Watercolor Doodles

Doodling with Paint or Pens
on Watercolor Test Pages

Doodling can be so fun and relaxing. I have always been the doodler in class or meetings to keep the boredom away. I would much rather be in the studio drawing or painting.

Lately, I have taken to doodling on my watercolor/color test pages. When I'm stuck about what to paint, I just fill a page with shapes and colors as you can see in the above photo.

I thought I would share my process.

Supplies I Use:
Watercolor Paper or Mixed Media Paper
Watercolor Brushes
Watercolor Paint Pans
(I use a variety of pan watercolor paints and some in tubes.)
Fine Point Black Sharpie Pens
Gold Sharpie Paint Pen
Silver Sharpie Paint Pen
Sharpie Paint Pens
(This is not a paid ad for Sharpies. I just like the brand and it is affordable. I plan to try some other brands soon.)

When painting with watercolor, I keep an extra piece of mixed media paper on the side. I use that paper to test the colors that I am using. I paint thin washes of color all over the page. The washes that I create are random.

Tip:
Leave some spaces white or barely painted. Those are the areas that can be drawn over with the pens. Using a marking pen on thicker paint tends to ruin the tip of some types of pens.

After I fill up a page of color testing, I cut them into smaller pieces. For this set of doodles, I chose a rectangular plaque shape. I purchased this paper punch last year and had not used it, so I decided to use it for this project. But these could easily be cut into any shape with scissors or an x-acto knife.

Ideas for shapes:

Paper punch shapes on hand
Bookmark style rectangular shapes
Squares (Mini square or larger)
Rectangles
Circles
Hearts

After you cut the shapes out of the watercolor test papers, bring out your favorite drawing tools or paint pens. You can use marker pens, paint pens, brush pens, colored pens or pencils. I love trying out new supplies. I am a little art supply obsessed. Especially with pens and drawing materials.

Just Doodle

Using a paint pen, I start drawing lines. Sometimes I start with a border around the edge of the paper and other times I just start drawing shapes inside. Use your own ideas and style. That is the fun part. You may want to use a sketchbook to doodle with a pen or pencil to get some ideas and variations of your ideas. I have also doodled with white pens on black art paper. You can read about it on my personal Art Journal blog here.

Once I start doodling, I get ideas for the next one. I think about what would look good with the one I am currently working on. If I don't get a new idea, I will recreate the last one except change up the direction of the shapes or change the colors, or both.

What To Do With The Finished Cards
String them up across on a Chalkboard, Bulletin Board or on your wall.
They also make great gift tags, thank you cards, name tags or accessories in planners or scrapbooks. I'm sure there are many more ways they could be used. I would love to hear your ideas! Leave your ideas in the comments below.

Get Creative
Go ahead and get creative! Experiment with watercolor and pens. If you do not have the supplies for watercolor, just use plain drawing paper or cardstock. Cut them into any shape you want and doodle with pens and markers. I plan to do the same with Acrylic paint.