A drawing Küntay made when he was only six years old.”
Doodlism Manifesto
My Story
We are all born with certain genetic codes. Life presents us with a common path: go to school, graduate, get a job, get married, build a stable routine… Most people follow this route. But some of us —like me— fall outside these generalizations. We get labeled as failures, misfits. We become “the others” in society; judged, nicknamed, and placed into categories.
I grew up inside those categories. The “naughty one,” the one who “doesn’t understand,” the one who “always makes mistakes.” I was always a bit on the outside, a bit “less than.” Throughout my education, I was treated as unsuccessful. Sure, there were things I was good at —but they weren’t considered “real achievements.”
In Turkey, being good at PE or art class doesn’t impress anyone.
But for me, those classes were oxygen.
The system never asked me what I truly wanted, and it pushed me through high school without offering any real choices. During those years, I had a talent I wasn’t even aware of: drawing. It wasn’t just a talent—it was an inner impulse. When I was a kid, psychologists said I had attention deficit and hyperactivity; medication was optional, but I kept ignoring what wasn’t working in my mind for years. And inside that avoidance, a space of my own was born: an unstoppable urge to draw.
My drawings were me. They showed the chaos in my head, my freedom, a place where mistakes didn’t exist but also didn’t matter. They didn’t belong to any movement; they came purely from within. Over time, I began calling it “Doodlism.” Because “doodle” comes from the act of scribbling, and I turned those scribbles into a language —into art. Later, I shared this style with people, held workshops, and helped others draw from their inner world. What started with me gradually became a movement.
The reason I’m writing this manifesto is simple: years later, when I shared my drawings on Instagram, many people said they had never seen anything like it. And I didn’t know there were others who drew the way I did. So I wanted to share my story, my naming, my journey. And I finally gave this urge a name.
The drawing above is something I made when I was a child. It still sits in my studio, its ink dry, almost ready to take flight… It reminds me of one truth: everyone is different, and everyone should do whatever their inner voice tells them.
I honestly don’t care what you think about my drawings anymore.
Because I’m doing what I love.
Love