Michael Jackson said, “If you’re thinkin’ of being my brother, it don’t matter if you’re black or white“. While it is typical of artwork to be expressed in colours, this artist adopted the idea into his artwork, who describes his drawing style as intricate black and white drawing, tangled with nature elements. He is a Malaysian doodle artist who works under the name, Marty Woods.
Marty Woods’ Workmanship
Marty Woods is a doodle artist and a colouring book author who sells his work on various Print-On-Demand (POD) websites such as Society6, Zazzle and Redbubble. He is also with a Malaysia based POD company, Creative United. He sells his work from originals to prints and also transfer some of his doodles onto products such as totebags, handphone cases, T-shirts, pouch bags, mugs, scarves, etc. Besides selling his doodles on POD websites, he also take commissions work from private customers and companies. Most of his customers are from overseas as he opines that overseas’ customers are more appreciative of this kind of art. In addition, Marty signed a contract with one of the biggest book publishers in the world, Harper Collins/Harlequin of New York to publish an adult coloring book titled Exotic Kingdom which is scheduled to be released in June 2016.
The Dawning of Marty Woods
Marty has always been doodling but in 2013 things really took off when he started sharing his work on my Instagram account. He started from scratch but now has over 12K followers on Instagram and almost 6K followers on Facebook. When his Instagram account grew, he started getting emails and messages from all over the world offering commission work, and invitation for various collaboration with overseas companies and start-ups. That’s when he thought about doing this seriously and professionally.
Knowing Marty Woods
Marty is a computer science graduate and is currently working as a computer programmer. He was born in Perak, grew up in Penang Island and now lives in Petaling Jaya. Since he has a day job, he mostly draws at night and on weekends. He also enjoys speed skating a lot and skates with my team Kelab Inline Skate Radical. Marty says his biggest challenge is convincing people that doodles are not a lower grade form of art. “As someone without any formal education in arts, sometimes people don’t take you seriously. I don’t think people take me seriously when I told them I am freelance artist/doodler until I showed them my work or portfolio. That’s why I force myself to work harder, always learning and keep creating more arts.” Marty shares with TallyPress.
Woody Philosophy
Marty started out with the intention to share his art and inspire people. Every now and then, he get messages and emails from strangers telling me how they love his work and inspire them in some way. Marty loves it when people tag him in drawings that they coloured or their own version of his drawings. All these mean a lot to him and tells him that he has already achieved something. He love animals and nature, hence the heavy influence in his works. “My subjects is always tangled and heavily infused with nature elements such as roots, flowers, leaves, trees and animals. I mostly use black ink and pencil as my mediums. My aim is to make my audience appreciate the beauty of nature in a mesmerizing way through various lines, shapes and patterns. My drawing style is best described as intricate black and white drawing, tangled with nature elements. My signature includes crisp clean lines, intricate forms and patterns, layers upon layers of elements and full use of white spaces.” Marty tells TallyPress.
There are many outstanding doodle artists out there and to stand out and Marty believes you have to be really unique and different. He thinks you may want to create a living out of art butat the same time you don’t want to create something that everyone else is doing. Marty believes what makes his work different is his unique style and approach. Since he has no formal education in arts, he is not bound to whatever rules or principles learnt formally. Marty plans have more coloring books under his name, and also to have an array of his own products with doodles on them.
Work harder than everyone else because hard work beats talent anytime, always give your best for your customers and pay no attention to people who look down upon you.
— Marty Woods
Click here to order your copy of Marty’s Exotic Kingdom!
