My New Passion: Doodling

I haven’t been posting as much photography lately, mainly because I’ve been really involved in a new passion of mine:  digital doodling.  I’ve been dabbling here and there with doodling on paper for the past several years, but I was never satisfied with my work.  Then, on a whim, I downloaded the Procreate Pocket app on my phone and started playing around with it.  The tools and brushes available in the app made the drawing process more accessible and enjoyable to me than simply drawing on paper.  I quickly tired of trying to make my doodles on a small screen, so I took the plunge and bought an iPad and an Apple Pencil for the sole purpose of making more doodles, and I have not regretted those purchases one bit.  I have really learned a lot from Lisa Bardot‘s tutorials and have purchased some of her Procreate brushes, which have really helped me improve the look of my doodles.  If you’re looking to get into digital doodling, you should definitely browse her website.

One thing in particular that I enjoy doing is incorporating my photography into my doodles.  Many of my digital doodles are either traced from my photographs or the photos themselves are directly incorporated into the doodle.  In this post I’ll share some examples of doodles I have made incorporating my photos.

I made this sketch of Jane Seymour as Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, one of my favorite TV shows from the 90s.  In the background, I inserted a photo of Dr. Quinn’s clinic that I took when I visited the set (which was located at the Paramount Ranch in Agoura Hills, CA).  Sadly, the set burned down with the California wildfires in 2018.  I feel fortunate that I had the opportunity to visit this historic set, which was featured in a number of other TV shows and movies over the years.

For this doodle, I traced a photo I took of the replica of the house from Full House, which was built on the Warner Brothers lot for the spinoff Fuller House and added my own flair.

I made this doodle of me and Fran for Valentine’s Day.  I sketched myself from scratch, but I traced a photo of Fran as the basis of her part of the doodle.

I traced a photo I took in Monument Valley for this doodle.

In this doodle, I trace a photo I took at the Ice Hotel in Quebec.

In this doodle, I incorporated four photos that I took in Lake Louise.

In this doodle, I wrote one of my favorite quotes on a photo I took at Moraine Lake in Alberta.

For this doodle, I intricately traced photos of landmarks I had taken in Paris, then colored them in.

For this doodle, I incorporated a photo I took of a paddock at Old Friends at Cabin Creek in Greenfield, NY with a doodle of Commentator, the retired thoroughbred to whom it belongs.  I’ve always loved that photo, but I lamented that Commentator himself did not appear in it, so that fixes it!  Unfortunately, I didn’t have a good reference photo of Commentator in the proper position and perspective to appear in the photo, so I used a photo of his neighbor, Cosmonaut, and then colored it with Commentator’s colorings.

In this doodle, I sketched Woody and one of his favorite sayings over a photo of a sky I captured in Oregon.

In this similarly style doodle, I layered a drawing of Buzz Lightyear and one of his favorite sayings over a photo of the night sky I took on Cape Cod.

For this doodle, I traced most of the landmarks of my hometown of Saratoga Springs, NY from photos I had taken.  It’s got a similar look to the Paris doodle I made.

This doodle was traced from a photo I took of the Golden Gate Bridge.

For this postcard-style doodle, I traced a photo I took at Emerald Lake at Yoho National Park in British Columbia.

In this doodle, I wanted to draw Fran and I at a window, and I thought it would be neat to have the view out the window be an actual photo, so I incorporated this photo I took in Paris.  Now wouldn’t that be a great view out my living room window?!

For this doodle, I traced a photo I took of the Partners Statue at Disneyland, and then colored and shaded it by hand.  I went for a sort of sunset look in the background, then I added one of my favorite Walt Disney quotes.

For this photo, I traced a cameo-style self portrait that I took a few years back and filled it in with roles that describe me.  This was fun and I’m planning on doing a French version!

For this doodle, I wrote a quote over a photo I took of the moon in California.

To see more of my doodles, including some that aren’t based on my photos, be sure to follow me on Instagram.