Some of my Dog N Doodle drawings
One day, I was navigating through the art supply section of my local Walmart. I didn’t really need anything until I saw a behemoth-sized box of Crayola crayons. You know, that big box that comes with its own crayon sharpener. I’ll have to give an update to report on how effective that sharpener is…Anyway, I decided I needed to have this giant box of crayons. I don’t know why-maybe to fulfill some childhood art supply void or something psychologically deep like that. Yes, planning to hoard a giant box of crayons I had no plans to use would definitely heal everything! Sarcasm aside, that box of crayons did indeed collect dust in an art supply drawer. I don’t know why I do this: hoarding art supplies that I get too intimidated to use because I don’t want to “waste” or “ruin” them. Hey, the first step is admitting you have some type of hangup, right? Anyone else ever feel this way about art supplies?
I decided I’d finally had enough of this intimidation. I opened that art supply drawer, unboxed the crayons, and then dove into drawing something…anything. I set the boundary that it didn’t have to be something I posted, shared or added in my store-just draw for the sake of drawing. This low-pressure attitude led to me making a series of doodles I now refer to as Dog N Doodle: doodling any dogs, pets, or animals that captured my attention at the time. It started with me going through an old dog breed encyclopedia where I found some fun dogs to caricature. I used a ballpoint pen to draw the outline and then colored it in with a blend of various crayon colors. Finally! A great activity to make myself use these new crayons. Recently, I decided to make this a daily activity to “doodle” an animal or someone’s pet and then use the crayons to color them in a blend up to my interpretation.
The crayons allowed me to feel like I was painting, but on an easier, less-mess scale. I blended unconventional colors to make vibrant fur tones, added splashes of a neon here and there for highlights, and mixed several colors together to make my own shades and hues. Best of all, I got to post these online to help spread fun and joy to those who submitted pet photos. I’m planning on offering this as a cost-effective pet portrait listing in my store.
What art supplies are you hoarding that you’ve been too intimidated by or just forgot about? I started Dog N Doodle as a low-pressure way to create fun art. Even if you don’t think you’re “good at” using the materials, you’ll be surprised at what ideas or stress relief might occur when you just try something new!
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