Tag: positive quote

How to Draw a Cartoon Dinosaur (T-Rex)

This week’s quote comes to us from the great Steve Martin:

“Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent”

Steve Martin is a very famous actor, musician, but most importantly: comedian. This quote is his way of poking fun at himself, by implying that he was born without any talents. Whether or not that’s true, I don’t know; although I highly doubt it, because I believe each of us was born with something special. In any case, the quote is spot on!

Talent refers to things we are born with … they’re gifts. Some people have the gift of height or a beautiful voice; some are gifted in music while others are naturally good in sports. Some people seem to be predisposed for certain things at an early age while others struggle under similar conditions. Regardless of what the U.S. Constitution says, not all men are created equal. We all have our own unique DNA … and some are not even created men … they’re women!

What Steve Martin is telling us, is that even if we weren’t born with a specific talent, we can still achieve success as long as we persist.If we practice and improve, and we try and try again without giving up, we can achieve our goals.

Can we achieve the same level as those who were born with talent? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Sometimes we can achieve an even higher level!

People who persist have a stronger mental edge. They just won’t give up. Talent can only take a person so far, persistence is a key ingredient for success. If a person who was born with a talent doesn’t push him or herself, they won’t get very far compared with those who push themselves in order to develop a skill. If a person who was born with a gift, however keeps on pushing forward, he or she will keep on building on top of their talent.

Obviously there are some things that practice and perseverance won’t help us achieve. Try as I might, for example, I won’t get to be 7’ tall through practice. But if my goal is to play on the NBA, I can focus on improving other skills that will help me get there.

In conclusion, be thankful for the gifts you have, don’t worry about the ones you don’t; persevere, don’t give up and follow your dreams!

Suggested Tools for Drawing:

Note to Parents:

I hope you take a few moments to watch these videos with your kids. As a volunteer soccer coach for many years, I’ve seen how positive words can generate amazing results. The positive quotes I share are meant to spark a dialog between you and your kids. Take this opportunity to enhance the values I teach with your own personal experiences and point of view. Have fun with the doodles and encourage your kids to practice. Doodling increases creativity, moreover is a skill that they can build up and improve. I started doodling as a kid, and it propelled me into my career as a graphic and web designer, and now … Think Doodle Do. Who knows what our children’s future might bring, but learning a new positive skill is never a bad thing.

Don’t forget to visit our store to see the doodles that I teach on the videos as designs for t-shirts, wall art and more.

Cartooning for Kids: How to Draw the Big Bad Wolf

This week’s quote is a simple and powerful Chinese saying:

“A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step”.

This week’s doodle was requested by our friend and Master Doodler Maximo on our Facebook page. He requested the Big Bad Wolf. I don’t like drawing characters developed by other artists, however, since the Big Bad Wolf has been interpreted by many artists in the past, I decided to do my own version: Think Doodle Do style! As before the doodle is broken down into simple shapes using construction lines. This should be an easy enough method for children that want to learn how to draw cartoons.

The Thousand Mile Journey

A journey of 1,000 miles is a long journey indeed! Yes it is!

Imagine a world before planes, cars or trains … in addition to that, imagine you don’t have a horse or even a burro! Not even a burro! The only way to make your journey is by foot. A thousand mile journey not only sounds like a lot of work, but also sounds like it will be difficult and maybe even scary. I mean, there will be challenges along those thousand miles and things that you may encounter that you simply don’t know about … and most people are afraid of what they don’t know.

But the quote says that in order to get there, we simply need to begin by taking a single step. A single step is something that is easy to do and simple to understand. And only through taking a series of single steps, will you be able to reach your destination. Wow! So powerful!

One of the reasons why I love this saying so much is because it tells us exactly what we need to do in order to reach our goals: We need to plan ahead and take action.

To start a journey we need to know where are we going and how to get there: that is planning. Breaking the journey into small steps is also part of planning; but it says that we need to take that first step: that means to take action!

People think the name Think Doodle Do began as a play on words of “Cock-a-Doodle-Do” because it included the word “Doodle” in the middle. That is partially true, but it isn’t the main reason, Think Doodle Do actually includes all 3 aspects required to achieve our goals:
Think: Relates to planning
Doodle: Represents practice, experimenting and learning
Do: The most important of all, since in order to achieve our goals we need to take action.

So many people in the world have dreams and aspirations and only a small percentage of them actually make plans to achieve those dreams. Some of them once they have their plans —which are in essence a thousand mile journey— are too afraid or overwhelmed to move forward. Those who have the courage to take the first step are the only ones who have a chance of actually achieving their goals. Even for those who don’t make their dreams a reality, their futures are still bright because of all the things they would have learned along the journey. Like we discussed on week 2, “even if you miss the moon, you’ll land among the stars” … You have to take action and take your first step if you ever wish to achieve your goals. Dreaming, thinking and planning won’t be enough.

Suggested Tools for Drawing:

Note to Parents:

I hope you take a few moments to watch these videos with your kids. As a volunteer soccer coach for many years, I’ve seen how positive words can generate amazing results. The positive quotes I share are meant to spark a dialog between you and your kids. Take this opportunity to enhance the values I teach with your own personal experiences and point of view. Have fun with the doodles and encourage your kids to practice. Doodling increases creativity, moreover is a skill that they can build up and improve. I started doodling as a kid, and it propelled me into my career as a graphic and web designer, and now … Think Doodle Do. Who knows what our children’s future might bring, but learning a new positive skill is never a bad thing.

Don’t forget to visit our store to see the doodles that I teach on the videos as designs for t-shirts, wall art and more.

Cartooning for Kids: How to Doodle a Floating Cat Cartoon

Welcome back! Another Friday, another doodle 🙂 This week’s quote comes to us courtesy of Benjamin Franklin:

“Energy and persistence
conquer all things”
—Benjamin Franklin

What a powerful quote! … And oh, so important! Watch the video for the breakdown of these great words from one of the wisest people in history.

For this week’s doodle, I chose to do the silliest cartoon yet on Think Doodle Do: Miu-Miu the cat floating around. Watch the video to learn how to break down the cat’s face and body, so you can easily draw it on your own. I don’t know why I chose to have Miu-Miu floating, but I think he looks funny that way. If you want share with me your ideas as to why would a cat be floating? Is he a levitating cat? Perhaps he ate helium-infused tuna fish? Share your ideas with me either on YouTube, Facebook.

This week’s video looks a bit different, as most of it was recorded in a hotel room in Seattle. Next week’s video should go back to normal 🙂

Suggested Tools for Drawing:

Note to Parents:

I hope you take a few moments to watch these videos with your kids. As a volunteer soccer coach for many years, I’ve seen how positive words can generate amazing results. The positive quotes I share are meant to spark a dialog between you and your kids. Take this opportunity to enhance the values I teach with your own personal experiences and point of view. Have fun with the doodles and encourage your kids to practice. Doodling increases creativity, moreover is a skill that they can build up and improve. I started doodling as a kid, and it propelled me into my career as a graphic and web designer, and now … Think Doodle Do. Who knows what our children’s future might bring, but learning a new positive skill is never a bad thing.

Don’t forget to visit our store to see the doodles that I teach on the videos as designs for t-shirts, wall art and more.

Cartooning for Kids: How to Draw a Cartoon Squid

This week’s positive quote comes to us from one of the most amazing minds in the history of the world: Albert Einstein.

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
—Albert Einstein

I love this quote! This is a quote about life. It’s simple and elegant, and yet it has a deep, positive meaning. As usual, we’ve created a beautiful poster with this positive quote that we hope you like.

This week’s doodle is a squid (perhaps a giant squid). Watch the video above and learn how to draw this fun cartoon squid. I worked on 2 different color versions for the t-shirts, but in the end, we couldn’t make a decision on which to choose to showcase, so we chose to create both. You guys can take your pick.

Guys remember to keep on practicing and to try new things. This is the only way to improve, the only way to grow. Our goal should be to always push ourselves … or in the words of Albert Einstein, to keep moving.

Suggested Tools for Drawing:

Note to Parents:

I hope you take a few moments to watch these videos with your kids. As a volunteer soccer coach for many years, I’ve seen how positive words can generate amazing results. The positive quotes I share are meant to spark a dialog between you and your kids. Take this opportunity to enhance the values I teach with your own personal experiences and point of view. Have fun with the doodles and encourage your kids to practice. Doodling increases creativity, moreover is a skill that they can build up and improve. I started doodling as a kid, and it propelled me into my career as a graphic and web designer, and now … Think Doodle Do. Who knows what our children’s future might bring, but learning a new positive skill is never a bad thing.

Don’t forget to visit our store to see the doodles that I teach on the videos as designs for t-shirts, wall art and more.

Cartooning Using Basic Shapes – Week 1

In this week’s episode I chose a quote by Pamela Vaull Starr that I hope you enjoy. You’ll also learn how to draw cartoons using construction lines and basic shapes.

“Reach high,
for stars lie hidden in your soul.
Dream deep,
for every dream precedes the goal.” 
—Pamela Vaull Starr

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That is an absolutely beautiful, poetic, strong quote. I broke it down on my video (watch the video, I don’t want to give any spoilers). Please let me know if you agree with my interpretation … If you have a different take on it, or would like to add something else, please drop me a line below or follow the YouTube link and leave me a comment there. Don’t forget to press like and subscribe if you enjoyed this video.

In this video, I teach a little bit about the use of construction lines when drawing cartoons. When we use construction lines (lines drawn lightly on the page), we are merely “shaping” what we’re drawing. We are continually revising using short, light strokes in a way that allows for little mistakes to occur; mistakes that are easy to erase. In addition, I discussed the use of basic shapes to compose our drawing. When we break down the overall drawing into basic shapes (like circles, squares, trapezoids, etc.), we can quickly figure out the proportions and work on them until we get them right. Once we have the overall shape proportional (and composed on the page), we can start adding the details. Using this method, we can ensure to get the right shape, proportions and position on the page of our doodle, before we spend too much time on drawing the details. I love drawing fun cartoons for kids!

In my opinion, when we are doodling we are learning, experimenting, planning and practicing

For some people, the word doodle or doodling has a negative connotation; as in “he’s not doing anything, just doodling around …”, for me the word “doodle” means “to practice drawing”. In my opinion, when we are doodling we are learning, experimenting, planning and practicing … all at the same time! So go ahead and doodle around! Practice, challenge yourselves and you’ll be drawing cartoons like pros in no time ?

Note to Parents:

I hope you take a few moments to watch these videos with your kids. As a volunteer soccer coach for many years, I’ve seen how positive words can generate amazing results. The positive quotes I share are meant to spark a dialog between you and your kids. Take this opportunity to enhance the values I teach with your own personal experiences and point of view. Have fun with the doodles and encourage your kids to practice. Doodling increases creativity, moreover is a skill that they can build up and improve. I started doodling as a kid, and it propelled me into my career as a graphic and web designer, and now … Think Doodle Do. Who knows what our children’s future might bring, but learning a new positive skill is never a bad thing.

Don’t forget to visit our store to see the doodles that I teach on the videos as designs for t-shirts, wall art and more.

Suggested Tools for Drawing: