How to Doodle an Obstacle

Step 1

If someone asked you to visualize an OBSTACLE, what would you draw? Let’s begin by drawing a horizontal line near the bottom of our page. Label the left end of the line with an A, and the right end of the line with a B. Then draw a rectangle in the middle.

Step 2

Our rectangle will become a wall that is standing between Point A and Point B.  To make it look like a wall, let’s draw several horizontal and vertical lines. Notice how the vertical lines don’t quite line up. They are all rather placed within gaps. This now becomes our representation of a brick wall.

Step 3

Let’s now doodle a simple representation of a person on the left side of our brick wall. For this example, I have used a simple stick figure. I used straight lines and oval shapes to draw my stick figure. Notice how the stick figure is reaching over and touching its chin. This is a contemplative pose that gives us the impression that he/she is thinking about how to potentially scale the wall.

Step 4

At Point B, let’s draw a representation of a goal. To represent our goal, let’s doodle a star. I used 5 v-shapes to draw my star. I also used straight lines to represent that the star is shining. Our star now becomes our goal. And the brick wall, of course, represents the obstacle that stands between our stick figure character and the goal.

Step 5

Add the finishing touches to your doodle by giving it some color. Notice how two shades of red were used to color in the bricks on our wall. And there we have it. This is our representation of an OBSTACLE. Our cartoon character is at Point A but wants to get to Point B. However, the brick wall or obstacle stands in his/her way. A simple visual representation that gets our message across. How many other ways can you think of to draw an obstacle?