What are Doodles ?

A doodle is a sketch done when one’s mind focuses on something else. Doodles are basic drawings that can be made with a drawing tool lifted off the page, in which case they are typically referred to as scribbles. Doodling is some random, abstract lines or forms without real symbolic meaning. Doodling can also be shown as a powerful tool for remembering information, stirring up new ideas, and focusing on a tired or worn-out mind. The best part of doodling is that you don’t need to be an artist or creative person anyone can enjoy doodling.

Types of Doodling

There are five different types of doodling known as :

1. Zentangle:

Zentangle is an easy-to-learn abstract form of art where repetitive patterns and structure patterns create beautiful images. An artist can use various patterns like hash lines, circles, triangles, squares, flowers, spirals, etc.

Zentangle

2. Stendoodling:

Stendoodling is a form of doodling where one uses stencils or masks to create shapes and then other stencils or masks of different sizes to create sections and then create patterns in the different sections.

Stendoodling

3. Freestyle doodling:

Doodling makes your mind free and relaxed, any random shapes or patterns your mind can visually conceive you can draw it randomly. Freestyle refers to anything you draw free from any style, it’s about grasping inspiration from the things you saw in your daily life around and then drawing it.

Freestyle doodling

4. Mandalas:

Mandala is a Sanskrit word that refers to a circle and is very old practiced by culture and religions, it is often used for mindfulness and relaxation and also as a practice for calming and helping to focus the mind. Mandalas are created with a purpose and once drawing mandala should keep the purpose in mind, mandala is created using different colors and every color has its own meaning.

Mandalas

5. Doodle Art:

Doodle Art is a doodling that doesn’t fit into a specific form or style of doodling, it can be anything structured or abstract pattern random lines, images, composed etc.

Doodle Art

There’s more to doodling than merely keeping your mind from nodding off and preventing daydreaming. Drawing is a creative activity in and of itself, and it can inspire you to overcome difficulties you’re stuck on. For example, doodling can yield specific ideas.

Benefits of Doodling

• Enhance concentration and comprehension: According to a study done by Jackie Andrade it is proved that doodlers are able to remember more information from a lecture or meeting, then an non-doodler. Author said that doodling occupies your mind just enough to keep you away form daydreaming or to lose consciousness and enabling you to focus on information being delivered.
• Improve mood: Releasing stress can automatically elevate your mood. According to researchers, doodling can help people process and communicate their feelings. In the end, this healthy discharge calms the brain by creating space in it.
• Improve memory: According to the study done by Jackie Andrade, doodlers are far better to recall information afterwards, the reason behind this could be that the doodling stops people from falling into default state and keep them at the right level of attentiveness where the are able to attend the information.
• Helps to reduce stress: If you’ve been feeling a little tight or uptight recently, it might be the time you start doodling. According to research, doodling might help you relax, just as other visually creative activities like making collages or colouring. In the book Chilling Out: Psychologist Christine Selby recommends a specific doodling technique for stress relief.
• Doodling helps you learn more effectively: While some people think that it’s unproductive to doodle while you should be studying, research indicates that doodling during lectures helps students remember more and understand better. It can also lessen distractions and encourage creative thinking. Together, these benefits can help you to achieve success at all levels of life

How to Doodle?

Doodling is meant to be a random and aimless activity, but if you are new to doodling there are chances that you will got stuck if you are not sure what to draw there are four exercises where you can start from :-

• Patterned Shape: Patterned shapes are the good choice to start doodling for beginners. You can start with any simple pattern or any shape and then try to fill up those shapes with different simple designs (for e.g. Straight lines, waves, zig-zig lines, any numbers or alphabet etc).
• Expanding flower: It’s easy to start with an flower and then start expanding its petal row number one by one to the size you feel comfortable additionally you can also try to draw the petals of rows in different designs and then fill every petal different colors or designs.
• Faces: Start doodling with simple cartoon faces is also good as the cartoon faces are made up of few simple lines or shapes you can also think to add some basic features like eyes, nose and mouth. Fun of doodling faces can be with different expression, hairstyle or try different faces of shapes.
• Doodle hunting: Doodling hunting is a great way to get into your creative flow tap into your subconscious mind, and look over the things which you may normally don’t pay attention to. You can start by drawing a continuous line over all the paper and then try to find some random shapes, faces or animals use a different pen to highlight them and you can also color them.

And easiest way to start doodling is to start with a blank paper, set a timer for 5-10 minutes, and start doodling without any expectations, draw shapes, lines, symbols, words etc, and don’t down your pen before the timer finished.

Conclusion

One method of reducing stress is to doodle. This is comparable to other motor behaviors that are used to reduce mental stress, like fidgeting or pacing. In a study of over 9,000 doodles that were submitted, almost two-thirds of the participants said they had drawn while in a “tense or restless state” to calm themselves down. Scientists postulate that the way that doodling interacts with the brain’s default mode network accounts for its ability to reduce stress. “We [doodle] because we’re problem-solving on an unconscious level,” says graphologist and behavior specialist Ingrid Seger-Woznicki, adding that we’re trying to “create our life without stressing about it.”