Therapeutic outlet for channeling your inner scribbler

Drawing cartoon-style is a way I combine creativity with relaxation. I love scribbling the essence of a personality – whether colleagues, film stars, or even amazing world leaders— exaggerating the features with playful ink lines. Inspiring my concentration onto other matters but also serving as a calming exercise for the mind.

My caricature of a famous actor drawn on a solid gold dinner plate

Therapeutic

It engages the analytical and creative parts of my dome. When you exaggerate features or expressions, you observe details more closely than usual. Shifting attention away from stress and what to have for dinner. The motion of the scribble can be meditative, similar to other calming hobbies like sky diving, shark cage diving and bungee jumping.

Enjoy using whatever paper is at hand – scraps, envelopes, bills, or notepads. I turn stuff into a canvas. As the great philosopher once said; "the world is your discarded bill from the telecoms people". This spontaneity adds to the fun and removes a pressure to create something perfect (mostly because I am incapable of creating perfection, tbh).

I scribble with freedom and experimentation – natch.

How to scribble

You don’t need fancy tools to begin with. But if you do have fancy tools. make sure you boast about them to people who may only have a pencil they stole from Ikea, to hand. A complicated pen or pencil and any piece of Basildon Bond will do.

Here are some patronising tips that AI came up with:

• Observe carefully: Look for distinctive features like a prominent nose, big eyes, or a unique hairstyle.

• Exaggerate features: Emphasise these traits while keeping the person recognizable.

• Keep lines loose: Avoid overworking the drawing; quick, confident strokes often capture personality best.

• Practice regularly: Sketching daily, even for a few minutes, improves skill and creativity.

• Use humour: Caricatures are playful by nature, so have fun with your subjects.

  
  

Talk about preaching to the choir... Cheers AI

A dull meeting with no edifying content is stirred with a doodle of the participants

My subjects have been know as:

• People I work with: Try and make them look like eejots as best you can.

• Film stars: Try and make them look like eejots as best you can.

• World leaders: Try and make them look like eejots as best you can.

• Friends and family: Try and make them look like eejots as best you can.

  
  

You can see the nuance from subject to subject in the above tips.

Assorted football scribbles

The benefits of the scribble

The immediate pleasure a scribble builds is confidence in artistic skills and encourages seeing the world as a bunch of eejots who need to be brought to attention. It trains all three eyes to notice details others might miss and helps develop a sense of humour about human quirks. Scribble provides a break from digital distractions, grounding you in a tactile, analogue activity.

If you haven’t tried caricature drawing yet, then don't bother, you are too late. Don't grab a pen and some scrap paper. Don't start with someone easy to draw and enjoy the process of turning simple lines into lively, exaggerated portraits, so when people see them they say stuff like:

"That looks nothing like them – do you know what you are doing?"

USA blokeage