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 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.
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!
For February, our drawing (and media) challenge is to doodle something silly every day. Take a look at the list below. Join in anytime. All ages welcome. Check back here to see our videos and doodles! Show us your drawings on instagram, facebook, and twitter with the tag #28days28drawings and #kidcandoodle and we’ll share your doodles too. Hope you’ll doodle with us.
28 Days 28 Drawings February Doodle Challenge
Day 1 : cats in hats
I’m challenging myself to try a different medium each time — you should too! Whenever possible, I think it’s important to experiment with different materials and play with them. Try each one out, get a feel for how they work, and see which ones you enjoy using. Keep learning!
This was done using China Marker, a grease pencil often used to mark up proofs by photographers. This waxy pencil writes on plastics, windows, and other surfaces. I like their rich, crayon-like color; it’s my favorite drawing implement and what I often use to create the artwork for kidcandoodle.
Day 2 : dancing dogs
This mint + pumpkin risograph print was made at Hato Press in London. The printshop offers a 2-color risograph printing workshop that is ideal for learning how the process works. It’s very similar to silk-screening, but done with the convenience of a photo-copier machine. It was such a fun experience — I want to do it again with Little Dude.
Day 3 : party animals
Double-duty: I added the blue to coordinate with the popular weekly Colour Collective twitter art prompt, “air force blue”. This was done with Prismacolor pencils, one of the best colored pencil brands. (My family gifted me a 72-color set for my birthday this year.)
Day 4 : sloths taking selfies
Biro or Bicballpoint pens are a drawing tool that I usually shy away from — I find them intimidating. I created these selfie-obsessed sloths using ballpoint, and then colored them in Photoshop.
Painting pillow-fighting pandas with Windsor & Newton Drawing ink seemed very appropriate, because the ink recalls Asian calligraphy, and pandas are native to China.
Day 7 : dinosaur detectives
It’s hard to draw a dinosaur detective without making it look goofy! My Dino Sherlock was drawn with a Pentel brush pen and then colored using a mini set of Filia oil crayons, which are portable, and great for on-the-go drawing kits. I also love the vintage-look packaging.
My son Dylan likes to draw digitally, using pixel apps such as 8bit Painter, and he’s been contributing several drawings for 28 Days 28 Drawings, like this one for penguin pirates. *proud mama*
Day 9 : rollerblading raccoons
Raccoons are just too cute to draw. This rollerblading rodent was sketched with graphite pencils. A basic set like Derwent should be included in every artist’s supplies.
Day 10 : giraffes in galoshes
Wouldn’t it be funny to see a giraffe in wellies? I thought so too! Oil pastels were used to doodle this rain-ready long-legged mammal.
Day 11 : space hogs
Uh-oh, it’s a swine in space! Drawn with stubby Stabilo Stifte crayons, a genius 3-in-1 tool that can be used as coloring pencil, watercolor, or wax crayon, too. They are nice and soft and the chunky size is fun for small hands to hold.
Day 12 : trees hugging
I wanted to make sure that not all the drawing prompts were of animals, but still include unexpected things, such as this couple of tree huggers. Created with a mix of Windsor & Newton drawing inks and colored pencils.
Day 13 : fruits in sunnies (sunglasses)
A fun medium to try is collage: it’s quick, experimental, and not too dependant on hand-eye coordination — perfect for this trio of sun-tanning tropical fruits. Also colored with China Marker pencil and Adobe Photoshop.
Day 14 : pika pool party
Pikas are such cute critters, resembling mice or hamsters. (You may not have realized that this Pokemon character was inspired by a pika.) I imagined they’d be fun-loving creatures who enjoy a good pool party. Also created using watercolor + colored pencils.
Day 15 : flying foxes
This prompt was intended to have a double meaning: flying foxes could be clever pilots or fruit-eating bats (like those found in my former home of Brisbane, Australia). Please interpret as you please. I suggest using Prismacolor pencils or gouache.
Day 16 : trucks eating tacos
I know this was a tricky one to draw, and it would be challenging to not make it look cartoony. I wanted to have a few prompts that weren’t animal subjects, and it’s a nod to my love of tacos and the many I’ve sampled from taco trucks in Austin and Brisbane, Australia, where we used to live. Drawn with China Marker pencil.
Day 17 : reading rockets
If rockets had a book club, what do you think they’d read? My bet is on science-fiction. This was another quick sketch using my go-to drawing implement: China Marker grease pencils.
Day 18 : aliens skiing
Aliens aren’t very good at skiing. Especially when they have three legs! These creatures are cut-up from magazines — a super resource for collage. Art recycling is re-creating AND re-using. Also doodled with Faber-Castell Pitt artist pens, another artist’s necessity.
Day 19 : flower painting
I purposefully left this prompt open to creative interpretation. I thought of Van Gogh’s iconic Sunflowers painting, as well as the act of painting flowers too. Flowers are a lovely source of inspiration for artists — beginner or advanced, alike — it’s no wonder they continue to be a popular subject. Created with Pentel brush pen and Faber-Castell pastel pencils. Pastel pencils are more blend-able than regular colored pencils, but they also smudge easily, so take care when using them.
Day 20 : skateboarding pigeon
Day 21 : surfing banana
Day 22 : squirrels wearing scarves
Day 23 : singing sea lions
Drawing with white and colored chalk pastel on black or dark paper is a terrific artist’s exercise to focus on lighting; it requires you to look at and draw only shadows and highlights. I cheated a bit here because I added the outline (I was being impatient), but ideally, you would try to fill out the figure by ONLY drawing the highlights, mid-tones or shadows. If the paper is dark, such as in this example, you would draw only the highlights and mid-tones, and leave the paper to be the shadows.
Day 24 : hula-hooping hippo
I animated Harriet the hula-hooping hippo, by making a simple gif in Photoshop.
Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite days. Maybe it’s a silly holiday, but when I was growing up in the US, I loved giving and getting the little love notes from my classmates. In Australia (where we moved to) and in England (where we currently reside), it’s not really celebrated in schools, so you can’t buy those mini packaged valentines at the store. As a result, my sons and I have made it a tradition to make our own. Here’s a few examples of valentines we’ve made in the past.
Above from left: Little Dude putting stickers on the lolly cards; fairy cookies in stitched envelopes.
This year we’re doodling these candy cubes, and you can too. Just download this treat box template, decorate, cut out, fold and fill with candy to give to your sweeties. I recommend printing it out on heavier paper stock so that the box is strong enough to hold the goodies.
Click on the above preview to download.
Need more ideas? Here’s 90 more here and 30 more here.
Hope you have a happy Valentine’s Day!
Please note that by downloading our Valentine’s Day treat box, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.
Hi Doodlers! I’m so happy to share a new printable with you! Believe it or not, this one was inspired by a dude who has been in the news much lately. You may have heard of him?
I thought it would be funny to draw animals with fancy hairstyles: like a cat with a mohawk, or a monkey with Pippi braids. So with the help of the internet, we’ve created Holy Hairdos! for your doodling pleasure.
Just click on the Holy Hairdos! cover image below for your FREE printable pages. Please note that by downloading, you agree to our terms.
There are two pages of clues, Actions and Animals. The object is to draw a picture using a clue from each page. You can choose the ones you want to draw or randomly pick from one of the two methods:
Drawing out of a Hat (option A)
Rolling a die or pair of dice (option B).
You will need (A) two hats or bowls or (B) a pair of dice to play.
(A) Cut out the clues, careful to keep the two sets separate. Put each set in a separate container, mixing them up before picking one from each hat or bowl. Draw a picture as the clues suggest.
(B) Set the two pages of clues in front of you. Let the die or dice choose what you draw. You can roll one die on each page and draw the set of clues based on what the die lands on, OR roll the dice twice, and take the numbers rolled and match them to the number listed on each clue, then draw your selected clues.
Note: To get a number 1 for (B), you will have to roll one die, but to get numbers 7-12, you will need to roll a pair of dice.
Your Feature with a Creature drawing is created by drawing one Action and adding an Animal to it. Possible combinations include ‘whales eating ice cream,’ or a ‘crocodile riding a unicycle,’ or a ‘giraffe going potty.’ Here’s a few doodles that you shared with us!
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.
