Artist Turns Clouds Into Doodle Art to Bring Smiles
What do you see when you look up at the clouds? Some people see fair weather ahead, or stormy if the clouds are gray. Some people may see fluffy cotton puffs and some creative people see shapes and objects in the sky. But it takes a lot of imagination to turn clouds in to art.
Chris Judge, an illustrator from Dublin, Ireland, sees animals and figures when he looks at clouds, and he illustrates this with whimsical doodle art, according to People Magazine. He began illustrating photos of clouds early in the covid-19 pandemic and posting these creations on his Instagram account to brighten the days of his social media followers.
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Why cloud art?
It all began in 2020 when Judge was spending time in his garden with his family, according to Modern Met. He started taking pictures of the clouds and began adding doodles to illustrate the art he imagined. They ranged from sleeping bears to toothy smiling crocodiles.
Judge posted his art on Instagram and was very surprised by the extremely supportive feedback he received. Since then, his whimsical cloud doodle art’s popularity has continued to grow and he shares his cloud art every day.
Judge lets the cloud formations do all the work and doesn’t want his doodles to cover much of the clouds. “I try to draw as few lines as possible and let the shape of the cloud itself do the heavy lifting,” he told Modern Met.
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In the beginning, Judge supplied most of the cloud photos but his supporters started sending him photos showing that his art has been an inspiration to others.
“If it’s a nice cloudy day, I take lots and lots of photos throughout the day on either my iPhone or my Canon M6 Mark ii,” he said. “Every afternoon, I choose a photo of my own or one that someone has submitted that I think will work well and then I import it into Procreate.”
Why the project is so meaningful
The cloud art is about more than artistic expression for Judge. It helped him get through a very stormy time in his life, according to People.
“My daughter fell ill with leukemia during COVID-19,” he told People. “Thankfully she has finished her two years of treatment and is doing brilliantly. But the story of Cloud Babies [ a book written by Eoin Colfer and illustrated by Judge]is based on that experience.”
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Cloud Babies was just released in the US in April, 2023. It tells the story of six-year-old Erin’s favorite game, cloud spotting with her parents. When Erin is ill and has to sped time in the hospital, she finds happiness in spotting cloud babies from the hospital.
Today, @adailycloud has 350,000 followers. “I am astonished by how many people have followed and engaged with the project,” Judge said. “I am constantly trying new projects to keep my creative juices flowing but A Daily Cloud just seemed to really resonate with people from all over the world. I think it’s the mix of humor, nature, and the universality of clouds that appeals to people.”
