# I can only doodle eight things **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 16, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-only-doodle-eight-things/456632 "2008-07-16T02:04:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-only-doodle-eight-things/456632/1 "2008-07-16T02:04:22Z")
I’m a doodler. Put pen and paper in front of me and there’s a very good chance I’m going to put my stamp on it. However, there are only eight things I doodle. I’ve tried to expand my repertoire but I hit the wall at these [eight](https://home.comcast.net/~cainxinth/doodles.jpg). People often admire my doodles, and remark that they are fine doodles, and that I must posses latent artistic talent. But, they do not realize that I have honed these few doodles and maximized my ability to reproduce them. Thus, I am stuck with these eight measly doodles, doomed forever to repeat them. I wish I could doodle more things. Show me your doodles that I might pine over them. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-only-doodle-eight-things/456632/2 "2008-07-16T03:20:18Z")
Looking at the awesomeness of your doodles, I’m ashamed at the simple geometric ones I put together. I start with one line… circles. Then move to _X_s. Then it goes triangle, square, pentagon, etc. The fanciest thing I do is squares with _X_s in them, and then draw protruding triangles off of that. I think I started doing that sequence when I figured out the PlayStation controllers used the number of lines to designate their buttons (i.e. circle has 1 line, _X_ has 2, triangle = 3, square = 4). ETA: Speaking of random facts and doodling, that was your 2,222nd post. Appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-only-doodle-eight-things/456632/3 "2008-07-16T04:56:50Z")
You could combine the geometric shapes to make more doodles. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-only-doodle-eight-things/456632/4 "2008-07-16T06:40:38Z")
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger] (i.e. circle has 1 line, _X_ has 2, triangle = 3, square = 4). [/QUOTE] Doggone thing! So they do! As an artiste of sorts, my lazy doodles tend to be of faces, usually in profile. They’re sort of good-ish, but with a comic book simplicity to them that doesn’t really amount to much. ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-only-doodle-eight-things/456632/5 "2008-07-16T15:35:01Z")
I doodle arrows. Lots of arrows. I don’t know why. Sometimes I go further and draw houses, but they’re really just roofs on the arrows. I’ve also tried to expand my doodle inventory, but without success. So arrows, it is. Apparently that’s where my mind goes when I want to be elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-only-doodle-eight-things/456632/6 "2008-07-16T16:58:55Z")
I take notes in meetings on graph paper, so they are rife with quilt block designs. Usually some sort of pinwheel or star. Sometimes I veer off into a little house with a tree and flowers. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-only-doodle-eight-things/456632/7 "2008-07-16T17:04:36Z")
I usually just doodle swirly designs but if I am feeling really artistic I will do a Killroy, cat face or birds. ---
**Author:** ![bufftabby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bufftabby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bufftabby)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-only-doodle-eight-things/456632/8 "2008-07-16T17:26:46Z")
Cats, all I can draw are cats. Occasionally, it might be a bear (change the ears) or a devil (add horns, my cats always look a bit evil anyway). That’s it. When I was a kid, I had a notebook with nothing but cat pics, and I started to run out of ideas. So I started designing cat fashions to fill my notebook. There’s only so many dresses and bows and swimsuits one can put onto a cat. So I started drawing amputee cats. I haven’t drawn much since then. I think I disturbed myself. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-only-doodle-eight-things/456632/9 "2008-07-16T17:38:33Z")
I like to doodle cups of coffee and men’s suits. There’s something about the whole collar, tie, buttons thing that I just find satisfying to draw. Throw in some crosshatching and I’m a happy doodler. I dislike wearing them, by the way. I do like coffee, though. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-only-doodle-eight-things/456632/10 "2008-07-16T17:45:03Z")
[QUOTE=legalsnugs] I doodle arrows. Lots of arrows. I don’t know why. Sometimes I go further and draw houses, but they’re really just roofs on the arrows. I’ve also tried to expand my doodle inventory, but without success. So arrows, it is. Apparently that’s where my mind goes when I want to be elsewhere. [/QUOTE] Me, too. I don’t know what it is about them. Cainxinth, they’d be easy to add to your repertoire. They can be expanded into spears of all sorts, some with carvings and dangly bits. ---
**Author:** ![Dazzling\_White\_Diamonds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/41988e/32.png) [@Dazzling\_White\_Diamonds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dazzling_White_Diamonds)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-only-doodle-eight-things/456632/11 "2008-07-16T18:10:13Z")
I doodle an eye (not a pair, just one with an eyebrow), trees, flowers and swirly designs. ---
**Author:** ![Dazzling\_White\_Diamonds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/41988e/32.png) [@Dazzling\_White\_Diamonds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dazzling_White_Diamonds)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-only-doodle-eight-things/456632/12 "2008-07-16T18:12:20Z")
[QUOTE=Yllaria] … carvings and dangly bits. [/QUOTE] I read that as _ **dangly tits** _. I think I should go home now.