Quotes: Brian Gable

"The editorial cartoonist's task is to emerge from [a] blizzard of information with a coherent and (it is hoped) amusing idea, one that addresses some aspect of the day's events. That good idea requires coaxing, coddling, cajoling. ...

In my case, that coaxing process is based entirely on doodling, which I've done my entire life. ...

At the beginning of each workday, one scribble has led to another, when suddenly, out of the muddled swirl of pencil strokes, the artist's twisted subconscious recognizes the germ of a cartoon idea. It's much closer to alchemy than it is to science."

 –– Brian Gable (b. 1949), Canadian editorial cartoonist*

Source: Brian Gable. 'Adieu.' The Globe and Mail, Saturday September 9, 2023, p. O9.  *Brian Gable was The Globe and Mail's editorial cartoonist for 35 years. He retired in September 2023.

Quotes: Mark Fenske

"Doodling has ... been shown to enhance our ability to track and remember key aspects of otherwise highly tedious tasks. It seems the slight distraction provided by the random swirls and shapes we draw occupies the brain's cognitive-control mechanisms that help us seek engaging activities and try to steer us away from situations that are not rewarding. But the doodling itself does not require a lot of the brain's processing resources, allowing us to take in and encode whatever else is going on without interference from these "I'm bored and need to do something else" mechanisms. 

–– Mark Fenske, author and cognitive-neuroscientist and Professor in the department of Psychology at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada 

Source: "Fidget, squirm, doodle –– and think better." The Globe and Mail, Thursday December 1, 2011, p. L6. 

via Sketchbook 17, 2011, p. 38