[Sam Cox, aka Mr. Doodle, artist, doodling on walls of Sketch restaurant]
[Cox doodling]
[Marker]
[Cox doodling]
[People watching Cox]
[Entrance to ‘pods’, toilets]
[Doodles]
[Pod toilet area covered in Mr. Doodle designs]
[Toilet pod with blue doodles]
[Toilet pod and basin area]
[Doodle]
[Toilet]
Mr. Doodle (interview): “It’s a very meditative process when I’m working on the doodles, because I’m never really thinking about the doodles. I don’t see this in my head when I draw it. I just kind move my hand and I’m just thinking about completely different stuff. I’ll be thinking about memories from when I was a kid or trying to work out what the next projects are going to be. But I’m never really thinking about I’m going to draw an alien now, a robot now, a fish. And I never have it mapped out in my head because it’s all coming from like the back of my head, like the subconscious. And I don’t really know what’s there. It’s just kind of flowing out. And I’m the audience for it when it happens as much as anyone else is. So I just kind of watch it and am entertained by it, and I just kind of lose myself, forget where I am, forget what time of day it is and just, enjoy being in that kind of flow state.”
[Toilet area]
[Art reading “Mr Doodle!”]
Mr. Doodle (interview): “Sometimes I do make a mistake. A line will bump into another line a bit too much, and I will have to just touch it up a little bit with the pen. Everything can kind of be slightly fixed or altered. Sometimes they’ll be drips and things, but I don’t really see them as mistakes. They’re kind of just part of the process, really. But most of the time, the pen is quite forgiving. And doodle land as a place is quite forgiving, and you can of turn things into other things. So if one character has three arms, it doesn’t look wrong because of the nature of the work, really.”
[Basin area]
[Doodles reflected in mirror]
[Partially decorated toilet pod]
Mr. Doodle (interview): “I’ve always loved to doodle since I was a little kid, so I loved video games and cartoons, and I just was inspired by all the characters, really. And I used to create my own based on those characters. And I love to doodle over my bedroom walls and my parents’ furniture. And they kind of encouraged me. Most of time I got encouraged to doodle, except when I was doodling on things that I probably wasn’t supposed to like street signs or things like that. So I’ve always loved it, and it’s always been a real passion of mine and felt very instinctive and kind of natural to gravitate towards the art.”
[Mr. Doodle drawing]
Mr. Doodle (interview): “I think there’s a lot of people in the art world that don’t like this kind of thing, like doodles and things, and there’s strict things in their head that they think art should be, or there should be like some form of concept or message or something heavy or deep about an artwork. And I don’t really see it that way. And I think there’s a lot of people out there who also feel that way, who are also in the art world. So I think for some people they accept it. Other people don’t so much.”
[Entrance hall covered in doodles]
[Exterior of restaurant]
This script was provided by The Associated Press.