By BRYAN TERNG
alltherage@thestar.com.my
NOT many people would consider it art when you make those random doodles on your notepad during boring lectures/classes – until now.
The Red Bull Doodle Art competition is all about celebrating, well, the art of doodling; and the recently concluded Malaysian leg of the competition received over 750 entries.
Master doodler: A doodle by artist Fritilldea, the judge of the Red Bull Doodle Art Competition.
But what exactly qualifies as a “doodle”?
Well, according to the Red Bull Doodle Art website, it’s “an unfocused drawing made while the mind is otherwise occupied. It is what most students do while sitting at one of their less interesting lectures”.
Luckily for us, Malaysia was one of the countries selected to take part in the competition, because the winners from each country will win an all-expenses-paid trip to Cape Town, South Africa!
There, they’ll get to check out the winning artworks from each country at the Global Design Gallery, and represent their country in a bid to be the Doodle Art World Champion.
The talented doodler who will be representing Malaysia there is University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus computer science student Syed Wasifuddin Hyder.
Syed only took part in the competition after his friends in university noticed how good his doodles were, and encouraged him to give the competition a try.
“Doodling is just a hobby for me,” said Syed. “But now, if any professional opportunities come my way after this, I definitely won’t turn it down.”
Of the 750 entries, only 30 were selected for a public exhibition on Oct 12 at The Bee in Publika, Kuala Lumpur. All 30 were submitted by college students.
Picking the winner was the responsibility of local artist Mohd Anuar Mustapa, better known as Fritilldea in the art scene. He was the sole judge of the competition.
Anuar was the sole judge of the Red Bull Doodle Art Competition.
Anuar is a self-taught artist who started out doing street art in his early 20s before turning his focus to doodling. He would later go on to create a very well-received mural for the National Art Gallery, which he said is his greatest professional achievement so far.
For the competition, Anuar judged the Top 30 submissions based on the tidiness and detail of the contestants’ doodles.
“It was a really tough job because there were just so many good doodles,” he said.
In the end, he picked Syed as the winner because his doodle was unconventional. His artwork was a pattern inspired by organic composition, which is unusual in doodling.
“There was also a sense of balance in his artwork,” he explained. “The empty space in his doodle actually fits in perfectly. It even gave me goosebumps just looking at it.”
The doodle which won the Red Bull Doodle Art competition, by Syed Wasifuddin Hyder. – EMAN AZRIN AZHAR/Red Bull
But according to Anuar, becoming a good doodler is really not a complicated process – all you have to do is never stop doodling.
“I recommend owning a small sketchbook and keeping it with you at all times,” he said. “That way, you can doodle anywhere, any time; whenever you feel inspired.”
One of many doodles by Fritilldea in his collection of sketch books. He recommends aspiring artists to keep a tiny sketch book with them at all times.
Aside from that, a good artist also needs to have a trademark, something that distinguishes you from other artists. “That’s actually the hard part,” said Anuar.
Hard, but not impossible, right? All it takes, ironically, is doodling more diligently.
Tell us what you think!