Keys to Drawing with Imagination – Building Blocks

Alas
Building Blocks
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper

The third exercise in Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson is about Building Blocks. The first assignment is to create doodles using marker dots, stubble (short dashes) and stipple (dots). The second is to draw improbable structures made of bricks, stones or blocks.

Eiffel Tower
Building Blocks
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper

I wasn’t enthusiastic about my drawings, but they led to a deeper understanding that doodling can mean different things at different times. Sometimes it’s a diversion, sometimes it’s focused more on experimentation than results, and sometimes the same techniques can be used in a more controlled way to refine a doodle into art.

L'Elephant
Building Blocks
Keys to Drawing with Imagination
Ink on Paper

Peter Draws creates excellent doodle art and has an entertaining on-line presence. Shortly after finishing these exercises I watched one of his videos - Dots for Days ... Intricate Stippling Art - which includes the advice:

Don’t do stippling if you are in a hurry. Place each dot as its own little dot, intentionally, slowly. It’s its own thing. Its own little drawing.

Since this revelation I’ve been creating much more satisfying doodles. I’ve a bit of a backlog to post over the next few weeks. Work continues to eat into my art time and this blog is suffering as a result.