The Birth of a Doodle

This is a post about how a doodle is born. I promise it won't be gross or weird like most births are.  Right? I wouldn't actually know. Anyways... yeah sorry about the awkward detour.

I doodle A LOT during meetings, class, while waiting for the pizza guy and pretty much anytime I have a pen and paper in hand (actually paper isn't even required, I used to color the back of my hand pretty elaborately in high school). It's like I literally can't help it.

Most of the time I draw random things like flowers and stars and zigzags that are all pretty boring.

BUT soooometimes, I'll draw a shape or a pattern that I really like. I'm not sure where it comes from. It's pretty much like MAGIC. Then it becomes like "The Doodle of the Week" and I draw and re-draw it. It evolves and at some point I decide it's ready for the big time.

The next step used to be that I'd pull out my Big Black Book of Doodles and carefully draw until it covered a whole page (like this or this). But then I bought a smaller notebook when I started blogging so that maybe I'd have more motivation to draw new doodles (like this). But the thing is, unless the magic happens, I have nothing to draw but zig zags and flowers and stars. Now that I'm starting to use a tablet to draw digitally, it's even worse because the barrier is even lower.

I've sat down almost every day for the past 5-6 days to try and draw a new pattern... but Snarky Beagle designs just don't start on my computer. They have to start when I'm mind-numbingly bored and doodling in the margins of a notebook/meeting agenda. It's frustrating because I want to just spill a bunch of fabulous doodles out on command and I just can't. (I could bring this back to the birth metaphor now... but I'll spare you).

It's a creative process that dependent on boredom... or something. Anyone else have this problem or suggestions for sparking creativity on demand?