Doodle art took over the design scene this past year, and our design trends report shows it is still gaining momentum. What started as simple notebook sketches and casual doodling art has grown into a full design style that feels playful, expressive, and surprisingly polished.
Today, doodle design shows up across branding, fashion, and digital media as a deliberate creative choice.
Part of its appeal is accessibility. Doodle art works well for beginners, but it also gives experienced designers room to experiment with line work, composition, and visual storytelling.
Adobe’s Creative Trends research highlights a continued rise in hand drawn illustration and doodle painting styles, as audiences respond more strongly to visuals that feel personal and human.
The best part is that you do not need an iPad or drawing tablet to get started. There is a simple, free way to turn hand drawn doodles into digital designs. This guide walks you through the process step by step.
What is doodle art?
Doodle art is a free-form drawing style made up of spontaneous, playful sketches. It ranges from simple line drawings to detailed patterns and was once seen as casual scribbles. Today, doodle art is a recognized design style used in digital media, branding, apparel, and illustration to convey personality, creativity, and a human touch.
Common doodle art styles
- Handwritten, quirky typography
- Naive illustrations of everyday objects
- Minimalist line drawings with abstract forms
What is the history of doodle art?
Doodle art began as casual, unplanned drawings made in the margins of notebooks and manuscripts. Historically used to pass time or aid concentration, doodles appeared in medieval texts and later gained attention through psychological studies on focus and memory.
In the late twentieth century, designers embraced doodle-like visuals as a reaction to polished commercial design. Today, doodle art is a recognized style in branding and digital media, valued for its human, imperfect, and expressive quality.
For designers, drawing is a great way to spend time when you’re bored, as the art style is growing in popularity. Plus, spending spare time sketching or doodling will help improve your illustration skills.
If you’re looking for more skills to level up, check out our list of recommended graphic designer skills to grow this year.
We’ll share how to use your doodle art to make designs for T-shirts (and more) like those shown above.
Where to use doodle art
Doodle art on stationary and menus
Doodle art brings a playful, personal feel to stationery and menu design. It makes everyday materials more engaging and easier to remember.
Hand-drawn illustrations add warmth to invitations, greeting cards, and business stationery, giving each piece a handcrafted look that feels thoughtful rather than generic.
In restaurants and cafés, doodle-style menus help set the mood. The loose lines and casual drawings create a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere before customers even order. These visuals feel friendly and approachable, turning menus into part of the experience instead of just a list of items.
Simple Doodles Drink Menu. Use Template
Restaurant Menu Poster. Use Template
Doodle art in branding
Doodle art has become a powerful branding tool. It helps brands feel more approachable, playful, and creative in markets crowded with polished lookalikes. Many companies now use doodle-style logos, packaging, and marketing visuals to stand out and feel more human.
This style gives brands a handcrafted, authentic presence. It signals personality over perfection, which makes identities easier to remember and easier to connect with.
Manischewitz is a strong example. The brand uses doodle-inspired illustrations across its packaging and marketing to create a warm, nostalgic feel. The hand-drawn elements reference tradition and heritage while keeping the visuals fresh and inviting.
These doodles do more than decorate the packaging. They help tell a story. One rooted in family, comfort, and familiarity. The result is a brand that feels homemade, trustworthy, and emotionally grounded, without feeling outdated.
By blending simple, charming sketches with bold typography and warm colors, Manischewitz stands out as a brand that is both inviting and memorable. We explore this more in our guide about how to choose brand colors.
Doodle art style in wall-art
Doodle-style murals and wall prints have become a popular way to bring personality into physical spaces. From cafés and creative offices to home interiors, doodle wall art adds energy, movement, and a sense of play that feels welcoming rather than formal.
These designs can take many forms. Some lean into detailed black and white line work that feels graphic and expressive. Others use bold colors and loose patterns to make a strong visual statement.
Either way, doodle murals turn blank walls into conversation pieces, proving that hand drawn design can shape the mood of a space just as much as furniture or lighting.
Doodle art in fashion
Doodle-style T-shirts are growing in popularity because they feel relaxed but still distinctive. The hand-drawn look adds personality to an outfit without trying too hard, which makes these designs easy to wear and easy to style.
Fashion designers and brands are embracing doodle art because it balances simplicity with visual impact. A few loose lines or playful sketches are often enough to turn a basic T-shirt into something memorable.
Where to find doodle art ideas
Before jumping into how to create digitalized doodle designs, let’s talk about where you can find ideas and inspiration for this trend. Finding the right doodle art ideas can be tricky, but inspiration is everywhere. Here’s where to look:
- Pinterest searches: Use terms like doodle art, conceptual sketch, naive illustration, and easy doodle art to find reference images.
- Everyday objects: Simple things like coffee mugs, plants, or books make great doodle elements.
- Image tracing: Experiment by taking an image and tracing it, then simplifying its details to retain only the main outline. This technique helps transform realistic visuals into doodle-style drawings.
How to make digital doodle illustrations without an ipad or tablet
Step 1
Start sketching: The key to great doodle art? Dont overthink it. Just grab a pen or marker and start sketchingimperfections make doodles more authentic. Plus, youll get a stronger grasp for it as you practice.
To turn your drawing into a digital image, use a blank white page for your sketches (no lines) and a dark ink pen or marker. This will create the best end result for vectorizing.
If you’re just getting started experimenting with this style, here’s some tips from our internal team of designers:
- Start small: Begin with simple objects like flowers or coffee cups.
- Simplicity: Basic lines and shapes work best.
- Repetition: Experiment with recurring motifs to create cohesive designs.
Pro Tip: Messier sketches often result in more charming, natural-looking designs.
Step 2
Vectorize your drawing: Once you have your drawing, all you have to do is take a photo, and upload it to Kittl. Once uploaded, select the image and vectorize with the image vectorize tool in the right side menu.
Step 3
Refine & edit: Once vectorized, you can change the color and adjust the thickness of your drawing with the border option. Youll see in the photo example, we added a border to make the sketch slightly thicker.
Step 4
Add your doodle to your design: To create a complete design, browse templates to add your doodle art to or create a design from scratch. If youre using text, choose fonts that complement your style. We find bold, mid-century style fonts or luxurious script fonts look best.
Final step
Create a mockup of your design directly in the Kittl editor to see how it looks in real life. Kittl’s mockup generator is designed to produce realistic images. Your design will wrap around the shape and folds of the image for accurate representations of your creation.
Doodle art: Key takeaway
Doodle art is a playful way to explore a design style that values personality over perfection. Whether you are an experienced illustrator or someone who enjoys doodling art during breaks, this approach gives you space to experiment and create visuals that feel expressive and unique. From casual sketches to intentional doodle design, the focus is on freedom and character.
All you need is a pen and an idea. Start sketching, then turn those rough lines into digital designs, doodle paintings, or even wearable art. Your doodles deserve more than the margins of a notebook.
Kezia Sabrina is a biotechnologist turned Product Meownager, blending deep user insight with out-of-the-box product strategy. With experience across healthcare, e-commerce, and now the graphic design space, she focuses on building lovable tools and thoughtful pages for her users. At Kittl, she’s shaped the blog into a more seamless experience and occasionally contributes as a writer, combining her product thinking, SEO experimentation, and just enough creative weirdness to stay memorable.
