Doodle Therapy on Adobe Live | by Alice Lee

Doodle Therapy was an interactive live drawing show that I created and hosted for Adobe Live from 2020 to 2022. On each stream, we chatted with a guest about life and art while drawing — real talk over doodles. Viewers were invited to ask questions, chime in, and draw along with our weekly prompts (check out the amazing community art submissions!).

I aimed to bring on guests whose work explore different illustration genres, who also have unusual or interesting backgrounds. As someone who never went to art school and is mostly self-taught, it's hopefully both an educational and encouraging reminder that there's no one path to becoming an illustrator! All of the past stream replays can be found linked below.

Thank you

My sincerest thanks to everyone who was a part of DT — the Adobe team (for the support), Jeffrey Lin (our tech), Sam Peterson (our mod), the guests, and the viewers <3.

formerly Weds & Thurs, 3-4 PM PST
on Adobe Live

Oct 25

Spooky Spells with Cam Chan / @_baomii

Past guest streams

cam_chan/@_baomii

with Baomii (Cam Chan)

We brought Doodle Therapy out of hiatus for a special edition Adobe MAX stream with LA-based artist Cam Chan, aka Baomii! Cam shared her story of forging her path from art school and into the animation industry. In honor of spooky season, we made spooky themed doodles — snakes, spells, and witches!

with Catherine Madden & Amy Wibowo

On our season finale, we brought on encore guests (and my studiomates) Catherine Madden and Amy Wibowo. Together, we worked on our dream projects: textile design, ceramics, zines, etc!

wooden_wave/@woodenwaveart

with Wooden Wave

Wooden Wave is an amazing Oahu-based mural-paintin' duo, and I was so excited to chat with them about their approach to world building, as seen in their trademark detailed treehouse murals! We also spoke with Roxy and Matt about their journey to where they are today, as artists and as a team in marriage and art!

christina_young/@christinacyoung

Friendly Isometric Scenes

with Christina Young

We welcomed 3D artist and illustrator Christina Young, joining us from Queens, NY! She blew our collective minds with tips on how to use Illustrator features like Extrude & Bevel, Rotate, etc. to create 3D isometric objects out of 2D vectors. We also chatted about Christina's unique journey into design and art.

daniel_fishel/@o_fishel

How to Promote Yourself

with Daniel Fishel

In this week's stream, we chat with Queens-based illustrator and educator Daniel Fishel on the in's and out's of self-promotion as an illustrator! We covered Daniel's personal story in getting started as an illustrator, and discussed various passive, direct, and indirect strategies to promoting yourself.

laura_gao/@heylauragao

Together with Taipei-based graphic novelist Laura Gao, we illustrated a sequential comic series of past memories! Laura spoke with us about her upcoming graphic novel debut, Messy Roots; her journey from business school to tech to art; and the power of sharing and centering queer stories and representation in art.

tiffany_tan/@apple.cheeks

Breakfast Food Characters

with Apple Cheeks (Tiffany Tan)

This week with Tiffany Tan (also known as Apple Cheeks!), we doodled cute breakfast food characters together. We also chatted about Tiffany's journey to where she is now as an artist, managing mental health, creative art blocks, and future goals.

cleonique_hilsaca/@cleonique

Mythological Creatures

with Cleonique Hilsaca

On these streams, we explored the world of mythological creatures with illustrator Cleonique Hilsaca. Cleonique started with a simple b/w sketch and demo-ed her process of going to final color with the amazing live watercolor brushes in Fresco.

frankie_cihi/@furpuff

with Frankie Cihi

With Tokyo-based muralist and artist Frankie Cihi, we explored patterns! I created a repeating fabric swatch, and Frankie painted landscape textures. We also Real-Talked™ about her art journey, creative confidence, and dreams.

coco_glez/@coco__glez

For Doodle Therapy's one-year birthday stream, we celebrated with egg tarts and painted magical illustrations with Spanish artist Coco Glez. We also chatted about Coco's journey, exploring your artistic voice, and social media.

catherine_madden/@catmule

with Catherine Madden

Information & editorial designer Catherine Madden led us in creating illustrated maps of the places that we cherish. We discussed our respective financial planning involved in taking the leap to being an independent artist.

ann_alonso/@arcasian_

Stationery Design

with Ann Alonso

On this stream, we created custom notebook designs with Ann Alonso and discussed the meaningful stories behind her illustrations and lifestyle goods shop, Arcasian.

nick_slater/@slaterdesign

Adventure Landscapes

with Nick Slater

Illustrator Nick Slater took us on an adventure as we painted landscapes together! Nick blew me away with his speed and shortcuts dexterity, as well as his encouragement for others. These streams are for anyone trying to pick up Illustrator or in need of a pep talk.

bonnie_kate_wolf/@bonniekatewolf

Redraw Challenge

with Bonnie Kate Wolf

The effervescent Bonnie Kate challenged us to redraw an old piece that we'd created before, and impressively finished her piece on stream! BK also discussed her journey through tech and design in growing as an illustrator.

shirley_wu/@sxywu

with Shirley Wu

On these streams, Shirley Wu introduced to the world of data art. Together, we created respective data art pieces: illustrations where each element corresponds to a meaningful set of data and tells a larger story.

shing_yin_khor/@sawdustbear

with Shing Yin Khor

Experiential designer and graphic novelist Shing Yin Khor has an impressive and wide-ranging art practice centered around pure making, which I deeply admire. Together, we created fun zines together and discussed Shing's art journey.

lauren_hom/@homsweethom

New Year, New Horizons

with Lauren Hom

Lauren Hom is an all-star letterer and fellow snacks-lover, and for our last stream of 2020, we talked about our goals for the future. We also made pieces in a genre of illustration that's outside of our respective comfort zones.

syd_weiler/@sydweiler

Pins & Stickers

with Syd Weiler

With artist Syd Weiler, we discussed the balance of commercial vs personal that we try to strike in our respective work — all the while designing a pins and stickers set.

susan_lin/@mintlodica

In these streams, we dove into the world of keycaps design with the artist behind the best-selling Magic Girl keyboard sets, CEO of Mintlodica, and former COO of The Key Company, Susan Lin.

anoosha_syed/@foxville_art

Children's Book Illustrations

with Anoosha Syed

Anoosha Syed is a prolific illustrator who has worked on over 20+ children's books! On these streams, we discussed the business and process of working in the publishing industry, pitching, working with agents, etc.

deb_lee/@jdebbiel

On these streams with graphic novelist Deb Lee, we explored sequential art and created a short-form comics! We talked about Deb's illustration origin story, and how we became collaborators and friends after a cold email years ago.

ryan_putnam/@rypearts

with Ryan Putnam

With illustrator and ceramist Ryan Putnam, we discussed career paths amidst uncertainty, and the theory behind creating unique palettes. Ryan and I were former studiomates, and originally gave the first joint Doodle Therapy talk at the 2019 Dribbble conference.

amy_wibowo/@sailorhg

Childhood Nostalgia

with Amy Wibowo

On these streams with the multi-talented Amy Wibowo (who is also my studiomate ✿), we explored inspiration from our favorite childhood memories: TV shows, snacks, movies, etc.

hosted_by/@voodoo_val

hosted by VooDoo Val

Although these streams hosted by VooDoo Val were on Adobe Live's main illustration show and weren't technically Doodle Therapy, they were the precursor that started it all (and kicked off my original pitch to Adobe!). Plus, Val is an awesome streamer and it was fun, so I'm putting these here anyway. ヾ(＾-＾)ノ❁

Community Submissions

I am constantly inspired by the doodle submissions from our talented and enthusiastic community. Below is a sampling of past submissions! Thank you to all the doodlers who participate!

A huge thank you to the Adobe Live team for supporting our show and building such an enthusiastic community. Thank you to our moderator, concept artist and fellow streamer Sam Peterson! Finally, thank you to Jeffrey Lin, who runs our studio tech. (❁´◡`❁)

All previous Doodle Therapy streams live on the Adobe Creative Cloud channel and can be found in this compilation playlist.