How to doodle paint: a daily practice in 3 steps to unlock your artistic creativity

Looking for a fast and hyper-effective way to boost your creativity in art?

There are days when we just feel empty and uninspired. Whether it slowly creeps into our minds or it comes on like a giant wave-like cloud, art block is a challenge we all have to deal with from time to time.

You wake up in the morning, follow your usual routine, and get ready to begin another day of work in your studio. And then … you feel that something blocks your mind. You lack the inspiration that keeps you moving forward. You’re feeling stuck. What do you do?

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from Julia Cameron’s seminal work The Artist’s Way is that a daily practice like the morning pages is vital to one’s mental hygiene and creative resilience. After having understood how blockage relieving and brain stimulative such a daily routine is, I went on with my morning pages until I came across doodle painting.

I began to practise doodle painting one rainy morning in the early days of the first lockdown, when I had run out of ink cartridges for my fountain pen and, as a consequence, I didn’t feel like writing my usual morning pages. I must confess, I don’t write almost anything without my fountain pen. Don’t say I have a pen fetish because I can use a ball pen or a drawing pencil instead, but only if I’m forced to. So, this is how my morning pages turned into daily doodling, a practice that has brought me many benefits so far.

Curious to know how that works with me? Follow the 3 steps below to learn how to doodle paint The Pointless Artist’s way.

Step 1: Choose your art materials

You can pick whatever materials you want to use before starting to doodle paint: acrylics, watercolours, oil paints, ink, gouache, airbrush colours, water-soluble pens ... And you can choose whatever brushes and out-of-the-box painting tools you'd love to work with (e. g. twigs, sponges, and corks).

I normally use a paper block, my favourite watercolours, some airbrush colours, gouaches, and acrylics plus a set of oil pastel chalks, and a few B pencils. I pick a handful of round, flat, and fan brushes in various sizes, and some alternative painting tools, like small pieces of cardboard, a few pointed wooden sticks, a little round sponge, cotton pads, and two wine corks.

My art materials, ready for doodle painting

Some of my favourite brushes are medium to large round brushes (preferably the kolinsky sable-hair ones), medium and large flat brushes, and small to medium size dry fan hog-bristle brushes.

I like to keep to a limited range of art materials because fewer materials help me work simpler and faster. But nothing should stop you from using as many colours, brushes, and alternative painting tools as you want. In other words, choose whatever feels best for you.