Precious few people in the industry are likely to identify the fifth-place artist, even though his works amassed nearly $4.7 million in sales rooms across three continents in just over nine months. Powered by towering sales results in Asia and millions of social followers, Mr. Doodle has quietly taken the auction market by storm.

He says there are individuals with art-world cachet who genuinely like his work (or at least recognize its potential), Cox knows “there are plenty of people in the establishment who don’t like my doodles and will always say they aren’t art.” Yet that’s inconsequential to him.

The wardrobe is central to the image. Although Cox has contended that, on a personal level, he feels more himself in his Doodle gear than he would in typical clothes, his custom outfits play a more important role, literally merging the character with the rest of his artwork.