This month – February – is all about LOVE and hearts and Valentine’s Day. Speaking of love, have you noticed that hearts are symmetrical? This led to me thinking about drawing and symmetry. Symmetry is “the quality of being made up of exactly similar parts facing each other or around an axis” – Oxford Dictionary.
Drawing with two hands simultaneously seemed like THE literal representation of drawing and symmetry:
My aim is to draw both sides so that they mirror each other. Have you tried drawing with both hands at the same time? It’s a good challenge as it takes some coordination and you’ll realize quite quickly that your non-dominate hand may not have as much control as you want it to. Our faces and bodies are, for the most part symmetrical, so they make good subjects to draw using this technique. Try drawing a portrait of yourself or someone you know. Give it a go!
Another way to practice drawing using symmetry is to draw the other half of something that has two sides that seem to reflect each other. You can try this using this doodle download.
Click on the image below and print to doodle the other half of a dog, cat, frog, and an owl.
What other things can you think of that are symmetrical?
Please note that by downloading our doodle download, you agree to ourTerms and Conditions.
Be sure to share your drawings online and tag us #kidcandoodle so that we won’t miss it. 🙂
If you’re a Kid Can Doodle Doodle Club member, you would have received our exclusive Doggie Doodle Diary. If you hadn’t signed up, here’s an excerpt of the download for you.
Doggie Doodle Diary preview
Meet Otis, our artist behind the Doggie Doodle Diary. Otis likes to doodle using a method called “continuous contour line drawing.” It means that you don’t lift your pen or pencil until your drawing is done. Sometimes it looks a bit scribbly, because you may go back and forth or around your drawing in order to get all the details in. We dare you to try it!
Otis likes to keep a diary and he draws in it everyday. In this excerpt, you can see what Otis drew on Monday. He invites you to draw too. Do you keep a doodle diary?
Printing Tips
1. The doodle download is A4 size. If you’re printing in the US, please make sure you select “fit within page dimensions” when printing on letter paper.
2. If your printer allows, select “print on both sides” of your piece of paper.
3. If you can’t print on both sides, you can place the pages together so that the printed sides face out. Glueing them together is optional. OR if you wish to save paper, simply print the second spread only, with the diary entry and drawing page.
Click here to download the doodle excerpt. Please note that by downloading Doggie Doodle Diary you agree to ourTerms and Conditions.
Don’t forget to check out Things I Draw (Saw) Today doodle download, created during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meet Olive and Sally — a crab and a seagull — best friends who like to make art together. They are creators of Cardboard Critters, a series seen on our instagram. It started during the lockdown as part of our 100 Days of Animals Drawing Animals (#the100dayproject) that we continued due to such a positive response. Here are a few of our favorites:
We thought you might want to join the fun and can make the cardboard animals too. We’ve created templates to help you — we are sharing a few here and a few bonus ones in our doodle club (make sure to sign up above if you’re keen to make more.) You can make the following shown here: a snake, owl, frog or doggie. See below for the download link.
Instructions
Click here to download the Cardboard Critters. You can print them and then enlarge them on a copier if you want — sometimes it’s easier to cut a larger shape than a smaller one. You can use them in two ways:
glue them straight onto a cardboard piece, decorate and cut, or
use them as a guide to draw onto the cardboard before you cut.
We painted the cardboard with acrylic paints, but tempura paint, markers or crayons would also work.
Materials
You’ll need:
cardboard or heavyweight card stock (see note below)
good scissors
glue
paint, markers, crayons or paper to decorate your animals
Steps
Print out the template. Use at 100% of size or enlarge on a copier.
Glue the template onto your card or cardboard, or use it as a guide to draw onto your cardboard.
If using paint, paint the main color of the animal before you cut.
Cut out the shapes.
Add details or colors, such as eyes, noses, or a smile.
Challenge level
We have four templates: snake, owl, frog, and doggie. Start with the snake to get a feel for your materials. The snake is the easiest, and can be made by all ages, even preschoolers (with cutting assistance). It can also be created using construction (cartridge weight) paper. The other animals will work better with heavier card or cardboard, and younger children may need some help with cutting and putting them together.
owl
A few tips
Cardboard
This is a great way to recycle any boxes you have around the home. Choose wisely though; not all cardboard is the same thickness. If the cardboard is too thin, it will be easier to cut, but it will be flimsier when you put the pieces together, and won’t be as sturdy when you stand it up. If the cardboard is too thick, it will be harder to cut.
frog
Cutting
Cutting cardboard can be challenging and it takes practice cutting a material that’s thicker than paper. Please let parents/adults help with the cutting. You’ll need (big) sharp scissors, not the (small) children’s scissors you find in school. You may have more control by using an X-Acto Blade or matte knife and a cutting matt. However, you’d need to use a metal ruler for the straight sides, and it’s easier to cut curves with scissors than a blade. I suggest cutting loosely around the subject to release it from the larger piece of cardboard, and then cutting into the subject for details. Also, don’t always cut in a continuous line — I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but you will get better results if you cut from opposite directions into the curves or corners, as shown below.
Standing the pieces
Standing the pieces may take trial and error. Two things to keep in mind:
Make sure the piece is balanced (if not, you may need to adjust something).
When you cut the slots, they will need to be about the same height as the stand or tab piece.
To cut the slots, make one cut, and then a second cut next to the first and tear off the thin strand of cardboard. Don’t make the slot cut too wide because the stand piece(s) will stay in place better if it fits securely into the slot(s).
doggie
Click here to download the Cardboard Critters. Please remember that by downloading, you agree to ourTerms and Conditions.
Things I Draw (Saw) Today : At Home doodle download
This doodle download is a mini journal of Things I Draw (Saw) Today : At Home, created specially for everyone doodling at home during the “Stay at Home Stay Safe” global pandemic. I hope you like it. Here’s a preview below:
The download link follows the printing and assembling instructions. The printable PDF is set up in pagination, which means that when it’s printed correctly (on both sides), folded together, and assembled, it will flow in the correct page order.
Printing Tips
1. If your printer allows, print on both sides of your page.
2. Then collate the pages and fold into a booklet, and staple if desired.
3. If you can’t print on both sides, you can place the pages together so that the printed sides face out. Glueing them together is optional.
You’ll see that the page numbers are on the bottom on the pages so you can check the order that they should be in.
4. Voila! Be sure to share your drawings online and tag us #kidcandoodle so that we won’t miss it. 🙂
Click here to download the doodle booklet. Please note that by downloading Things I Draw (Saw) Today : At Home, you agree to ourTerms and Conditions.
Have you seen Picasso’s work, especially his Cubist portraits? This doodle download, kcd doodling : Picasso Portraits, was inspired by many of Picasso’s portraits from Picasso 1932 : The Year of Wonders, the artist’s retrospective at the Tate Modern, London (through Sept 9, 2018). The year refers to the date in which the artist had his first major retrospective at the Galeries Georges Petit in Paris at the age of 50, with an impressive 225 paintings, seven sculptures, and six illustrated books.
Using some of the themes taken from Cubism, such as dis-proportions and dis-placed features, we challenge artists to doodle portraits. Doodlers will learn about the influential style made famous by Picasso and George Braque while creating (likely) silly pictures.
Click here to download the zine Picasso Portraits. Or click on the image below for a color-in doodle download.
Please note that by downloading kcd doodling : Picasso Portraits, you agree to these terms.
This doodle download was previously created for our doodle club on Patreon, but made available for a limited time due to the Covid-19 worldwide quarantine. We’d love to see your Picasso Portraits too. Tag us #kidcandoodle when you share online. See our other doodle downloads in Fun&Games.
What are Doodle Bugs? Doodle Bugs is a doodle activity originally created for our second mini mag, themed “In Your Garden” (hopefully coming soon with any luck!) With Spring in the air, and the warming weather, it seemed like the perfect time to doodle bugs.
Have you ever noticed that some bugs have silly names like “robber fly” or “royal walnut moth?” We decided it would be fun to draw some funny-sounding insects – hence the name Doodle Bugs. Click on the image below or here to download Doodle Bugs. Happy doodling!
Please NOTE: By downloading Doodle Bugs, you agree to these terms.
If you get stuck, there are answers below. SPOILERS BELOW!
Flamingo-tongue snail Christmas tree worm Tomato Horn worm
*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.
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
“a fresh perspective on Kahlo’s compelling life story through her most intimate personal belongings”
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!
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).
“Dinosaurs don’t draw, they stamp and stomp and ROAR! But there’s one little dinosaur who’s not like the others – he’s not fierce and he doesn’t fight! Instead he draws, on everything, all of the time. His romping, stomping dinosaur family just don’t understand. But when everyone hears the THUD of a terrifying T-Rex, they soon see just how powerful pictures can be.”
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.
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!
