Dithering Doodles began in the pages of Steve Anderson’s journal and has now become a time capsule of his life.
If you’re walking around Salt Lake City, you’ll probably notice random comic book strips posted around town. These are the workings of the Dith Dood. Anderson has been a Salt Lake local all his life — give or take a few years in Arizona, Colorado and Montana.
What is a Dithering Doodle?
“They had a ring to it, but at first it didn’t make sense. Well, you’re dithering, okay, you’re somebody that’s dithering, making the doodles not on time, or just being lazy or something. It just has a ring to it, so I can’t change it now.” Anderson said.
Anderson’s initial inspiration for Dithering Doodles began during a trip to Arizona in the 1990s with his brother.
“I started looking into the record stores and the second-hand stores. And then I discovered this little collection of zines, homemade things stapled together that looked pretty sketchy. And it was called Saadoo,” Anderson said.
Though this sparked his alter ego, “Dith Dood,” his artistic endeavors began to evolve from a young age. His father was also an artist in his prime, so Anderson geared that same energy towards drawing his own characters. These were known as “Fonny face” which he would mark on the walls of his childhood home when he was just a toddler.
“You just get better by drawing. And you can see the changes even in Dithering Doodles.” Anderson said. “My style changes, because early on I wanted to draw kind of rougher, a little bit under my ability, because I wanted to have that amateur look … because it’s just so kind of awkward-looking.”
Flipping Through the Pages
Some characters who have returned to each issue were inspired by his childhood as well.
“I liked to watch the invaders because they had weird flat top flying saucers. One of the first things I used to draw was this flying saucer,” he said.
When you open a Dithering Doodle issue, you’ll notice these saucers and many other characters like Blah, Mosquitoes, Dith Dood — Anderson’s alter ego — and several others.
Along with these characters come his fascinating spelling style, which adds to the sketched, DIY look of Dithering Doodles.
“[When I started Dithering Doodles] I made these misspellings sometimes, but after a while, I started purposely making them. [It] kind of evolved from, like, ‘You know what? This will disguise the fact that sometimes I misspell it.’ So, it just got involved,” Anderson said.
His way of spelling and artistry has become a beloved factor of each zine he creates. He explained that at first his zines weren’t noticed or liked by the public, but as time has passed Dithering Doodles has grown on Salt Lake City.
“I get people saying, ‘Oh, you’re the guy.’ ‘Oh, that’s so cool.’ ‘You know, I got this little library at home,’” he said. “I get people saying, ‘I’ve had one on my car. You can put it on my car anytime.’”
More Than Just Doodles
For Anderson, most of the attention is on Dithering Doodles itself, but sometimes he’ll get a call for a project outside of the Doodles world. Some of these have included birthday cards, album covers, library features and even a mural. His favorite project he’s worked on was a mural at Central 9th Market in 2022. He explained this work was on display for almost two years.
“I was always freshly amazed at each revisit.”
This new fame of being known as a “local legend” came out of nowhere for Anderson.
“At first, when I started posting those posters around town, I didn’t even put an ID or anything. It was just this mysterious, ‘Who’s doing this thing?’” Anderson said.
Now, everyone who’s seen these doodles along the sidewalk, in local record stores, thrift shops and bookstores knows it’s Steven Anderson, the Dith Dood.
