← Back to search

How Doodling Unlocks Your Imagination | Joe Whale | TED

TED 6:28

48,630 views · 358 likes Watch on YouTube ↗

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. (Recorded at Play@TED on May 14, 2026)

Join us in person at a TED conference: https://tedtalks.social/events
Become a TED Member to support our mission: https://ted.com/membership
Subscribe to a TED newsletter: https://ted.com/newsletters

Follow TED!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ted
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ted-conferences
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tedtoks
Facebook: https://facebook.com/TED
X: https://www.twitter.com/TEDTalks

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less) — plus originals, podcasts and exclusive content. Look for videos on Technology, Entertainment and Design as well as science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Visit https://TED.com for our entire library, transcripts, translations and personalized recommendations.

Watch more: https://go.ted.com/joewhale

https://youtu.be/rIRon8zJyps

TED videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with the TED Talks Usage Policy: https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy. For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), submit a request at https://media-requests.ted.com

#TED #TEDTalks #Art

Category (YouTube): People & Blogs

Playback is via YouTube's official embedded player. Data from YouTube; Exumo is not affiliated with YouTube.