Hello, my name is Hilary Campbell, and I am a doodler. I assume many cartoonists started off as doodlers in their 3rd grade class when they realized it was much more entertaining to draw in the corners of your wide ruled hole punched binder paper than to pay attention in class. Many art teachers will want to shout, “It’s good for kids to doodle! It actually helps them listen more!”. I don’t know if that’s true — I’m not a SCIENTIST! But what I do know is that doodling passes the time beautifully. But also, for cartoonists, doodling is the thing you need to do when you’re searching for idea or, ya know, completely panicking that you’ll never have an idea again. This week I asked my fellow ToonStackers to show me the thing they also find themselves doodling, time and time again. BEHOLD! The secrets only sketchbooks can tell you!
I was recently reading that when Leonardo DaVinci wasn’t drawing dicks in his sketchbook, he used to sketch the same goofy old grotesque face in various iterations. He had many different versions of this guy over the years, but I imagine it’s just something he mucked about with when he was procrastinating on his latest piece.
I have a very similar guy (though no artistic genius like DaVinci’s to speak of) that I often revisit when I don’t know what to draw. He’s pretty nondescript, but very easy to pop into a cartoon if I find a good expression.
(I upload some of my sketches all the time here.)
I doodle little men constantly - worried little men, angry little men, sad little men. Also naked ladies, but the naked ladies are usually in graceful poses, while the men are just balls of neuroses. To my eternal chagrin, these doodles have a life and surety that I can never, ever replicate in my “actual” work, and it drives me nuts. I’m particularly fond of this guy. He’s hitchin’ a ride! He’s not gonna get one :(
When I draw myself on trail (on a long hike like the Pacific Crest or the Continental Divide Trail) I often draw myself with fangs. Partly because I’m insatiably hungry, but also because I connect with a more raw, feral, messy, unfiltered part of myself. I like this fang self a lot. She’s great. Don’t try to eat her food.
When in doubt, I doodle monsters. The great Lynda Barry has a scribble monster exercise, where basically you draw random shapes and then make monsters out of them. Below is an example of all three steps. It’s fun! You can’t draw a monster wrong.
Like a sitcom character making up a boyfriend by looking at objects around the room, I often doodle the things in my eyeline. These drawings are free-er than the ones I really labor on, and one day I hope to get this free quality into my final renders.
I tend to doodle normal stuff, like these blobs of melting male faces, each one twisting, yelling, screaming, scheming, lustful and sweaty, angry and monstrous, sad and tortured as if they live each day trapped in an existence of pure terror. Just regular healthy stuff from a regular healthy guy! Happy Sunday!
It will come as a surprise to no one that I spend most of my time drawing dogs. It really eases my anxiety ridden soul to draw dogs lounging, running, sitting, sleeping, pooping, playing and dancing. Occasionally, there will be a girl including, who is usually trying to stretch as great as the dogs are (though she can never really do downward dog as elegantly as her labrador), but for the most part my sketchbooks and really any available piece of paper near me is covered in dogs.
For Your Pleasure: Cartoon Extras
Follow Kendra Allenby as she walks the Continental Divide Trail for 5 months!
Amy Kurzweil’s has a Patreon. Join her Creative Community and bring your mom!
Enjoy diary comics from Hilary Campbell on Patreon!
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I loved this! Thank you --