Resource: 2.2.R1 Exploring the Space Between Your Ears
Supplies: drawing paper, 2B pencil and/or fine tip black marker, pencil sharpener, erasers, colored pencils, crayons, or markers
1. Create an original doodle drawing.
Refer to Figure 1 for ideas if you need inspiration.
Step 1: Pick a spot on your page and mark it with a small dot. This dot is the place where you begin and end your doodle.
Step 2: With a 2B pencil or fine tip marker, draw a doodle that continues all over your page. Include straight, angle, and curved lines.
Step 3: Make your doodle line cross over other lines in lots of places, and frequently change the directions of your lines.
Step 4: As you draw, lift your pencil as often as you want to rotate the paper and take advantage of your natural hand movements. Just remember to begin each new line where the previous line ended to create the illusion of a single, continuous line.
Step 5: To finish, bring your line back toward the dot where you began, and join the two ends of the line together at this dot.
2. Examine your doodle and identify shapes and/or groups of shapes that resemble objects or living beings.
Don't be disappointed if you don't see anything for the first few minutes - this process becomes easier with practice. Just take a little break and try again later.
Step 6: Clear your mind and sit comfortably with your doodle drawing in front of you.
Step 7: Turn your paper around in all four directions so that each side becomes a bottom. Number the bottom of each side 1 through 4.
Step 8: On a separate piece of paper, write the numbers 1 through 4 along the top with room below each number to make a list.
Step 9: Look at the side marked number 1 first. Relax your mind and observe the doodle from this perspective. Try to find shapes that remind you of something familiar, such as a face or an object. When you identify something familiar, write it under number 1 on your list (don't make any marks on your actual doodle yet).
Step 10: Turn your paper to the side marked number 2 and see what you can find. Repeat this process for sides 3 and 4.
Step 11: Rotate the paper again and keep looking until you have found more than four objects or faces.
3. Color or shade in your familiar shapes (Figure 2).
When you have found a few shapes, take colored pencils, crayons, or markers and fill in each part of each shape. Figures 2 to 6 show four of the shapes found in Figure 1.
4. Use your artistic license to create contour drawings of at least four of the objects or faces you've found.
Don't worry about turning out masterpieces.
Stretch your imagination and have fun exploring what you discover!
Perhaps a face might need some eyes and a funny nose, or an animal might need some extra fur and a fluffy tail!
Figures 7 to 10 show the contour drawings created by the shapes back in Figures 2 to 6.
As an Aside
Many notable historical figures, from presidents to poets to scientists have been avid doodlers.