*What’s a doodle bomb, you ask? Doodle bombing is when you draw over photos, magazines or newspapers. We have a Gallery Show Call for Entries called “Doodle Bomb,” and we hope to see yours!
Claudi’s doodles looked so fun, we thought that we needed to give it a go! We took some photos from our backyard, and created a doodle download for you to play along.
Click on the Field Notes image below to download. Print, then fold the page in half twice, to create a mini booklet of Field Notes doodles.
If you need more inspiration, please check out Claudi Kessels’ work here.
Please note that by downloading our Field Notes, you agree to ourTerms and Conditions.
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.
Come draw with us!
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!
July – August : Potter Week Drawing Prompts with Taryn Knight
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.
Intober prompts
Inktober rules
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:
Lucky Draw Challenge
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:
This year, we’re introducing guest prompts on the Weekly Doodle Challenge.
Week 36
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 #sketchbooksundayDraw a snowman.
Week 35
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.
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:
Week 30
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.
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:
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.
Week 24
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)
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.
I love Sarah’s “blind contour” portrait (drawing while looking at your reference and NOT your hand/paper):
Week 20
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.
(Here’s two fishies)
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!
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.
Week 17
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:
Week 16
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!
Week 15
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:
Week 14
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!
Week 13
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).
Week 12
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:
Week 11
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:
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.
Week 8
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.
Week 7
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.
Week 6
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:
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.
Herewith the first prompt in 2016: courtesy of the lovely Sheena Monahan, who created @3yroldscribbleDownload this scribble below and transform into your own drawing.
This Doodle Halvesdownload 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!
We’ve got one more doodle bomber to introduce to you: Claudi Kessels. Claudi is a graphic designer and illustrator based in Amsterdam. You’ve “met” her before, in our 3 1/2 Questions interview, way back when we were featuring Lollygadoodling.
I’ve been a fan of her work ever since I happened upon her doodles on instagram, and her recent work fits in with the doodle bombing (doodling on magazine or newspaper photos) we’ve been featuring on KCD. What I love about her work is how whimsical and imaginative it is. Take a look at Claudi’s doodlebombs on vintage photographs:
Doodle bomber : Claudi Kessels
(I especially adore the animal heads series)
And my personal favorite:
One more reason why we heart Claudi Kessels! She made a special doodle download just for us: Veggie Doodle. To get your copy, just sign up for doodle club at the top of the screen.
I happened to discover Dutch illustrator and designer Claudi Kessels on Instagram and thought her work is perfect to kick off our next drawing focus: Nature. Her charming illustrations combine natural materials with lovely lines to create curious characters. Her whimsical work makes me want to know more about the creatures she’s creating, and more about her — I was so happy that Claudi agreed to answer our 3 & 1/2 queries!
I love your series incorporating flowers with your drawings. How did this project come about?
For my clients and the magazines I work for, I try to send a card with the change of the season. Two years ago, beginning with Autumn/Fall (aiaiai), I wanted to make something cheerful because I really enjoy Autumn — I love the colors, and the shapes of nature too: an acorn, mushrooms, pineapples. I was looking at items I had gathered during a walk in the park here in Amsterdam, and I saw these acorns lying together. They looked like characters already. This led into a dancing couple for my Autumn card. An art director for Dutch magazine Flair liked it and asked me to illustrate their Christmas issue: incorporating wintry elements from nature in my drawings. I asked my niece, photographer Janneke Michels, to photograph some stills of things such as a pine twig, amaryllis, etc for me, and our collaboration began; my niece sends me piles of beautiful, digital photos of leaves, petals, flowers, and I can use them for the commissions I get from Flair magazine.
from the Christmas issue of Flair magazine
When I read about the 100 day project: a project initiated by the magazine The Great Discontent and Elle Luna, to post something everyday on Instagram I thought “Yes — this is a great way to show my series using Janneke’s photo’s.”
Which comes first? The concept for the drawing OR the natural materials?
Ha! Both. Sometimes the natural material asks for a certain drawing, like the hyacinth lady — she was obvious: elegant, maybe going to a ball or fancy party, self-conscious. But sometimes it just doesn’t work like I had in mind. When the object and the drawing aren’t the right match, I go back and search through Janneke’s photos and try to see if my drawing will work with another picture, so that nice things can happen. For instance, with this rooster — I had imagined some leaves for his tail, but it didn’t look right; then I tried adding a round leaf around his head, and it fit perfectly.
What inspires you? Where do your ideas come from?
Shapes from nature: leaves, flowers. People, gestures; how people look when they think nobody is watching. Words, sometimes colors or shapes. Old photos, newspaper photos. Riding through the city on my bike. My kids. Books. The photos my niece sends me 😉
I like to draw ___.
Shoes! Yes I do. I even like to lace the shoe-string (tie the shoe lace). If I try to draw people bare-footed it gets difficult. I never know on what side the big toe is. Awkward feet walk in your screen or on the page!
To see more of Claudi Kessel’s charming work, check out her website or follow @clauditekent on Instagram! Thanks again Claudi!
