In a Q&A session, we catch up with Kent’s very own Mr Doodle, aka Sam Cox, the internationally renowned artist who went viral last year with the extraordinary home he's decorated. He tells us about his passion for doodling, his plans for the future - and explains why the county is so precious to him.
Mr Doodle – thanks so much for finding time to talk to us! Can you start by telling us a bit about your background?
I grew up in St Michael’s, near Tenterden, where I still live. Most of my family live nearby, including both sets of grandparents, my aunts, uncles and cousins. I attended the local secondary school, Homewood, and it was while I was studying Art, Graphic Design and Photography there that I really became obsessed with art and, in particular, doodling.
My art, graphics and photography teacher at Homewood, Morgan Davies - who’s now my full-time Creative Director - encouraged me to pursue my passion for doodling. Back in 2012, he booked a gallery space for me in Whitstable and told me it was time I showed my work publicly. The experience was a pivotal point for me and led to me working closely with a number of big brands over the next few years while I was at university in Bristol studying Illustration. It was here that I developed the Mr Doodle identity, wearing a doodled suit and building the narrative around Mr Doodle and DoodleLand that exists today.
Had you always wanted to create a doodled house?
It’s been an idea ever since I was at school - I’d doodled over my bedroom at home, first on pieces of paper I’d covered the walls with, later on the actual walls themselves, and thought how cool it would be to continue and doodle an entire house both inside and out. Once I was in a position to make the dream a reality, I looked at a number of properties before choosing one to buy and doodle over. I knew I wanted it to be in the area I grew up in, close to my family. It also needed to be in a relatively secluded location, off the road and out of sight, so that I could doodle on the outside without upsetting any neighbours. Once I’d bought the house back in 2019, I wanted to get started and doodle over it as soon as possible.
Morgan came around to see it and convinced me to slow down and not rush into anything. He advised me to spend time preparing each room by removing all unnecessary fixtures and fittings, to simplify every space and create a minimal white blank canvas that would complement my doodles and lend itself to the process. I took his advice and brought in my uncle Graham as project manager. He oversaw the extensive renovation of the house, which took almost a year to complete. Once this was finished, I was able to start doodling – a process that took me a further two years, 900 litres of white paint, 401 spray cans, 286 ink bottles and 2,296 pen nibs to complete! I tried to make the doodles relate to the function of the room I was in – for example, the doodles in the bedroom mostly depict sleepy characters, whereas the doodles in the kitchen are all food and drink inspired.
Our neighbours have been really supportive of the project from the very start, as have the rest of the local community – something that really means a lot to me and my family.
The response online has been incredibly positive and of course I’ve received hundreds of requests from people who’d like to see the house for themselves. It’s just not possible, which is why we’ll be creating a virtual 360-degree ultra-high definition online tour at some point in the near future.
So do you and your wife actually live in the house now?
Yes, all the surfaces have been protected now, which means Mrs Doodle and I have moved in, together with our dog, Joey, and our soon-to-be-born baby. I find the doodled environment very calming - and am very pleased that Mrs Doodle feels exactly the same way. Of course, I’m sure that most people would find being surrounded entirely by doodles every day a little too much, but we love our new doodled home and really couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
How did you and Mrs Doodle meet?
I met Alena, who’s from Ukraine, via Instagram. She commented on a video I’d posted of me drawing, which led to us communicating for some time before eventually we met up in person in Berlin. We hit it off immediately and soon after I travelled to Ukraine to surprise her without telling her I was coming. I even kept it secret from my own family, who thought I was going away for work purposes!
Alena is a keen artist herself and, although her style is very different to mine, we collaborated on a collection of paintings called Mr Doodle in Love, which is currently being shown at K11 in Wuhan, China – the paintings show us going about everyday activities we enjoy doing together: walking the dog, gardening, watching TV. I did the line drawing of the characters and backgrounds, with Alena adding the colour afterwards. The bold use of colour symbolises the way she’s enriched my life since I met her – it’s no surprise, then, that colour has become a more prominent feature of my work over the past few years.
We were very fortunate to have got Alena’s parents over to the UK from Ukraine just days before the conflict started. They’ve both settled in well and spend a lot of time with us at the Doodle House – we’re so lucky that they’ll be here for the birth of their first grandchild - and our first baby - later this year.
Your international success takes you all over the world, but you’ve still found time to create public art locally
Yes – and I love doing so, because my community here in Kent really does mean so much to me. In the past, I created murals for friends and families within their homes, for local businesses and schools, including my own primary and secondary schools, as well as working with the local council on projects they’d organised. More recently I’ve been fortunate to be offered the opportunity to doodle over some much bigger walls and spaces in and around Kent. Last year, I was invited to doodle over the outside of the awesome F51 skatepark in Folkestone, designed by Hythe-based Hollaway Studio, and this year I was invited to create my biggest single doodle to date on a wall in Ashford, as part of Ashford Unframed, the town’s first, hugely successful, mural festival.
It’s a true privilege to be given the opportunity to create doodles on such a grand scale, especially when they’re so close to home. I truly see doodling as a ‘happy’, non-confrontational art form and would love my work to add something positive to the communities I create them in, to put a smile on people’s faces and to make them feel good about themselves and their community.
What further plans are on your horizon, personally and professionally?
First and foremost is the birth of our first child. Alena and I are currently preparing the house and making it a little more baby friendly. We often wonder what our baby will think of the house when he or she is old enough to communicate. Will it be an inspiration to them to doodle themselves or will it do the opposite and encourage them to become a minimalist? Only time will tell…
From an art perspective, I have a number of solo exhibitions and art fairs planned for 2023 / 2024, in locations including Asia and the UK. So I’ll be spending a lot of time in the studio, creating new paintings and other artworks – something I’m really excited about. I’m also in the process of building a bespoke artist’s studio at the Doodle House, which will allow me to work on much bigger canvases than I can do currently.
Which artists inspire you?
There are many artists I greatly admire, both past and present. I really admire the work of Keith Haring, whose style my work is often compared to. I admire how he managed to cross the divide between the worlds of art and graffiti, long before the ‘street art’ genre blurred the boundaries.
I also love Banksy’s work, although, unlike me, his work is political and he’s anonymous, I admire the way he’s remained true to his cause and communicates his views in such a universal and accessible way.
Do you have any advice for aspiring young artists?
Simply keep working and creating what you like as often as you can. Stay true to yourself and don’t be overly influenced by what’s popular. If you are passionate about what you’re creating, others will be, too. Making art should firstly make you happy. If you enjoy it, anything extra is simply a bonus!
And when you’re not working, how do you relax?
Alena and I like to go for walks into Tenterden and we’ll always enjoy a coffee at The Nutmeg Deli. We really love driving to the Kent coast for inspiration. Our absolute favourite destination for this is Dungeness, with its untamed beauty and the chance to sample the ‘daily catch’ at The Snack Shack on the beach. We also enjoy driving east of Tenterden to Whitstable – we’ll take a walk along the beach there, then follow it up with some delicious seafood at the famous Wheeler’s Oyster Bar.
