“I started off selling my art on the street for £1, now it fetches up to $1m”

Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, started off trading his art on the street for food and drink, or selling it for as little as £1 a piece.

But it gradually gained global attention and his distinctive ‘spaghetti graffiti’ now sells for up to $1 million.

He told The Star about his remarkable story and his latest work – the Doodle Dome – which he is creating on Tudor Square, in Sheffield city centre, as part of Sheffield DocFest 2024.

“I’m here in Tudor Square and I’ve been doodling all over this big Doodle Dome, which is a fun thing for me because I love drawing on clear material, whether it be perspex or glass.

“The pen works really smoothly on it and it’s great to be in Sheffield, doing this in my home country. I’ve always had this dream to do things like this, with glass boxes or domes, and trap myself inside a world of doodles.

“I think people have liked it. Some people have been taking photos and videos, and watching me draw. I’ve met some people who are familiar with my work and signed some things. It’s been really nice to be here. It’s been fun.

“After it’s finished and people have had the chance to see inside we’re going to take it home and my wife’s going to use it as a greenhouse.

“I started by drawing little A4 drawings and taking them out on the street and trying to trade them for food and drinks and things.

“Over time the drawings started to become worth a bit more because my work was getting more noticed by people taking videos and stuff like that.

“I never expected that to happen but it’s cool that it did and it’s cool that some people who bought one of my little doodles for £1 are now selling them for much more than that.

“That’s kind of led to where I am today. That whole kind of process has been captured in the documentary that’s showing here at Sheffield DocFest, so I’m really excited to show that to people.

“When I create these things I just kind of draw the shapes, like circles or squares, and they kind of develop into these characters. They’re not really meant to be anything in particular most of the time.

“This (pointing to one of his doodles) looks a bit like a human but it’s also more of a made-up kind of creature. It’s not really saying anything, it’s just doodles to make myself pleased.

“It’s a simple process. Sometimes it looks more complicated than it is but really it’s just me satisfying an itch to draw.”

Sam made global headlines when he bought a six-bedroom house in the Kent countryside, where he still lives with his wife and their one-year-old son, and spent two years covering the white walls with his doodles.

Asked whether he’d let his one-year-old son draw on the walls there, he said: “I’ve left him some blank space and he’s already started drawing on the floor there. He likes to colour in bits of my doodles and do drawings.

“I love our Doodle House so much. It feels so personal and I don’t think we’d ever want to sell it. I’m not sure anyone else would actually want to live there either.”

Sam is due to complete his Doodle Dome artwork on Friday, June 14, and members of the public will be invited to look inside on Saturday and Sunday, June 15 and 16, between 9am and 9pm each day.

The Trouble With Mr Doodle, a new documentary film exploring his remarkable story, is showing as part of Sheffield Doc Fest 2024.

The first screening will take place at The Light cinema on Friday, June 14, from 3.45pm, followed by a Q&A with the director Jaimie D’Cruz.

A second screening will take place on Sunday, June 16, from 5.30pm at the Showroom cinema, from 5.30pm, also followed by a Q&A.