Doodle Anatomy Sketchbook

Failure

PAGE ABANDONED and will have no new updates in this sketchbook or in the pages within it.

Foundation To My Art

Purpose

This sketchbook is a celebration of my abstract and doodle art, which is the foundation of my entire art practice. When I doubted my realism, I had my doodles, and now that I have advanced my realism skills, I can advance my doodles.

My Brain

The “doodle confetti” pattern I do with my classic doodles is the representation of my brain. The tiny fine pieces that make the whole, chaotically thrown into piles and piles of hard-to-distinguish pieces.

Abstract vs Realism

Abstract has been my main form of art for most of my art history. I have dabbled in realism through it but it wasn’t until relatevely recently that I was able to bring my realism skill enough to enjoy drawing realism. I’ve been drawing realism for some time now.

I missed doing my doodle art and abstract pieces. I touch on abstract concepts in my Home Page, but never as far as my doodles could go. So I finally came back to doodles in Doodle Anatomy, and feel such a great connection that I took for granted before.

I question the meaning of my art and why I create what I create. I have felt lost, believing myself to not have meaning in my art. But the abstract stuff is my meaningful art. The realism is just fun, pretty things I like to draw. But the abstract and doodle art is where my soul is. It’s the reflections of who I am. Abstract art communicates who I am.

Sketchbook Goals

Express myself as authentically as possible. My doodles and abstract art are the truest versions of me.
Make things that make people do double-takes. I want very visually busy spreads.
Have fun! Let loose and let go.
Finish. I need to finish my sketchbooks.

Sketchbook Rules

No tearing out pages. Let be what will be.
Experiment with abstract art. Do things I haven’t tried before.
Be truly mixed media. This is part of the experimentation. I have a lot of art supplies, I should use them.
Do more doodles. Realism has taken a lot of my focus and I want to draw more doodles.

List Of Stuff I Like Drawing

(Also a list of art block breakers!)

Subject	Description
Ink Dropper	I like using the ink dropper to draw and splatter. Makes interesting shapes.
Stratified Layering	A very nice technique to sooth the mind.
Doodle Pattern Library	Ideas for when I need them of my doodles.
Bricks.	I like drawing bricks. And stone.
Patterns	Just fun to have patterns. Visually nice.
Zentangling	A classic.

Ideas

Strikethrough indicates idea is officially planned as a spread.

Yin Yang related
~~The original flower doodles “Flower Power”~~
~~Stratified layering in colored pencil (but like the phoenix)~~
Gellyroll (06) doodles
~~A maze~~
That alien looking design
~~Actual Zentangle piece~~
Using the dropper as the only source of drawing
~~Using my glass dip pen to do my confetti doodles~~
~~Lungs that are doodled on one side and mystic and colorful~~
Something like this with paint randomly done in abstract flowers and reverse color them.

Final Thoughts

A very good sketchbook. It’s thinness helps make up for it’s A5 size, which is larger than I normally work in.

Spreads

Spread Planning

Key: ✅ Complete | 🎨 In Progress | 📝 Planned

#	Title	Page#s	✅	Description & Planning	Meaning
0	Title	1	📝	Title page with catalog-style illustrations of all main tools used in the book new and ready to use. Tools: `F pencil, Black fineliners, Colored pencils (subtle accents), India ink`	Starting the journey with brand new materials.
1	Confetti	2–3	🎨	A mix of organic and geometric shapes filled with designs and patterns. The shapes are about the same size and about the same line weight to have a uniform look while still feeling like a large mix of confetti. The “confetti doodles.” Tools: `Pigma Micron (03)`	The basic foundation of my doodles. The mix from which all other doodle combos derive from.
2	Overwrite	4–5	🎨	Black gesso splotches. Don’t know what else to do with this…black splotches on white paper. Maybe the white space is doodles? Or maybe the black space is something? Idk. Tools: `Black & color fineliners, Scrapbook paper, archival glue, gold gel-pens, gold paint, India ink (various colors)`	Mistakes and past decisions are not erased but built upon to form the invisible foundation.
3	Fissure	6–7	🎨	Thick cracked cobblestone lines in India ink. Cracks inlaid with gold surrounded by red. Blank "rock" spaces filled with confetti doodles. Tools: `Black India ink (dropper); Gold & red acrylic markers; Black fineliners`	Anxiety. Cracks represent fracture, gold/red is intense energy within, doodles are the persistent, busy mind filling the spaces.
4	Twisted	8–9	🎨	Twisted ribbons starting lower left moving to upper right. Various sizes, colors, directions, intertwining. White background. Tools: `Colored pencils (full rainbow spectrum)`	The feeling of bending and twisting to fit into others' expectations and perceptions.
5	Facets	10–11	🎨	Geometric India ink lines filled with patterns done in acrylic pens. Tools: `Black India ink (dropper), acrylic markers, colored pencils, colored fineliners`	Multifaceted nature of human experience; individuality and identity formed by countless unique internal patterns.
6	Spiral	12–13	🎨	Thick India ink spiral starting center moving counter-clockwise. Hairdryer blows ink outward into organic tendrils. Flowers and leaves grow from tendrils. Darker imagery in center transitions to lighter toward edges. Tools: `Black India ink (dropper), air blower, black fineliners, colored pencils`	Neurodivergence and mental illness. Spiral represents cyclical thought patterns; growth and beauty emerge from chaos.
7	Spectrum	14–15	✅	Soft crayon gradients blended seamlessly across both pages. Soft shapes and colors. Tools: `Crayons (all colors)`	Taking a breath. Grounding in the present moment. A quiet, still point between intense explorations.
8	Gridlock	16–17	🎨	Eight black acrylic ink lines from each edge creating distorted checkerboard. Don’t know what else to do with this. Tools: `Black acrylic ink, gold paint, acrylic markers, black and colored fineliners`	Unknown.
9	Luster	18–19	📝	Splattered and gestural black and blue India ink. Gold gel pen doodles drawn over the blue ink. Tools: `Black & blue India inks, gold gel pen, toothbrush for gold paint splatter`	Spectrums. The range between dark and light, matte and shiny, chaotic splatter and intentional doodle.
10	OCD	20–21	🎨	Black gesso base with grid of rounded square tiles. Each tile colored with acrylic marker like pixelated hex color selector. Black "grout" remains. Tools: `Black gesso, ruler, 4h pencil Acrylic markers (full spectrum)`	Perfectionism. The pursuit of perfect grid and tiles is impossible. Beauty lies in the attempt and acceptance of imperfection.
11	Undone	22-23	📝	Black gesso painted over whole spread. White gel pen for bottom left corner and as it goes up towards the upper right corner, the doodles transform from gel pen to dip pen to dropper, creating an effect of the doodles coming undone. Tools: `White gel pens, black gesso`	My search for the unobtainable perfection. Also meltdown’s and coming undone.
12	Duality	24-25	📝	Black gesso on left, white gesso on right. Gellyroll pens of the same colors on both sides making circles with swirls in them cover the page like the very first types of doodles I used to do. Don’t know what colors. Tools: `Black and white gesso`.	My life in extremes.
13	Wordsmith	26–27	📝	Layered calligraphy of internal dialogue. Some words crisp (dry layers), others bleeding into each other (wet layers). Positive and negative words used in self-talk. Tools: `Dr. Ph. Martin's India inks (whole set) + dropper`	Complexity of self-talk. The inner voice can be kind, cruel, or neutral, often layered and overlapping.
14	Flashy	28-29	📝	An entire pattern made of metallic doodles (acrylic marker). Don’t know what pattern. Tools: `Atristro metallic acrylic markers`.	Trying to distract people of my lack of direction using flashy distractions.
36	Done		📝	The supplies drawn on the front page but now empty and used. Tools: `Content`.	Ending the journey with well worn and used materials.
X	XXXXX	XX	X	IDEAS & Templates	XXXXX
#	Connected	pages	📝	String doodles and geometric doodles combined to look like a big knot of cables held in place and surrounded by strands of doodles. Tools: `Content`.	My phone is my life.
#	Strata		📝	Geological cross-section with horizontal layers in different media and patterns. Irregular like real rock strata. Each layer represents a different "part" of self. Black and white doodles and patterns at the bottom, color slowly added by top. Tools: `Black and colored fineliners, acrylic markers, India inks (whole set), colored pencil, crayons, watercolor`	Identity is not singular but composed of accumulated layers. Some dense, some fragile, all layered to build who we are.
#	Stratum		📝	“Stratified layering” technique creating the ripples and layers made by a boat cutting through a still lake, or like cutting through tall grass. May also take the form of wings. Start in center and go out (top down) Tools: `Colored pencils`	Layers of experience, memory, and time that build upon one another to form foundation.
#	Shift		📝	Gradient from organic/floral doodles (lower left) to geometric/angular doodles (upper right). Seamless transition with hybrid forms in middle. Black fineliner only. Tools: `Black fineliners`	Change and growth. Transformation is gradual.
#	Petals		📝	My glass “flower power” doodles but with the skills I have now. Tools: `Black fineliners (range of nib sizes)`	Nostolgia and paying honor to where we came from.
#	Roots		📝	Realistic tree trunk and branches above soil line. Below soil, roots transition from realistic to confetti doodles. Tools: `F pencil lead, Micron 03`	Foundation. What I am now is supported by the doodle foundation I started with.
#	Breathe		📝	The two pages of the spread are each a lung (left page = left lung). Trachea in the middle and realistic. One side is confetti doodles, other side is some sort of colorful chaos. Tools: `Fineliners`.	Anxiety takes my breath away, just like love.
#	Trapped		📝	A disorienting maze. Outlined in fineliner, colored with colored pencil and/or acrylic markers. The maze has the follow properties: • Paths that change size from broad to narrow, or random curves. • Random traps • “Some of the arrows lie” • Tools: `All kinds`.	Life is confusing.
#	Classic		📝	Classic, old school zentangling patterns. Tools: `Micron fineliners, faber-castell matte graphite pencils for shading`	This is where my doodle art truly started, so this is where I want to end the spreads.
9	Focus		📝	Fleshy, alien-esque wall of undulating folds. Dozens of eyes with various pupils (human, cat, lizard) looking in different directions. Bright saturated colors. Tools: `Colored pencils (acid green, tangerine, electric blue, magenta, violet)`	ADHD and focus. Dozens of threads of attention all looking at different things; true focus requires wrangling them to one point.
#	Title	pages	📝	Content Tools: `Content`.	Content
				Poured ink for Di using Magenta, yellow deep, Hooker’s green, cerulean blue, and black.
				White gesso mixed with red base.
				White gesso with blue paint.