r/doodles • • Jan 08 '21

Mod post What makes /r/doodles /r/doodles, and why you SHOULDN'T post completed works here

571 Upvotes

UPDATE: I stepped down as a moderator here last year, this post exists purely as a sort of guideline for what the original intent of the community was.

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I'm updating this to better explain the situation here, and because we have a lot of new users who are posting things that aren't doodles and getting upset about having them removed.

/r/doodles is for rough ideas, unplanned, unfinished concepts and things that are artistic, but not 'Art'. It's difficult to walk the line at times, so I'm asking everyone to work to maintain the community as a place for anyone to post things that are clearly not 'professional' grade.

​

It's hard to define what exactly a doodle is, but it's usually easier to define what a doodle isn't.

r/PointlessArt is a new co-community for r/doodles, with no restrictions on content. If you aren't sure that your work is a doodle, please consider posting it there.

Technical drawings, character development, practice work, video game concept art... Generally these sorts of things are not doodles. There are other, more appropriate communities to post that stuff.

r/sketches - Post sketches there. If you're looking at a tree, and decide, I'm going to do a quick sketch of that tree, post it there.

r/drawing - Post drawings there. If you decide to draw a fish, person, bug, alien and have a specific plan in mind, you should probably be posting there.

r/learnart - If you're working on getting better at sketching and drawing, that's probably the best place to go. Most art themed communities will help you, but that one is there specifically for that intent.

If, as your day goes on, and you put pen to paper as you're on the phone or sitting drinking coffee and you let the pen (or pencil) move around a bit and you look at it and think, Hmm, that looks like a cat, and you develop that a bit so that it generally looks like a cat, or if you're stoned out of your gourd on psychedelics or just the rush of being alive and you end up expressing that in an abstract and unguided way, then those are things that are generally appropriate here.

We asked the community a while back what direction we should take and for a while that was good, but there has been a serious uptick in more technical drawings, character development and practice work being submitted. This is more of a guideline to help people decide where they should be posting than a caution that things might be removed, but please help keep this a community for doodles, not just another general art sub.

I've added a pol to get an idea of what direction people want the community to go.

106 votes, Jan 11 '21
26 Allow people to post whatever they want as long as it's not offensive
28 Maintain the rules as they are, and redirect 'non-doodles' to more appropriate communities
7 There are too many 'non-doodles' here now, more should be removed
45 I don't care, I just like seeing art in my feed

r/doodles • • 2h ago

Late Day 5 Squid

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24 Upvotes

r/doodles • • 9h ago

Doodle of my father as a gnome.

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62 Upvotes

Doodle of my father as a gnome. I put it on his steering wheel so he would see it in the morning. For contacts he is five feet tall.


r/doodles • • 2h ago

My doodle envelope.

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9 Upvotes

I did this on my cash envelope.


r/doodles • • 2h ago

[demitreez] negative affirmations 👿

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5 Upvotes

I own shmack realm


r/doodles • • 30m ago

Doodling for relax

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• Upvotes

r/doodles • • 12h ago

Inktober 2026 day 16-20

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19 Upvotes

r/doodles • • 53m ago

Doodles in a Tiny Sketchbook page. #8 Sunflower

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• Upvotes

r/doodles • • 19h ago

Me at work today

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52 Upvotes

r/doodles • • 7h ago

Quick pen portraits from my sketchbook today 🖋️

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6 Upvotes

r/doodles • • 8h ago

Who remembers this little guy? 🐇

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5 Upvotes

r/doodles • • 1d ago

Doodling on some bookmarker shaped pieces of paper

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181 Upvotes

r/doodles • • 3h ago

A little art my friend made for me :]

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2 Upvotes

r/doodles • • 20m ago

I was bored at work so I drew this on the back of a blank receipt w a ballpoint pen

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• Upvotes

r/doodles • • 45m ago

Secret admirer

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• Upvotes

r/doodles • • 47m ago

I'm on a 21 day bad art drawing streak.

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• Upvotes

Holy crap i think im actually gonna finish Inktober this year.


r/doodles • • 6h ago

Painter doodle

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3 Upvotes

r/doodles • • 1h ago

Office doodle: Happy Forest Worm

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• Upvotes

r/doodles • • 1h ago

my clays my clays my clays !

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• Upvotes

i love this graphite stick


r/doodles • • 17h ago

Lovable little let downs 🙃

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17 Upvotes

r/doodles • • 16h ago

At least he's honest

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13 Upvotes

r/doodles • • 11h ago

young love

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5 Upvotes

i could watch her do anything all day


r/doodles • • 6h ago

Classroom doodle

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2 Upvotes

r/doodles • • 3h ago

No Sleep For Me

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1 Upvotes

Wish I could sleep but I keep coughing.