What is String Scribbling? It’s a doodling technique that is one part string, one part pigment, and one part magic!
We were inspired by this video I saw on Facebook and we had to try it too. Here’s a clip of Little Dude demonstrating the technique:
The complete details for this project is part of our second doodle class, Start with a Scribble, now part of our new doodle club on Ko-fi.com.
Did you see our first doodle class? You can check it out here.
Frida Kahlo is one of the world’s most popular and recognizable artists. Frida drew and painted many self portraits throughout her life. This coloring download is an excerpt from an upcoming mini doodle zine kidcandoodle doodling: Frida Portraits, both inspired by Frida’s life and work from Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up, an exhibition exploring
at Victoria and Albert Museum, London (through Nov 18 2018).
Click here to download your coloring page shown above. Please note, that by downloading, you agree to these terms.
Check out our other doodle downloads in Fun&Games.
Thanks for supporting our doodle club. Happy doodling!
Greetings from kidcandoodle! Hope you’re having a wonderful time, wherever you’re spending your summer vacation.
A lovely holiday tradition is sending postcards to loved ones from your trip. We’ve got a couple here for you to doodle and post. Print them out on heavier paper or glue a sheet of card stock onto the back of the printout and trim.
Click here or on the image above to download your postcards. Please remember that by downloading, you agree to our terms.
Happy Doodling!
For more doodle fun, check out our Doodle Bugs download here.
Dinosaurs Don’t Draw . . . or do they? Elli Woollard and Steven Lenton show us a prehistoric reptile who does doodle in their newest book, Dinosaurs Don’t Draw (published by Macmillan Children’s Books).
Illustrator Steven Lenton has created some fun doodling pages so you can doodle along with this Picassaur. You can click on the images below to download the doodle pages.
Don’t miss Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre’s Pug-A-Doodle-Do! too. Check out the interview and doodle download here.
#mermay is the instagram hashtag for a doodle challenge: to draw a mermaid each day in May.
To inspire you to doodle a mermaid, here are some of our favorites shared on instagram:
We like Sally Walker’s wet ink technique:
or Chubi’s digital doodle.
You can use pencils …
… marker or pen …
… paints …
… a linocut engraving …
… or even pixels.
Will your merfolk have finned features?
Add details, like scales …
… or blooms to the tail/torso …
You can make your creature different with unique qualities: puffed-up bodies …
… or cat-fish lips.
Flowers (or shells) in the hair are a nice touch:
Don’t forget about mermen too.
Give your mermaid a pet, like a merdog (or a mercat?).
You can make a fancy drawing with color …
… or a simple doodle like this one.
Now go and doodle your own mermaids and mermen, and tag with #mermay. For more doodle challenges, check out our Weekly Doodle Challenge. Happy Doodling!
This silly book inspired “Splat Faces.” “What’s a Splat Face”, you ask?
Jon Burgerman, the avid doodler with a funny name, created SPLAT! (Dial Books / Oxford University Press), a messy mashup of drawn ingredients that is a mix of icky and absurd that never fails to incite laughter in young kids.
The book served the perfect starting point for some silly creativity. After reading Jon Burgerman’s Splat! to students at an after-school art club, the children and I made Splat Faces.
We drew our self-portraits on the right side of a folded sheet of paper, and dropped a dollop of paint on the left side. We splatted our pictures by folding the paper in half. The kids loved the result and many wanted to try it again. Splatting our drawn selves with paint is messy fun. There’s an accidental quality to it that is fun to see the “reveal” — how the paint blob will add to the drawing.
I hope you’ll give it a try. For more doodling ideas, check out Weekly Doodle Challenge.
Every October, artists worldwide take part in a daily drawing challenge called “The Inktober Initiative,” set forth by Mr Jake Parker. The goal is to doodle everyday for 31 days, and share the art on social media with the tags #inktober #inktober2017 and #jakeparker.
This year, I decided to join in on the fun.
There are prompts to get you going, or you can choose to do your own thing. The list for 2017 is as follows:
Some fine print:
Here’s some more favorites from instagram:
I’m also challenging myself to create videos and doodle with different kinds of ink: ink and brush, Sharpie, and ballpoint pen. Please follow us on instagram to see more!
For more days of doodling, see our 28 Days 28 Drawings doodle challenge.
Ron Pippin of Outside Voice, an art network for families based in Austin, suggested a weekly drawing exercise. So we’re introducing a new doodle theme each week for our Weekly Doodle Challenge. (Scroll down for the challenges).
Full disclosure: I found that I wasn’t able to keep this up every week, so below are ideas I’ve collected as well.
Just draw and share with the subject tag on social media. We’ll share your work here or on twitter or Instagram with the #weeklydoodle #kidcandoodle hashtags. PS. All ages welcome!
Here’s more monthly challenges:
For you painters! Image below and info via Kick in the Creatives
See more here.
Potter Week is perfect for Harry Potter fans! Drawing starts the last week of July, with a different prompt each week. The list is below imagines what it might be like to be at Hogwarts, and is spearheaded by Taryn Knight.
Inktober is a yearly October doodle challenge created by Jake Parker that is popular on social media. You can use any ink, and you don’t even have to go by the prompts if you don’t want to. The thing is to do it daily.
This was the one I did for October 1st posted on instagram:
I know I’ve been focusing on other things this year, but I have found a couple of new doodle challenges that I wanted to share:
I discovered Lucky Draw Challenge when Rikin Parekh shared one of his doodles and tagged them on Facebook. They have weekly challenges, and here’s a recent favorite:
Cat burglar + Pancake
This year, we’re introducing guest prompts on the Weekly Doodle Challenge.
For you social media-savvy artists, this prompt comes from 14 year-old Leo, creator of Gargar Comics, and Sketchbook Sunday. The latter is a drawing challenge with a different theme each week. Open to all ages, and shared online with the tag #sketchbooksunday Draw a snowman.
We had to share this awesome idea from artist Clym Evernden. All you need is a sheet of paper and your favorite drawing pens or pencils. Fold your sheet 8 times, as Clym shows in the video, and draw as you open the page.
We love this doodle a scribble monster idea from Hello Wonderful, a terrific creative lifestyle resource for families. We agree that it’s a great way to show “everyone can draw!”
Have you subscribed to or followed The Dad Lab yet? This clever pop mixes art + science in his projects for kids that delight and teach. I like this doodling idea on a sunny day: Shadow Tracing.
The amazing Tina Berning saw my repost on instagram by Cristina Papacu about doodling your mom, and shared this lovely doodle prompt with us: Doodle your kid and have them doodle you!
Michelle from Beret Nice Illustration has a nifty tip for using Copic blenders with regular Crayola marker pens (which are much cheaper!) to get better results. She also shows us how to doodle birds with her in this video:
An unexpected doodle prompt comes from Paperchase, a popular stationery chain in the United Kingdom full of gorgeous illustrated goodies. Draw a literal picture of king prawns, king crab, hammerhead shark, or cat fish, like in this shop window.
Here’s a good one of “egghead” by @floortinga
David Zinn creates whimsical street art with chalk and his imagination. See if you can doodle outside using some of your surroundings as inspiration. Can a crack in the sidewalk or patch of grassy weeds become part of your drawing?
This week’s prompt is inspired by a drawing by Maya that I discovered at House of Illustration in London. Draw an animal and then add an extra body part to it:
It’s August, and we’re joining in a doodle challenge called #drawingAugust started 4 years ago by Wales Art Review’s design editor Dean Lewis and artist/printmaker Jean Stevens. Starting on day 1/August 1 with a puffer fish (the August theme for @pinchpunchpost ) and I’ve decided to continue with sea creatures. Follow along and draw with us daily on instagram. 
Summer is the perfect time to draw outdoors. Julie Adore’s brilliant suggestion is an oldie but goodie: look at the clouds and doodle what you see.
Have you guys heard about the $3,700 Doodle Theory Contest? To enter, download and doodle some squiggles like these below. See all the details and download the squiggles here. Deadline is August 10, 2016.
Love this Less is More idea from Frédéric Forest: Describe something with fewer than 10 lines. Can you do it?
If you’re not spending warm summer days outside, maybe you’ll be doodling Yuval Zommer’s “How to Draw Bugs” from his beautifully illustrated The Big Book of Bugs (via The Guardian)
Start with a shape:
Add legs (or not):
Doodle eyes and antennae:
Don’t forget the wings for the flying bugs.
Check out the gorgeous The Big Book of Bugs by Yuval Zommer.
We love this doodle idea from calligrapher/lettering artist Tolga Girgin : Doodle faces with the shadows from a crumpled-up piece of paper. Watch the video below.
This week I’m sharing a #PortraitChallenge from Sarah McIntyre’s Virtual Studio : Draw this Japanese woodblock portrait, Karagoto of the House of Chojiya by Utamaro, 1801, Honolulu Museum of Art
I love Sarah’s “blind contour” portrait (drawing while looking at your reference and NOT your hand/paper):
Health coach and mother of two boys, Ceren Arik-Begen has an easy doodle puppet that I had to share with you.
Take a letter or A4 sized sheet of paper, fold it in half and then half again, so that you have four strips. Open the sheet, and re-fold in the two ends so that they meet in the middle. On these two panels, draw something with a mouth that would open where the two ends meet.
Then open it, and draw the “inside” of the mouth. When you’re finished, refold and animate your puppet character by gently opening and closing the mouth.
Thanks for sharing these lovely drawings and gorgeous idea with us Ceren!
Graphic designer Jan Bajtlik shares a page from his fabulous Alphadoodler: The Activity Book That Brings Letters to Life (Tate Publishing). Download and doodle the page below!
Designer, illustrator, and doodle bomber Steph Dillon gave us some pointers for creating a doodle bomb: Find a photograph of your favorite landscape or urban setting and fill the empty spaces with a structure, objects, and/or characters to create your own unique scene. You can use markers on printed pieces or draw digitally in your favorite photo editing app.
Penny Neville-Lee is back again with a Weekly Doodle Challenge worthy of Mother’s Day (next Sunday, May 8, 2016 in the USA). Collaborate with your kids! Here, Penny colored in her son’s drawing:
So stoked that Claudi Kessels is our doodle guest this week! I remember stumbling across Claudi’s instagram and was chuffed she agreed to be on 3 1/2 Questions. (Claudi’s as charming as her drawings, and inspired our Field Notes doodle download).
Doodle bomb this photograph:
psst . . . Make sure to subscribe to kidcandoodle (above) for an exclusive doodle download created by Claudi Kessels!
Multi-talented Melani Grube gave us this week’s doodle prompt based on her own wonderfully wet paintings. See if you can transform these paint splotches into your own doodle.
Here’s Melani’s doodle:
This week’s guest is none other than the inspiration for Weekly Doodle Challenge — Ron Pippin himself! Ron is currently working on an upcoming Creative Arts Show for kids called ARTtv and we can’t wait to see it! His suggestion, co-drawing, comes from Outside Voice’s popular blog Explore Art. To play, you need a partner, paper, and pens or pencils.
The younger person should go first, making a line on a page.
Then each person takes turns doodling and adding to the same drawing, collaborating.
Voilà!
Our guest this week is one of my favorite artists of all time, Henri Matisse. I am especially fond of his paper cut-outs. Matisse first used cut paper to design his painting commissions, but when he became ill in his 60s, it became his preferred medium.
Doodle an animal using only cut paper (refer to The Snail, 1953, above).
When kid can doodle debuted on twitter, Lucy Monkman was one of our first followers. Lucy’s doodle challenge is just in time for Easter/Spring. Lucy favors simple shapes in her work, and she suggested using these egg shapes to doodle chicks, bunnies, or lambs:
Here’s Lucy’s doodles:
Shari Mallinson is not only a darn-good doodler, but a frequent contributor and friend to KCD. Shari invites you to collaborate with her by downloading and finishing this doodle:
Awesome Artist, author and illustrator Tim Miller suggests doodling Snappsy the Alligator this week. Watch Tim doodle Snappsy in this video, and follow along:
Esther K Smith, author of Making Books with Kids, gave us our Doodle prompt this week. If you haven’t already, please check out her new book here. Then download the instructions to make a pop-up face accordion book.
Esther says: What will you draw on yours? You can draw with your scissors too. Try cutting other kinds of lines instead of the straight ones for your pop-up eyes and mouth. But be sure to leave enough space for your fold. That’s your hinge that keeps it from falling apart.
Our doodle guest this week is Colour Collective, a weekly challenge to make art featuring a different hue, initiated by Penny Neville-Lee, “illustrator and all round good egg.” To join in, this week’s color is Moss.
Here’s Penny’s gorgeous entry. Follow her on twitter. 
Colleen Kong Savage, our first guest on 3 1/2 Questions, has our doodle prompt this week: Take an ink pad (or a little bit of paint) make a thumbprint with your finger. Add details.
Hey Kids! This week’s guest is Tom Nash, the wordsmith behind Tut and Groan “a wordplay webcomic by someone who can’t draw.” Not long ago our own Little Dude was a guest on Tom’s toon, and we’re tickled that Tom has treated us to two prompts: Draw a pie in the sky or add to the following doodle:
Here’s a pie by Carin Channing.
Our guest this week is Pinch Punch Post, aka social media darling Thea Baker, suggesting a theme to doodle each month. Contributors are invited to share their drawings on twitter or Facebook at the beginning of the month. Kids can join too by tagging doodles with #pinchpunchpostjunior. March 1st theme is a butterfly.
Here’s my butterfly (lollygadoodling).
This week’s doodle brought to us by @AnimalAlphabets (a weekly twitter creative challenge to draw an animal representing a letter, initiated by illustrator Chris Chatterton, with tweets by Ste Johnson, and assistance from Deborah Partington) : Doodle a sloth for the letter S.
Here’s my sloth.
Author/Illustrator Sarah McIntyre (Pugs of the Frozen North, Cakes in Space, both published by Random House for Young Readers) created a virtual studio — a doodle community so that illustrators can create and share on twitter. Here’s one of her recent popular #shapechallenge prompts: (download and transform into a drawing)
Here’s Little Dude’s and mine.
Our weekly doodle comes from 3 1/2 Questions guest Carin Channing, author of 365 Days of Doodling: Discovering the Joys of Being Creative Every Day. Doodle some new people you’d like to meet in 2016.
Click here to see who I’d like to meet.
Herewith the first prompt in 2016: courtesy of the lovely Sheena Monahan, who created @3yroldscribble Download this scribble below and transform into your own drawing.
Here’s mine.
Show us your favorite costume!
“Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!” – Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky
Draw a Jubjub bird, or Bandersnatch or your own imaginary character and name it.
What would your book cover look like?
Draw your favorite bad guy (villian) !
What is your favorite literary character?
How about drawing a #XerusYachtingwithaZebra ?
Let’s see your #VacationingWalruses
Choose one: #StripyTigersUnderwear or #SixTicklishUnicorns
This week’s doodle is #PorcupineAndQuokkaRomance
Hope to see your #PeacockQuarrelingwithRabbit this week!
Thanks to Jill McPartlin Reiter for this week’s suggestion: #MonkeysNightOut
Can you show us a #JollyKoalaLeaping ?
How about a #GiraffeHidingInAnIgloo ?
Can you draw a #DancingElephantFarting ?
We’d love to see your #ArmadilloBakingCakes
Sarah McIntyre is one half of the dynamic duo Reeve & McIntyre. With Philip Reeve, they are creative collaborators behind several books, including Oliver and the Seawigs, Cakes in Space, and a story with 66 pugs in it* (published by Oxford University Press, Oxford) . . . Their newest creation, Pug-a-Doodle-Do!, is a companion piece with characters and fun activities from all of their previous books. Philip is mostly in charge of the words, while Sarah draws the pictures, but in this book, they came up with the ideas together, creating things that made them laugh. (They hope the book makes you laugh, too.)
We’re so happy Sarah stopped by to chat with us!
Yes, we love going back to the characters in our books! It’s always a bit sad when their story comes to an end, we want to keep playing with them. That’s why I love seeing kids take them and run with them, in drawings and further stories.
Haunted by cakes? Honest answer? Someone in Russia once gave me a mushroom piroshky where the mushrooms in it were dodgy, and I didn’t know. And it did bad things to my head for a couple hours and I saw a giant chocolate doughnut parading around my bedroom. I was absolutely terrified!
Yes, Iris the mermaid, from Oliver and the Seawigs! When I was nine years old, I wanted to be a mermaid when I grew up, and go on underwater adventures. So I kind of did, in a story. She even get to wear my pointy specs at the end!
I always want to create a book-length comic, but they just take so long to make! Comics tend to come out of us in short bursts like this. Philip works so quickly; we were sitting at my desk drawing stuff for Pug-a-Doodle-Do! and suddenly he’d made this four-page Lord Krull comic! The Dartmoor Pegasus story took me longer, I did about one panel every morning. Actually, one of our books, Jinks & O’Hare Funfair Repair started as a four-page comic for The Phoenix Comic! I wrote it, Philip penciled and inked it, and I colored it. We’d kind of hoped to do a series, but the coloring took me SO LONG. Most people don’t know how much time goes into coloring comics.
Fat ponies. I do. It’s true. Their big tums.
Thanks again for answering our 3 & 1/2 Questions, Sarah! Ms McIntyre has graced us with her presence before; we shared her 24-hour comic, “Scribble,” and she was a guest on Weekly Doodle Challenge, giving us a shape challenge prompt. You can see more of Sarah’s work here, and follow her on twitter.
Download the “Draw A Comic” printable page from Pug-a-Doodle-Do (courtesy of the Oxford University Press and Sarah McIntyre). Doodle the comic and share on social media with tag #PugADoodleDo
*This doodle book’s name is a nod to Pugs of the Frozen North.
This Doodle Halves download comes to us from 11 year-old Emil de Graaf, an avid doodler, and his clever mom. To inspire her talented son to create, Emil’s mom cropped photos she found and challenged him to doodle-bomb* the missing half.
We discovered Emil’s excellent drawings on instagram and asked him if he would share them with our kidcandoodle community and we’re so happy he agreed!
Click here to download the Doodle Halves pages for you to doodle-bomb*. Please note that by downloading, you agree to our terms.
Check out more of Emil’s drawings on his instagram.
*Doodle-bomb means doodling on top of another image, such as a magazine or newspaper photo. See our Doodle Bomb gallery, features on doodle bombers: Steph Dillon, mirrorsme, Claudi Kessels, or Ana Strumpf.
