FX TALK is an original interview series initiated by Fashion Exchange, featuring Fashion IPs such as designers, artists, celebrities, and influencers, delving into their ideologies, inspirations, business thinking, and personal explorations. This series covers various fields like fashion, art, design, culture, business, consumption, and lifestyle, focusing on brands, products, marketing, and collaborations. It empowers industry insiders and the general public to understand and feel how Fashion IPs’ creations connect with our daily lives, helps them grasp the essence behind traffic, hit products, and business growth, and provides valuable, interesting, and diverse innovation experience for brands and companies that strive to tell compelling stories and do great business.
That sounds really enviable, doesn’t it? He do exactly the thing he loves most every day and it seems like he can’t stop.
With orange curly hair, an exaggerated quirky expression, and graffiti-covered clothes, this cartoon-like character armed with his marker, steppes out of graffiti canvas to save this boring real world.
In December 2014, while Sam Cox was studying illustration at the University of the West of England in Bristol, he walked into class wearing clothes covered in his hand-doodles. “Mr Doodle,” his teacher called him.
From 1 Pound to 1 Million Dollars
In 2015, Mr Doodle tried selling his doodle artwork for just 1 pound on the streets of London, challenging himself to make a living through art and documenting the entire process on Instagram. Most of the time, people ignored him, but whenever he managed to trade his art for something, like balloons or ice cream, he would be overjoyed: dressed in his signature doodle outfit, dancing with strangers on the streets, and striking quirky poses with his doodle-covered clothes, bright red hair, and expressive gestures. He is a very cheerful person, never thinking about “messing up,” only about “having a doodley day”, and he decorates every single day with his favourite doodle stuff.
Later on, his continuous graffiti spaghetti and odd little cartoon characters attracted millions of young fans on the internet. In 2017, at the age of 23, he conducted a 50-hour doodle marathon on the streets of London for charity, which led to his rise to fame.
In July 2018, at a solo exhibition titled Doodle World at the Ara Art Center in Seoul, Mr Doodle used his unique doodle style to reinterpret famous paintings like the Mona Lisa and The Scream, as well as renowned world leaders and tourist landmarks. “This is where collectors started to take an interest in my work,” he said. As pop culture rose in the art market, especially in East Asia, Mr Doodle’s approach of using graffiti as a universal language to attract people began to succeed in the commercial world.
“This is where collectors
Started to take an interest in my work.”
In 2020, Mr Doodle made his debut in the international auction market. His 2019 artwork Spring was sold for approximately $1 million at the Tokyo Chuo Auction, catapulting him to the 5th position in the total sales rankings for artists under 40. In 2022, his piece Big Kitty was auctioned at Sotheby’s Hong Kong Spring Sale for HKD 6.3 million, exceeding its base price by 1475%, making him one of the youngest artists to be featured by the auction house.
According to data released by Artnet, since 2021, Mr Doodle has been among the top 10 most frequently appearing living artists at auctions. That same year, he married Alena, his quirky and adorable wife who shares his passion for the doodle world. Since then, elements of love and more diverse colors have started to appear in Mr Doodle’s previously black-and-white graffiti.
A Globally Acclaimed OCD genius
Filling every blank with graffiti makes Mr Doodle relaxed and happy, and also helps him find redemption from his OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Drawing) suffering. Fans also thank him, saying that watching his doodling videos has helped cure their OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).
The graffiti of Mr Doodle might look like random graffiti spaghetti at first glance, but if you zoom in, you can see the meticulous structure and smooth lines. These lines form various characters and stories that help heal people. His work contains no metaphors, satire, malice, or political undertones — only pure happiness.
Born in 1994, Mr Doodle fell in love with drawing at the age of 3, and then, his doodles began to uncontrollably spread from objects, furniture, and his bedroom one by one, and eventually to fast-food restaurants and school walls in his neighborhood. Over time, we have come to recognize more and more of Mr Doodle’s whimsical characters in public spaces such as street phone booths, F1 cars, museum exteriors, bus bodies, commercial building facades, subway stations, and shops.
“Mr Doodle bought a villa
In Kent, England,
Spent two years,
Using over 2,000 markers to
Hand-doodle every corner of the house”
In 2020, Mr Doodle bought a villa in Kent, England. Over two years, he used more than 2,000 markers to hand-doodle every corner of the house, fulfilling a goal he set for himself at 15: to create his own Doodle Land. The video documenting the entire process on his YouTube channel has garnered over 6.9 million views.
Global brands like FENDI, PUMA, Samsung, Converse, Disney, and McDonald’s all have collaborated with Mr Doodle, and these collaborations spread across many countries such as the UK, the USA, China, South Korea, and Japan, bringing and sharing love, magic, and happiness to everyone they meet.
“Covering the entire universe with doodles!” is Mr Doodle’s wild and bold dream. This is his lifelong mission, spanning the past, present, and future. As he continues on this path, every day for him becomes a “Have a doodley day!”
In May 2024, Mr Doodle came and visited to FX (Fashion Exchange) Shanghai Office for the collaboration with McDonald’s. He wore his signature doodled outfit, raised his hand and said hi to us. From our office, he saw the Oriental Pearl Tower and excitedly told us he wanted to learn Shanghainese, we taught him a few phrases, and he was as happy as a child. When we spoke face to face, we realized that Mr Doodle would be more reserved, sincere, and even a bit shy, which were different from his quirky persona in videos. However, when he picked up a maker, the fun, quirky, whimsical Mr Doodle we were so familiar with in videos reappeared in front of us. We took him to visit some iconic landmarks in Shanghai, helping him acknowledge the Chinese market and culture. And it was during this joyful journey that we had this Exclusive FX TALK with him.
FX: Have you ever tried to keep track of how many markers you’ve used up?
Mr Doodle: No, but I wish I had. They’re refillable so I don’t actually use that many but on some days it’s about 6 bottles, other days it’s only 1, it’s probably an average of 20 or so a week.
FX: Is there a particularly bold or crazy dream for your artistic journey that you hope to achieve one day?
Mr Doodle: Yes! I want to doodle a town! I am determined to make it happen. Maybe I’ll build one.
FX: Many fans said your painting style cured their OCD. How do you maintain consistency and uniqueness in each of your works?
Mr Doodle: I’ve not heard that before but I’m pleased to hear it’s helped people in that way. I just practice constantly and this leads to a well spaced, even, and consistent output.
FX: You mentioned that YE’s music helped you through a special period in your life. What do you hope to convey to people through your work?
Mr Doodle: Yeah it certainly did. His music really inspires me to draw, it keeps me going if I’m tired and gives me a lot of energy. I don’t really hope to convey anything to people — I draw to satisfy myself but I’m very happy it brings people joy.
FX: How does it feel to be back in China? You once found inspiration in Chinese painting and calligraphy; have you encountered any Chinese cultural elements this time that particularly surprised or moved you?
Mr Doodle: I am very happy to be doodling in China! Visiting the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai was inspiring, it was great to see the city from that view and the scale of it was inspiring. Like looking at a very busy doodle!
FX: Can you share any interesting stories from your collaboration with McDonald’s? Is there a part of the Master KV you created for McDonald’s that you especially hope people will explore? Give us some hints.
Mr Doodle: I was treated to a meal at McDonald’s after visiting the headquarters building in Shanghai and it was so delicious! It was the best McDonald’s I’d ever had. Within the KV I drew lots of happy characters and just thought about how the food makes me happy as it does many others. I think my doodles are quite similar to McDonald’s in the sense that they’re very accessible and just seem to bring joy to people.
FX: What new plans do you have next? Are there any unexpected fields you want to collaborate with?
Mr Doodle: Yes, I’m planning to release the world’s first ever doodle music album soon!
FX: In your opinion, collaboration is ______ ？(use a word or a phrase)
Mr Doodle: A mix of new ingredients.
Along with the interview, FX TALK also presents each interviewee with the FX Questionnaire. We believe that people are the most diverse, vivid, and unique archives. Inspired by the Proust Questionnaire, we extend the conversation with each fashion IP through the FX Questionnaire, aiming to better understand them on a mental and conscious level, and to present our readers with a more authentic and specific image of them.
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It’s hard not to be moved by Mr Doodle’s love for doodling when you meet him. It’s an immersive, pure happiness that transforms him into a more fun and quirky persona, bringing joy to everyone around him. As the commercial value of his artworks is gradually recognized, he is also adapting to a new aspect of his identity — as a brand. “Actually, it’s helpful for an artist to realize they are a brand. That way, they can be more conscious of their value, audience, brand, and the points to consider when collaborating with others.” Mr Doodle said. The brand value brought by high auction prices allows Mr Doodle to continue his doodling journey more smoothly and sustainably. However, for him, it’s not just about the money. He is more concerned with the hope these high auction prices provide, encouraging other doodlers to keep going. He recalls in 2015 when he sold his artwork for just 1 pound with no interest, he couldn’t have imagined that fate had a gift waiting for him around the corner, guiding him to where he is now. And after reaching this point, he hopes to use his story to tell other doodle artists to keep moving forward, as persistence and hope will always be with them.
FX TALK is an original interview series initiated by Fashion Exchange, featuring Fashion IPs such as designers, artists, celebrities, and influencers, delving into their ideologies, inspirations, business thinking, and personal explorations. This series covers various fields like fashion, art, design, culture, business, consumption, and lifestyle, focusing on brands, products, marketing, and collaborations. It empowers industry insiders and the general public to understand and feel how Fashion IPs’ creations connect with our daily lives, helps them grasp the essence behind traffic, hit products, and business growth, and provides valuable, interesting, and diverse innovation experience for brands and companies that strive to tell compelling stories and do great business.
That sounds really enviable, doesn’t it? He do exactly the thing he loves most every day and it seems like he can’t stop.
With orange curly hair, an exaggerated quirky expression, and graffiti-covered clothes, this cartoon-like character armed with his marker, steppes out of graffiti canvas to save this boring real world.
In December 2014, while Sam Cox was studying illustration at the University of the West of England in Bristol, he walked into class wearing clothes covered in his hand-doodles. “Mr Doodle,” his teacher called him.
From 1 Pound to 1 Million Dollars
In 2015, Mr Doodle tried selling his doodle artwork for just 1 pound on the streets of London, challenging himself to make a living through art and documenting the entire process on Instagram. Most of the time, people ignored him, but whenever he managed to trade his art for something, like balloons or ice cream, he would be overjoyed: dressed in his signature doodle outfit, dancing with strangers on the streets, and striking quirky poses with his doodle-covered clothes, bright red hair, and expressive gestures. He is a very cheerful person, never thinking about “messing up,” only about “having a doodley day”, and he decorates every single day with his favourite doodle stuff.
Later on, his continuous graffiti spaghetti and odd little cartoon characters attracted millions of young fans on the internet. In 2017, at the age of 23, he conducted a 50-hour doodle marathon on the streets of London for charity, which led to his rise to fame.
In July 2018, at a solo exhibition titled Doodle World at the Ara Art Center in Seoul, Mr Doodle used his unique doodle style to reinterpret famous paintings like the Mona Lisa and The Scream, as well as renowned world leaders and tourist landmarks. “This is where collectors started to take an interest in my work,” he said. As pop culture rose in the art market, especially in East Asia, Mr Doodle’s approach of using graffiti as a universal language to attract people began to succeed in the commercial world.
“This is where collectors
Started to take an interest in my work.”
In 2020, Mr Doodle made his debut in the international auction market. His 2019 artwork Spring was sold for approximately $1 million at the Tokyo Chuo Auction, catapulting him to the 5th position in the total sales rankings for artists under 40. In 2022, his piece Big Kitty was auctioned at Sotheby’s Hong Kong Spring Sale for HKD 6.3 million, exceeding its base price by 1475%, making him one of the youngest artists to be featured by the auction house.
According to data released by Artnet, since 2021, Mr Doodle has been among the top 10 most frequently appearing living artists at auctions. That same year, he married Alena, his quirky and adorable wife who shares his passion for the doodle world. Since then, elements of love and more diverse colors have started to appear in Mr Doodle’s previously black-and-white graffiti.
A Globally Acclaimed OCD genius
Filling every blank with graffiti makes Mr Doodle relaxed and happy, and also helps him find redemption from his OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Drawing) suffering. Fans also thank him, saying that watching his doodling videos has helped cure their OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder).
The graffiti of Mr Doodle might look like random graffiti spaghetti at first glance, but if you zoom in, you can see the meticulous structure and smooth lines. These lines form various characters and stories that help heal people. His work contains no metaphors, satire, malice, or political undertones — only pure happiness.
Born in 1994, Mr Doodle fell in love with drawing at the age of 3, and then, his doodles began to uncontrollably spread from objects, furniture, and his bedroom one by one, and eventually to fast-food restaurants and school walls in his neighborhood. Over time, we have come to recognize more and more of Mr Doodle’s whimsical characters in public spaces such as street phone booths, F1 cars, museum exteriors, bus bodies, commercial building facades, subway stations, and shops.
“Mr Doodle bought a villa
In Kent, England,
Spent two years,
Using over 2,000 markers to
Hand-doodle every corner of the house”
In 2020, Mr Doodle bought a villa in Kent, England. Over two years, he used more than 2,000 markers to hand-doodle every corner of the house, fulfilling a goal he set for himself at 15: to create his own Doodle Land. The video documenting the entire process on his YouTube channel has garnered over 6.9 million views.
Global brands like FENDI, PUMA, Samsung, Converse, Disney, and McDonald’s all have collaborated with Mr Doodle, and these collaborations spread across many countries such as the UK, the USA, China, South Korea, and Japan, bringing and sharing love, magic, and happiness to everyone they meet.
“Covering the entire universe with doodles!” is Mr Doodle’s wild and bold dream. This is his lifelong mission, spanning the past, present, and future. As he continues on this path, every day for him becomes a “Have a doodley day!”
In May 2024, Mr Doodle came and visited to FX (Fashion Exchange) Shanghai Office for the collaboration with McDonald’s. He wore his signature doodled outfit, raised his hand and said hi to us. From our office, he saw the Oriental Pearl Tower and excitedly told us he wanted to learn Shanghainese, we taught him a few phrases, and he was as happy as a child. When we spoke face to face, we realized that Mr Doodle would be more reserved, sincere, and even a bit shy, which were different from his quirky persona in videos. However, when he picked up a maker, the fun, quirky, whimsical Mr Doodle we were so familiar with in videos reappeared in front of us. We took him to visit some iconic landmarks in Shanghai, helping him acknowledge the Chinese market and culture. And it was during this joyful journey that we had this Exclusive FX TALK with him.
FX: Have you ever tried to keep track of how many markers you’ve used up?
Mr Doodle: No, but I wish I had. They’re refillable so I don’t actually use that many but on some days it’s about 6 bottles, other days it’s only 1, it’s probably an average of 20 or so a week.
FX: Is there a particularly bold or crazy dream for your artistic journey that you hope to achieve one day?
Mr Doodle: Yes! I want to doodle a town! I am determined to make it happen. Maybe I’ll build one.
FX: Many fans said your painting style cured their OCD. How do you maintain consistency and uniqueness in each of your works?
Mr Doodle: I’ve not heard that before but I’m pleased to hear it’s helped people in that way. I just practice constantly and this leads to a well spaced, even, and consistent output.
FX: You mentioned that YE’s music helped you through a special period in your life. What do you hope to convey to people through your work?
Mr Doodle: Yeah it certainly did. His music really inspires me to draw, it keeps me going if I’m tired and gives me a lot of energy. I don’t really hope to convey anything to people — I draw to satisfy myself but I’m very happy it brings people joy.
FX: How does it feel to be back in China? You once found inspiration in Chinese painting and calligraphy; have you encountered any Chinese cultural elements this time that particularly surprised or moved you?
Mr Doodle: I am very happy to be doodling in China! Visiting the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai was inspiring, it was great to see the city from that view and the scale of it was inspiring. Like looking at a very busy doodle!
FX: Can you share any interesting stories from your collaboration with McDonald’s? Is there a part of the Master KV you created for McDonald’s that you especially hope people will explore? Give us some hints.
Mr Doodle: I was treated to a meal at McDonald’s after visiting the headquarters building in Shanghai and it was so delicious! It was the best McDonald’s I’d ever had. Within the KV I drew lots of happy characters and just thought about how the food makes me happy as it does many others. I think my doodles are quite similar to McDonald’s in the sense that they’re very accessible and just seem to bring joy to people.
FX: What new plans do you have next? Are there any unexpected fields you want to collaborate with?
Mr Doodle: Yes, I’m planning to release the world’s first ever doodle music album soon!
FX: In your opinion, collaboration is ______ ？(use a word or a phrase)
Mr Doodle: A mix of new ingredients.
Along with the interview, FX TALK also presents each interviewee with the FX Questionnaire. We believe that people are the most diverse, vivid, and unique archives. Inspired by the Proust Questionnaire, we extend the conversation with each fashion IP through the FX Questionnaire, aiming to better understand them on a mental and conscious level, and to present our readers with a more authentic and specific image of them.
It’s hard not to be moved by Mr Doodle’s love for doodling when you meet him. It’s an immersive, pure happiness that transforms him into a more fun and quirky persona, bringing joy to everyone around him. As the commercial value of his artworks is gradually recognized, he is also adapting to a new aspect of his identity — as a brand. “Actually, it’s helpful for an artist to realize they are a brand. That way, they can be more conscious of their value, audience, brand, and the points to consider when collaborating with others.” Mr Doodle said. The brand value brought by high auction prices allows Mr Doodle to continue his doodling journey more smoothly and sustainably. However, for him, it’s not just about the money. He is more concerned with the hope these high auction prices provide, encouraging other doodlers to keep going. He recalls in 2015 when he sold his artwork for just 1 pound with no interest, he couldn’t have imagined that fate had a gift waiting for him around the corner, guiding him to where he is now. And after reaching this point, he hopes to use his story to tell other doodle artists to keep moving forward, as persistence and hope will always be with them.
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