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My beautiful boy Kylan loves to draw, paint, glue, glitter, make, stick, cut, tape and create almost anything!

No day goes by where he isn’t making some wonderful contraption, of which we have a house full, and every wall is adorned with his artistic endeavours. He loves it and I love watching him. His favourite present from his 5th birthday was a sellotape dispenser because ‘Now I can cut my own tape Daddy without asking you, brilliant!’.

When he was 3 and 4 years old he started drawing lots of patterns, swirls and crazy scribbles. The patterns became quite intricate and beautiful, modern abstract pieces of art in themselves of which Victor Vasarely would have been proud.

I started to think, what would they be like if I coloured them in?

So, I decided to pick my favourite pattern and digitally colour it in. The results were amazing!

We decided to do a whole series of them, you can see 7 of them below with Kylan’s original drawing side-by-side. Which one is your favourite?

 

Mr Dodd

I love to write books for young children, ponder the big wobbly questions of life and create artworks that make your eyes smile. This is my website.

19 Comments

  • These are stunning Paul, I’m torn between numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 to choose a favourite! If pushed I’d choose number 6.
    What a team you and Kylan make.

    • Paul Dodd says:

      Aw thank you Lynn! Glad you like them, I think number 7 is my favourite. It’s like a Picasso or something! x

  • Stephen powell says:

    Beautiful!
    Are they for sale?

    • Paul Dodd says:

      Hi Stephen
      Thanks! Not at the minute, but I’m sure they could be. They are digital paintngs so can easily be printed on canvas. Let me know if you’d be interested, I’ve seen other people setup Etsy shops 🙂

  • Amanda Little says:

    I love them all and think this is so awesome! It’s hard to choose a favorite but I would say #4 is extra special! Great job Kylan and Dad!

  • Simon says:

    Hi Paul, these are lovely. Can you describe a little of the workflow to get the effects you used?

    Simon

    • Paul Dodd says:

      Thank you Simon!
      I first masked off all the areas then played around with colour palettes by filling in different areas to check best contrast. I then started overlaying various textures and effects to achieve the painted and grungy look. There are multiple layers and bespoke shading in many places. Hope that helps explain!

  • Bia Manhães says:

    Hi!!!! A-mazing work!
    So in love with all of them (especially #1 and #3)!!!
    Could I buy the digital files? (so I can later decided the size and print them)

    Really really love your work. 😀

    • Paul Dodd says:

      Hi Bia!

      Thanks for the awesome comments, so glad you love the pictures. #1 was the original, so it’ll always be special to me.
      Sorry but I can’t sell the digital files, I need to keep ownership of these I hope you understand. I am looking into selling these as digital prints though, let me know if you’d be interested as there would be a variety of sizes to choose from.

      Thanks again 🙂

  • Bia Manhães says:

    Hi!
    That would be perfect! Do you know when they might be available?
    And sorry about the ownership thing. It was never my intention 🙂

    Thanks!!! 😀

  • Jennifer Lecher says:

    They are all lovely. My favorite is the purple one with green multi. How do you color them digitally? Is there a specific program? My niece is quite artistic, I’d love to learn to do something similar with her. Best regards, keep them coming!

    • Paul Dodd says:

      So glad you like them Jennifer, thanks for the great comments. Check out the answer to Simon in the comments, explains a little bit about how I achieved them. They were all done in Photoshop 😉

  • Kerry says:

    So gorgeous! I love #3. It reminds me of a parent safely cradling a baby. The purple hues are beautiful! I would love to purchase a few!

    • Paul Dodd says:

      Thank you Kerry! Ha, that’s brilliant, other people have seen a witch on a broom flying past the moon!! I prefer yours 😉
      I’m looking into an online shop for the canvasses, I’ll let you know as soon it’s on the site.

  • Ellen Moana says:

    They are all really beautiful, but if I HAD to choose, it’d be #3 and #6. I want them ALL! In fact, I think I want your son to come draw on my plain white walls 😀 What a solid team you guys are, and how I wish EVERYONE could have a Dad like you! Anyone who adores their children’s art like you do, are totally, utterly PRICELESSLY VALUABLE! EVERY kid should have someone like that in their life <3

    • Paul Dodd says:

      Wow, thanks Ellen, I’m blushing now!! I’m sure Kylan would love to draw all over your walls, we’re always telling him to stop drawing on ours!

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