Might as well throw this in ...

So every Friday we do a thing at work. Sometimes it's play and critique video games, sometimes we just go for lunch. Sometimes we do an "art challenge" where we pick an idea out of a box and everyone has to draw their interpretation. One day we pulled out "World's ____iest ____". Had an hour to draw. Here was my entry.

{"name":"604203","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/6\/16f9de44ad627dc880bcdf2b3b9303bf.png","w":1000,"h":773,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/6\/16f9de44ad627dc880bcdf2b3b9303bf"}

I can't draw and my desktop is a mess, but here is my submission. Hey, where is it? The attachment name isn't in the post! I tried the attachments fort substandard browsers option but got a 417 expectations failed error!

Sounds like fun. Maybe we could have a regular "Doodle Saturday" on here.

@23yrold3yrold,GameCreator: Are you the creators of Schlock Mercenary and Penny Arcade?

Challenge accepted!

--- thread needs more doodles ---
It's fun to just start drawing without any goal whatsoever and see it turn into... an abomination like this one perhaps:
{"name":"604229","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/9\/2\/9251fc6e5403518b5c491bebd9a739fa.png","w":522,"h":321,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/9\/2\/9251fc6e5403518b5c491bebd9a739fa"}

More ipad doodling

{"name":"604235","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/d\/1\/d13f8407aec2dcd5d19d1079d8848901.jpg","w":941,"h":1071,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/d\/1\/d13f8407aec2dcd5d19d1079d8848901"}

Or just create a new one when enough people have it.

My first attempt at a boat with some waves if they are visible with my crappy camera ._.(as I said before, I suck at drawing, but I tried anyway):
{"name":"604248","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/c\/9\/c95ff95278f1be612df8cfc04c4a5d55.jpg","w":2048,"h":1536,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/c\/9\/c95ff95278f1be612df8cfc04c4a5d55"}

EDIT: Keeping the thread alive... I'm starting to like drawing random things (altough I don't have a tablet so I need to draw by hand)
{"name":"604257","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/e\/1eb18d2e612aa1709feba352728a0a69.jpg","w":1536,"h":2048,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/e\/1eb18d2e612aa1709feba352728a0a69"}

Well, these were done 20 years ago (or something really long ago like that) and I haven't done anything since. So possibly if I did something now it would just be as bad

This is a page from an 'epic' cartoon on existentialism I wrote
{"name":"604258","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/7\/a\/7aa056eccf044a350d4a91f1bcc30a24.jpg","w":587,"h":859,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/7\/a\/7aa056eccf044a350d4a91f1bcc30a24"}

Some dodgy cartoon strips
{"name":"604259","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/b\/3\/b3255a02fa680b18da629da035543610.jpg","w":435,"h":369,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/b\/3\/b3255a02fa680b18da629da035543610"}

Some more dodgy cartoon strips
{"name":"604260","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/8\/18b95ebdea977e835109edb65683c615.jpg","w":458,"h":458,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/8\/18b95ebdea977e835109edb65683c615"}

Another bunch of scribbles:

{"name":"604262","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/c\/b\/cb8ba23387b317e523f78b044d8d7905.jpg","w":1003,"h":1299,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/c\/b\/cb8ba23387b317e523f78b044d8d7905"}

Opened up gimp and tried drawing what I see before me. I think I lack the fantasy to draw things I don't see...

{"name":"604268","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/d\/1d132f4d40a9d3f841e3ba80eb28efa0.png","w":640,"h":400,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/1\/d\/1d132f4d40a9d3f841e3ba80eb28efa0"}

@Paul: Is that an elf or a vulcan? Either way, looks slick. I like how you rendered it with so few but well placed strokes.

I take that as a compliment.

Ah but that's not true. Your scribblings clearly show you've got all the basic knowledge required to produce convincing representations of real life objects and characters on flat paper.
Doodling is also not about producing the highest quality of production ready work... for me at least, it's more about fun and free exploration without any worries about results.

No you don't. Just keep practicing. The boat and the book you drew show you do understand how the three dimensions of space can be captured on a flat surface. Since these are doodles, the slight distortions don't matter much.

The text is quite hard to read. Not sure if I get the humor in them. They're somewhat funny but in an insanely weird and a little sick way.

A few years ago I tried a couple of cheap ones but in the end stuck with a Wacom Intuos 3 (they don't seem to manufacture these anymore though but there is a 4 available now, which is probably better anyway).
For starting, the lower price range Bamboo series is probably sufficient but I have no personal experience with those.

Drawing from life is an essential skill which I think every artist should acquire. It's good practice for really learning about how things look in all their detail or in abstraction. By drawing from life often, your mind will subconsciously build a library of objects, volumes, shapes, shadings, textures and whatnot from which it can then draw(hah!) when you create stuff freely.
When I start doodling and I don't have any idea what to draw (just the urge to draw something) I start by slapping random blobs of color onto the canvas and then usually after a few of those blobs I go "hm, this looks like..." and then just keep adding/changing and taking away from it until I get bored or run out of steam.

My favourite is the red dragon. There is of course room for improvement (as there always is) but for a freestyle doodle on paper and without the amenities of easy corrections which the digital medium brings with it, it's pretty good.

To everyone who hasn't drawn since school: Get back to it! It will improve your life (and if not that then at least it will improve your "programmers art").

If anyone wants brutal feedback (aka constructive criticism tearing your work apart and thus ruining your day and the whole fun) please explicitly say so.

--- haven't doodled today yet so I'll just post some old stuff as well ---
{"name":"604284","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/d\/0\/d0887607b672ced2e593d179465b474c.jpg","w":789,"h":653,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/d\/0\/d0887607b672ced2e593d179465b474c"}{"name":"604285","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/8\/7\/87e60485722646936bc2f6eac7aafb42.jpg","w":273,"h":270,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/8\/7\/87e60485722646936bc2f6eac7aafb42"}
{"name":"604286","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/7\/7\/77a76221cb4d6e74a0c6f4e22a8cdb3c.jpg","w":695,"h":585,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/7\/7\/77a76221cb4d6e74a0c6f4e22a8cdb3c"}

Currently, I am doing these doodles with ArtRage Studio Pro and my slightly aged Wacom Intuos3 tablet.

--- this one was done this morning (my mind currently seems to be stuck on drawing the same stuff over and over again (with slight variations though)) ---
{"name":"604299","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/f\/d\/fd43ba5b24d911243f2dab9db0cc927f.png","w":485,"h":455,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/f\/d\/fd43ba5b24d911243f2dab9db0cc927f"}

I even recorded the whole process for this one but lost it again because CamStudio fucked up the video file (apparantly it used an ancient Microsoft CRAM codec which only supports file sizes far less than the 4GB it ended up being and no player seems to be able play it now (tried VLC, VirtualDub and even a few AVI fixing tools (DivFix++, AviMedic and a few others which names I forget already (some even contained malware) but nothing worked))).

{"name":"604300","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/c\/1\/c16a7eda718b1c5758c3a65b6646995e.png","w":550,"h":400,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/c\/1\/c16a7eda718b1c5758c3a65b6646995e"}

An animated doodle?