As a doodler myself, I can relate to the joy that comes along with diligently drawing hundreds of tiny dots and lines, filling in shapes with a fine tip pen, fading from one color to another, or making one part of a cursive letter bigger for that quote you found on Pinterest.

The general consensus in society seems to be that there is a time and place for doodling, and school is not that. Unfortunately, our wandering adolescent minds often times can’t help but draw a flower or two in the corner of our paper while we’re sitting in class listening to a lecture. Doodling is the perfect mindless activity you can use to occupy yourself or de-stress, and the best part is that there’s no wrong way to do it. Although doodling may be used as a procrastination resource, or an in-class distraction, that doesn’t make the art that is produced any less valuable. In fact, it’s pretty incredible what a curious mind can create.

I asked some of my peers within the senior class about any small art or doodles that they’ve made and I was beyond amazed by the variety of styles, creativity, and genuine talent that I came across.

Grace Scheidler opened up her agenda book while sitting to my left in our Journalism class. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the hundreds of pages filled with the most beautiful and aesthetically pleasing colors, words, phrases, numbers and designs. Every single detail on each page was completely crafted with a blank sheet of paper as the canvas.

Taylor Rapperport

Often times when I walk through the open senior common or sit down with friends, Taylor will be sitting across the table, diligently and furiously coloring in large sections of her doodle with an incredibly fine-tipped pen. However, with hard work and determination, what may start off one week looking like a bunch of circles, will become an intricate geometric masterpiece.

Ben Streightiff  is a pretty artsy guy some might say. Any of his friends won’t hesitate to brag about Ben’s incredible ability to doodle just about anything.  Upon the opening of The Grind in the LFHS lunchroom last year, the plain white paper cups served as the perfect canvas for Ben’s insanely cool creativity.

Lizzie Kelly was my roommate once while we were attending a retreat. When she opened a notebook that she had brought with her, it was pages upon pages filled with beautifully written and decorated quotes and phrases. Lizzie’s doodles that are featured here are a prime example of how cool some in-class distractions can turn out to be.

Molly Casey is well know among the senior class for her insanely cool, edgy, abstract, and unique artistic style. The variety of colors, lines and material that Molly incorporates into these doodles somehow work to perfectly complement one another. If you ever see her with a piece of paper and her bulky pencil case, you know it’s going to be good.

Henry Lunn sits across from me throughout our statistics class and in between copying data from paper to calculator, he’ll be focused on his doodles, perfecting stunning eyes, each with varying styles. As I was texting Henry about his drawings, he claimed, “I usually do it on my face so it’s usually just, like, mindless practice runs.” Little did I know that each of his doodles were associated with his drag hobby that I had never even known about.

Ellie Smith has been a friend of mine for awhile now, and I always knew she was artistically inclined. She does a beautiful job at softly creating depth and incorporating small details that don’t necessarily stand out, but contribute to the the realistic effect that each of her doodles displays.

Kailey Hetler is well-known for her use of coloring books as a calming, de-stress activity. Using an assortment of pens, Kailey is able to patiently complete some of the most intricate designs, consistently selecting colors that perfectly complement each other, resulting in some pretty neat looking doodles. When discussing her love for coloring books, she also explained that her mom plays a huge part in the completion of these intricate projects as a fun bonding activity. The building pictures below were mostly completed by Mrs.Hetler; I guess the coloring-book talent runs in the family!

Erica Merchant stated in a text shortly following a series of her doodles, “I draw my teachers (I leave them around class for them to find so I actually don’t have any more.)” It takes a special kind of person to think of such a subtle yet thoughtful gesture, and it’s not surprising that Erika has been the one to do it. It’s clear from these just select doodles that she has an incredible natural talent in the realm of art.