Doodle

 

Doodle. What is a doodle? A doodle is a simple form of art where one mindlessly takes his or her writing instrument and marks or scribbles on his or her page creating designs, figures or simple images. Doodling can in fact be quite meditative and the images could be left for interpretation.

Doodling has also taken on a negative meaning, where one suggests a person is wasting time in aimless or foolish activity; however, doodling in fact allows a person to engage his or her mind as he or she is listening to a lecture. It is a brain boosting activity. What many have considered a distracting, time-wasting habit may actually give a person a leg up on others who do not doodle by helping a person stay alert.

According to one source: Asked to remember names they’d heard on a recording, people who doodled while listening had better recall than those who didn’t. This suggests that a slightly distracting secondary task may actually improve concentration during the performance of dull tasks that would otherwise cause a mind to wander.
(from: A Sketchy Brain Booster: Doodling URL – http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/02/doodlerecall/)

An archaic definition of doodle is a foolish or silly person as in the patriotic song, “Yankee Doodle” with which many are familiar.

Here are the lyrics of the shortened children’s version of Yankee Doodle:

Yankee Doodle went to town
A-riding on a pony,
Stuck a feather in his cap
And called it macaroni’.

Chorus:

Yankee Doodle keep it up,
Yankee Doodle dandy,
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be handy.

Father and I went down to camp,
Along with Captain Gooding,
And there we saw the men and boys
As thick as hasty pudding.

Chorus

Here is a fun activity to try for kicks, a doodle personality test. Get out a standard sheet of blank paper and a pen or pencil. Draw a pig. Do NOT read the following until you have drawn your pig and are satisfied with it.

Pig Interpretation
If the pig is drawn:
Toward the top of the paper, you are positive and optimistic.
Toward the middle, you are a realist.
Toward the bottom, you are pessimistic, and have a tendency to behave negatively.
Facing left, you believe in tradition, are friendly, and remember dates. (birthdays, etc.)
Facing right, you are innovative and active, but don’t have a strong sense of family, nor do you remember dates.
Facing front (looking at you), you are direct, enjoy playing devil’s advocate and neither fear nor avoid discussions.
With many details, you are analytical, cautious, and distrustful.
With few details, you are emotional and naïve, you care little for details and are a risk-taker.
With less than 4 legs showing, you are insecure or are living through a period of major change.
With 4 legs showing, you are secure, stubborn, and stick to your ideals.
The size of the ears indicates how good a listener you are. The bigger the better.
The length of the tail indicates the quality of your love life!

(from: http://www.doodle-art-alley.com/doodle-personality-test.html)

Benefits of doodling can be found at the following websites:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/minding-the-body/201110/doodle-mind-body-wellness

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7912671.stm

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1882127,00.html

http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-does-doodle-do-it-boosts-your.html

http://alecrios.com/importance-of-doodling

Doodle interpretation information can be found at the following websites:

http://www.doodle-art-alley.com/doodle-interpretation.html

http://www.annakoren.com/doodles.html

http://ww.2knowmyself.com/Doodles_analysis_psychology/doodles_interpretation_personality

Other wonderful doodling websites:

Doodle Art Alley

Doodler’s Anonymous

Squidoo

Zentangle

Creating Minds

Scrapjazz

Related articles

• Doodling vs. Sketching (picturesfrommymind.wordpress.com)
• do you doodle? (imagineenigami.wordpress.com)
• A Doodle-d Interview! (kinkychinkecreations.com)
• Math Doodling (downes.ca)
• Doodle 34 | Mindboggler (doodlepack.wordpress.com)
• Doodling with Taro (ecollage.wordpress.com)
• Use a “Can-Doodle” Attitude to Boost Creativity (barbaratyler.wordpress.com)
• Woman of the Day – Every Woman Who Never Stopped Doodling From Childhood (studioconcrete.wordpress.com)
• Why Yankee Doodle called it “macaroni” (volokh.com)