intent of the drawing. It changes how we look at our paper, the lines we made upon it. Often artists are very surprised by the final piece.

I'd like to say they understood immediately. But they didn't. That's okay. It comes with time and experience. They are only in elementary school, after all.

                                

One student reached completion of his doodle before the others. I suggested he pencil in the background for a more unified look. My goal was for them to fill their paper with line, not to leave much white space. A handful are having trouble filling their paper with the doodle. The same ones are having trouble when they write as well. I'm hoping that doodling will help them bridge the gap in their thinking. It's all in the details: whether you include them, or not.

                                             

I had to trim these drawings considerably because the students had worked their names into the doodles. Linking one's name into a doodle is common practice among kids, so I had not discouraged it. It made it more difficult to show their entire work, however.

I had other projects in mind for the younger students, and theirs involved using more color than line. The kinders worked on rainbows these past few weeks. They are learning their colors, so making a rainbow was a logical art project. Only two students did not understand that black and brown were not part of the rainbow. They are only five, after all! 

                                                         

One student's work particularly interested me in its Seuss-like appearance. He had not done it intentionally, but it was appealing just the same. I was tempted todraw a character in black ink on top of it... but it wasn't mine to change. The dripping effect took place when he carried his rainbow to the drying rack. I had demonstrated how to carry it like a food tray so the colors wouldn't drip. Alas, kinders don't hear all the instructions, even the repeated ones. It's characteristic of the age. He had carried it like a sack. When I saw the result I couldn't help but smile.

                                     

                                                 I told him it was a beautiful rainbow.

I read about structured doodles several years ago in a book by Mona Brookes. I borrowed the term, but I'm not sure from which book. Here is a link to one of her books, and here is another.

                                                   

Tags: Student art, doodle art, rainbow watercolors, Toonguy, blogplug