TED Talks Daily - How doodling unlocks your imagination | Joe Whale

Episode Date: July 30, 2026

Artist Joe Whale used to get in trouble for doodling in class, until a local restaurant let him cover an entire wall with his artwork … and the internet took notice. He traces his unlikely beginning to a bigger story: your imagination is a muscle, and it weakens when you hand it off to AI. Through a live doodling demo, he shows in real time what it looks like to let a thought become a drawing, one line at a time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hugh. When Joe Whale was a kid, he kept getting in trouble at school for the same thing. He couldn't stop doodling. He drew in class, in the margins of notebooks, everywhere. Until one day a teacher, instead of trying to stop him, asked a local restaurant if Joe could draw on their big empty wall. What happened next made Joe something of an internet sensation. That moment changed my life.

I wasn't even trying to be an artist, but the important thing is how it started. It started with my imagination and parents who didn't disregard but embraced my passion. In his talk, Joe, who is now 16, shares what he's learned since his rise to fame as the doodle boy and something that's starting to really worry him, AI, and the loss of imagination. I believe there will always be value in letting our imaginations be the true driver of our creations. Because imagination is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes.

But if you don't use it, it gets weaker. Then your body will rely on something else to do it for you. Joe makes the case for protecting that muscle, for letting our imaginations, not a machine, be the starting point of everything we make. Because to Joe, the biggest value isn't really in the finished picture. It's in the making of it. And as you might expect, this is a visual talk. So I will jump in a few times to describe what's happening.

happening on stage. If you are able, it's worth watching too. You can find it at ted.com. The talk is coming up right after a short break. And now our TED Talk of the Day. When I was younger, I used to get told off in class for doodling. I couldn't stop. My teacher would always stop me from doing this. And it was really worrying because as a creative person, it's something that I do naturally. After a few weeks at my art class. I was booked in because I was having this trouble at school. My teachers suggested something unusual. There was a big empty wall in a local restaurant. She asked them if I could draw on it. They said yes. So I started filling the restaurant wall with my artwork. People would come in and watch me while

they were eating. Photos started appearing online. Then the local newspaper wrote about it. and suddenly, people all around the world were talking about this kid who couldn't stop doodling. That moment changed my life. I wasn't even trying to be an artist, but the important thing is how it started. It started with my imagination, and parents who didn't disregard but embraced my passion.

It started with the freedom to just draw. And that's what I want to talk about today, because the world is very different than when it was when I was first doodling 10 years ago. Today, it's possible to type prompts into AI make anything and feel creative. But I believe there will always be value in letting our imaginations be the true driver of our creations.

Because imagination is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes. But if you don't use it, it gets weaker, and your body will rely on something else to do it for you. Creativity is not encouraged to. today. It's not giving value. So it's easy to turn to the tools right in front of us and get an instant result. But you don't learn by going straight to the end. You learn from the journey. Everything begins with a thought, an idea, a meaning or a vision. That's your imagination, the beginning. And that

beginning influences what you do from that point. It's freedom. Imagination is the first step, and direction flows through the creation. You're letting yourself literally wonder wherever you wish the freedom to go anywhere, because that first step is coming from you and not something else. What I can see is, will be reliant to replace something we all need and all have. We'll be handing it off just because it's easier. And that worries me, because for everyone growing up around AI, they'll see it as normal to sacrifice their unique perspective, becoming more more shaped, even defined by what they can't control. I'm just going to show you something visually now.

Hey, Elise here, and throughout the talk, a blank canvas on an easel stands to the left of Joe. At this point, he pulls the top off of a large black marker and starts to draw. He starts with a circular shape, with eight points, then adds a smaller circle and an eye-like shape in the middle of it. Everything is bold, thick black lines and simple shapes, which is his style.

I often start my artworks with a simple shape, thinking something spiky here. He adds two legs, squiggly arms and more. And then big eye like this. Then I'll add some other detail. Often when I'm creating in the moment, it helps me feel very free. so I can just flow with each character in each line. In New York, as I've travelled,

I've seen lots of people on skateboards. So I'm going to draw one of them. Then I'll add the wheels in there. And then I often like to add icons, like a heart. I feel like it's very simple but very effective. And then I love these kind of eyes. An alien like that. Then I'll keep this going, the arms, and then the legs as well.

And with this character, I'll just start with another simple shape. Like so, filling this. This guy's not very happy. And then what I'd like to do to balance in our work, just add lines and shapes. To just fill out the space and movement lines. which give life to a piece, something I always use.

Try to imagine the finished product, the large white canvas brimming with thick black lines that create fun shapes like a sun, skateboard, heart, all with legs and arms, lines reverberating out from the middle. Wimical, cartoonish, bold. I hope we can all take a step back from AI and embrace what makes us truly unique, our ability to convert figments of our imagination,

and turn them into impactful realities. We face this choice every day. So let's embrace this uniqueness, this imagination, and the creativity that brings us all together. Thank you. That was Joe Whale at Play at TED in 26. If you're curious about Ted's curation, visit ted.com slash curation guidelines.

And that's it for today. Ted Talks Daily is a podcast from TED. This episode was fact-checked by the TED Research Team and produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Lucy Little, Emma Tobner, and Tonzica, Sengmarnyvon. Additional support from Daniela Ballerazo, Christopher Faisi Bogan, Valentina Bohanini,

Ban Ban-Chang, Brian Green, and Laney Lott. Learn more at podcasts.com. I am Elise Hupe. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feet. Thanks for listening.