I am absolute crap at likenesses. I’m much better at conveying a vibe, or a certain character. That hasn’t stopped me from trying to doodle particular people doing particular things. It usually takes a turn partway through as my doodle perversely becomes a different personality, or gender, or species.
More often, as I happily scribble away in the equivalent of free association, I suddenly recognize someone in my doodle. These shoulders, for example, stopped me short:
They belonged to a retired lifelong educator I knew. This was how he looked from behind, lumbering along to do chores with his beloved dog, Dickens. Both were getting up in years and moved slowly, but with intention. This doodle needed both a dog and a task.
Here are the pair of them. Does this look like the man I knew? A little bit. Does the dog look like Dickens? Not at all. Is this a portrait? I’m not sure. Maybe only to me.
I will sometimes reference a very specific event. For me, success is getting the feeling across, and not so much the likeness. Take, for instance, the day our pipe sprang a leak and began to flood the basement:
I assure you that this doodle captured my mood quite accurately. And though you couldn’t use it to pick him out of a lineup, this next doodle was most definitely my son at the end of winter break:
The most “true” doodles are usually ones I’ve done very quickly. When I belabor the lines, the life drains out of them and they become generic. I wish I had the gift of careful composition and refinement, but I am learning that my doodles won’t go anywhere if they don’t start in haste. This makes it tricky for me to intentionally begin work on a portrait: intent makes me almost immediately stodgy. I have to turn off my conscious brain and just dive in.
This is why one of my favorite doodles is a self-portrait that includes my dear friend Courtney. I wanted to remember the vibe from a long-postponed, much-needed afternoon we spent together catching up, imagining what-ifs, and generally replenishing. My relaxation hangover kept me from overthinking or getting tight in my lines:
And I did it! It was us.
But you still couldn’t use it to pick us out of a lineup.