Tenterden artist Mr Doodle mark turns carriage into canvas for rail anniversary

Mr Doodle helped leave a mark on Kent and East Sussex Railway's 50th anniversary.   Finn Macdiarmid reports.

Transcript

00:00First a sketchpad, then his clothes, his house, an F1 car, and now a train. The internationally

00:06renowned artist Mr Doodle's quest to cover the world in wild shapes and sketches is only

00:11just beginning. As part of Kent and East Sussex Railway's 50th anniversary, he was originally

00:16going to paint a mural at Tenterton Town Station, but after some persuading, he was able to

00:20work on one of the trains themselves.

00:24Mr Doodle became famous for his crazy art style, going viral on TikTok and even being

00:28sold in high art auctions.

00:30Think you're seeing Doodle? Well, you're actually seeing Doodle. This image, drawn

00:36by Mr Doodle himself, could earn me a lot of money, but because of restrictions with

00:40his gallery, I can't keep it. Mr Doodle, on the other hand, has a lot more doodling

00:45to do before the day is out.

00:48Being from Tenterton originally, he spoke on the method to his doodling madness.

00:52The doodles always kind of come naturally, really. I just kind of draw a line and then

00:57it kind of leads into a character and then that follows on to something else. And usually

01:00I don't really think about it too much unless I'm including specific things like here there's

01:05a few trains or there's like a picture of myself and stuff. And so sometimes I think

01:10a little bit about that, but 95 percent of the time it's just like, oh, this is going

01:14to be a jellyfish and now this looks like a bird. And, you know, it just kind of flows

01:17out and it's a really organic process. And I really like it that way because it's not

01:21forced. It's not kind of sketched out and it just feels really true to, you know, instinct.

01:26The train itself is covered in a special protective wrap, typically used to apply pre-printed

01:30designs to cars, ensuring the art will be kept safe on both sides of the carriage.

01:36After it's finished today, its first trip will be tomorrow, Saturday 27th, with Mr Doodle

01:40joining passengers on board.

01:42Just like the train, the station has also been transformed, becoming Doodle Town Station

01:46for the weekend. Children can doodle their own cardboard train and take part in treasure

01:50hunts to spot the Doodle signature around the station.

01:53The way it's turning out, it's fine. It's just what we want. And we've brought a lot

01:58of young people down here, which is what it's all about. Part of the community, lots of

02:03school children coming down. They're all seeing it. And because Mr Doodle is a local lad,

02:09so it all adds to it. So it's very, very good. And the sun's out, so what more could you want?

02:15The Kent and East Sussex Railway was the first light passenger railway in Britain in the

02:20early 20th century, and now has a new first to its name.

02:24And as for what's next, Mr Doodle told me he'd love to doodle an entire town, but didn't

02:28want to think about how long it would take. Finn McDermid for KMTV.