BOOK REVIEW: ‘Doodle Zen: Finding Creativity and Calm In A Sketchbook’ by Dawn Sokol

It’s hard to put a book that is mostly at the hands of the reader to contribute to into words. So forgive me if this seems abstract, but do know that Doodle Zen is a beautiful book of top quality.

Picking it up for the first time, readers are bound to be struck by the unique colours that appear through the book. The book begins with a concise introduction, and the other pages encourage the reader to use whatever methods they find preferable to comfort themselves while using this book. It isn’t just a relaxation book that makes you colour in between the lines, it allows you to create collages, cut it up, or do whatever you’d like to it.

The first few pages where you create offer encouragement, but after that leaves you to create your own magic. The page has paint splashes across it which may serve as inspiration, and I found it interesting how on some pages I was using these in my drawings, and other times, letting them be in the background. As the book progresses it occasionally suggests a new element that you may want to incorporate to make sure that your work is varied, but ultimately the artist is not coddled.

Doodle Zen really finds its merit in the third section, when readers are encouraged to list or doodle things they like about themselves, and other self-affirming things. This showed a unique level to the book, and one that was welcomed. For some, this alternative to simply listing may inspire them to have a smile on their face while listing things they like about themselves, and also serve as a unique way that people can find calm and peace.

Doodle Zen is a book that is both effective and beautiful. After using it, I did find myself calmer than I was before. It is a small book that people should pack in their bag, and use while on the go. Despite never creating anything that I could pass of for art, I was grateful for having followed the illustrations in the book, and that’s what I imagine it was created for.