Monster Doodles

I’ve been doodling monsters.

I often doodle them to unwind. I’ll either grab a notebook and a pen or my iPad and Procreate and just start drawing. I treat the process like a first draft of writing, focusing on a smidge of an idea and seeing what lands on the page. If I’m using Procreate, I usually start with a pencil tool, then add a layer to go over it with a pen tool. Sometimes I add color, sometimes not, whatever I’m feeling in the moment.

These doodles are brief but wonderful escapes from the day, and I try not to worry about the finished product or making “mistakes.” They’re supposed to be messy and fun and offer a moment to not worry about “mistakes,” but let seemingly errant lines lead where they may.

You’ll likely see some of these doodles wind up on my site, like the guy on the homepage, and you can also see them on Instagram. I’ve reduced how much I use social media—I’ve virtually stopped on X after having to block and report over 100 bot followers, plus no longer being able to make much sense of my feed—but I realized that the little I was using the socials, I was opening Instagram for cats and art. That brought me small moments of joy, so I figured I’d play around there for a bit. The plan right now is to share doodles, book and movie reviews, likely some writing tips and tidbits, and anything else that feels fun. Say hi if you’re around those parts, and feel free to share your own monster doodles!

And with that, I’ll say goodbye with two colored versions of the homepage monster doodle. Find more on the gram (@mattisnotscary).