Doodle Adventure

For my EPIC four years of blogging post back in November ' I am a Tetradite Blogger' I ran a doodletrific competition, which consisted of just leaving a comment on the post. Then at an allotted time I would pick a winner using a random number generator.... (number was assigned in relevance to number of comments)

Number six was..... Mr Adebond.

In an effort to add more fun (get MOAR comments) I added a second chance to win a doodle, by providing this awesome clue/question:

What is the work of fiction that I have read the most?

Apparently that was far too hard a question, so I added an extra cryptic clue.

Clue = Jaundiced Ed Ripper (first correct comment wins). 

Mr P3dro quickly swooped in and unscrambled the anagram into... Pride and Prejudice, yes I really have read that book a LOT... ummm britches.

Now onto the prizes! I didn't want to doodle any old thing, so I had Mr Adebond and Mr P3dro pick from these:

1. Dragon or Troll?

2. Clothes or Naked?

3. Mermaid or Unicorn?

4. Castle or Boat?

5. Sun or Moon?

After their selections, I stalked looked at their blogs, flickr and twitter streams, to get an idea of what I wanted to draw.

Adebond choices were: Troll, Naked, Unicorn, Boat and Moon

If you look at the 'troll' you will see the first incarnation of my Grumpus character, after I doodled this piece, I loved that character so much, I decided to evolve him into something hairier and grumpier.

P3dro choices were: Dragon, clothed, unicorn, castle, moon.

Bonus time, Mr Adebond took a beautiful photograph of his daughter, when she was a Flower Girl, I loved the picture so much that I decided to draw her as a little Flower Fairy and give it to Mr Adebond as a surprise.

I had a MAHOOSIVE amount of fun doing these doodles and had the pleasure of meeting the guys yesterday to hand them over. It is great having such cool and creative people that live relatively nearby. It just goes to show how effective a tool Twitter really is, if you use it with an open mind. You can connect to all sorts of cool people, that may live round the corner or thousands of miles away. Alison, Adebond and P3dro are just a few of the very cool people that I have connected with over there.

Now ye gang o bastards, if you like my doodle style and would love to win a doodle of your very own, then get your arse over to my Self Exam Doodles Facebook Page, you have a chance every Friday! Once a week Tahira Lubrano and myself take turns to doodle something for someone who has 'liked' the page, this week it is my turn.

Leaving Liverpool - Miles to go before I sheep

The tale of a dragon leaving a city she loved....

Sometimes a doodle just pops into my mind after hearing/reading a conversation or thinking about a certain thing for a while, plus lots of coffee (LOTS).  The above doodle is an example of just that, I was thinking about a tweet chum of mine leaving Liverpool and her twitter avatar happens to be a dragon. Alison Gow is her name and editing is her is game,she is off back to her country of birth, which is Wales. I have been tweet chums with her for ages now. I think she was Grand Poo bah of Liverpool in the tweet stats and that is why I originally began to follow her (no idea really). She is fountain of social media knowledge, with a journalistic twist, as seen in her blog Headline and Deadlines. Alison is also a super nice person and said many a nice thing about the mumborg, which I wont ever forget. I was so pleased to get the chance to meet Alison and hand over the doodle in person. Hopefully she will back soon, then I can doodle a 'Return to Liverpool' piece, with a happy dragon.

The 'Leaving Liverpool' doodle also introduces a new character.......... Baa Wid

Baa Wid was conjured up by the mumborg, after she rather quickly and callously cast aside my original idea of 'Widdy the Wool'. In hindsight 'Widdy' leads to Anne Widdecombe on google, so sod that for a monkey's badger, 'Baa Wid' it is. Why a sheep in the first place? It is an homage of sorts, to my heritage,but it mainly pokes fun at the nickname people from round these parts are given. That being said, I could have easily drawn a three headed swamp donkey mutant, if I followed that thinking.. /raises eyebrow at certain people.

Who knows where Baa Wid will go next? Who else will crop up? Baa Lee, Ma Baa Wid, Da Baa Wid, GranBaa Wid and GranBaaBaa Wid, are all possibilities.. Yes I am quite mad, ewe can believe that.

Help Me:
I would like/love some suggestions, especially from my Liverpoolish chums, about what buildings/places/landmarks, you think are doodle worthy in Liverpool? Where do you think Baa Wid would like to visit? I would, in fact, love input from anyone that has visited Liverpool or wanted to visit.  Imagine, if you will, an illustrated guide to Liverpool, from an out of town sheep's perspective ( In the style of above Liverpool waterfrontish dragon doodle). Much obliged for your input as always (preemptive thanks, as I *know* you leave some great suggestions).

Coming soon: What do you get if you cross a unicorn/troll/dragon/castle/boat/moon/naked/clothes doodle?

Also check out my wiffling on Twitter, Naked Ladies on Self Exam Doodles with DOODLE GIVE-AWAYS on it's FB PAGE and favourite musical listening on Other Bits and Pieces.

Evolution of the boob doodles

For those that don't know, last October I set up another blog called 'Self Exam Doodles' . If you read this 'About' page you should be a little more informed on how this project came to life.

The 'Self Exam Doodles' site has been an awesome way to teach myself how to doodle better, although it definitely can be a frustrating process at times!

Doodle Process:
Sketching out original ideas, working out arm/hand positions (tricky!), what paper to use, what pens to use, what colours to use when you start painting, scanning the images, fixing bits in editing (I use Picnik), adding words, uploading to flickr and then finally sharing with the world.

I still predominately call my stuff doodles, even though I suppose they are not, what with the painting an all? I like the term doodle though and most, if not all, of my doodles are sketched straight from brain to paper to painted. 

From the diagram below you can see how the doodles have evolved over the years, from using crayons and my left foot to .. Okay not really. In 2008 I was just using what ever crappy paper I had lying round (printer paper) and ordinary colouring pencils. The next incarnation was from last October, these were created using proper watercolour paper(from TJ) and a mixture of watercolour pencils and watercolours. The most recent versions were again created using proper watercolour paper and this time just water colours. I am rather chuffed at the improvement, but it's not happened overnight and I still have a lot to learn!



Whilst you are all here and paying attention, I shall take this opportunity to welcome TJ Lubrano to team 'Self Exam Doodles' /round of applause. Please check out her blog 'A look in a creative mind' and gaze at all her beautiful illustrations.

Check out the latest news on the "Self Exam Doodles" site, The French Connection and Breast Self Exam- Francais . Which tells you all about the new French versions of the Breast Self Exams and the collaborative work I am doing with TJ. There is also a facebook thing, please click it/like it/love it! Because I nearly punched the computer in the process of setting it up.

Slideshow time for those that don't hop over to the site:



Sidenote:
I wont be using the term 'Doodle for the cure', although I was tempted to start after reading this article on Huffington Post. Ever wonder why people are SO turned off donating to big charities? Read that post for just one of the many reasons why you hear chants of "Pink stinks". Self Exam Doodles is about fun, doodles and raising awareness. It is not going to save any lives, but hopefully it gives you a smile and you at least think about giving your boobage a feel.

Coming Soon: For once I have a shit load of stuff to blog about, so I might actually be blogging more than once in a blue hairy moon. Next few posts will contain dragons, sheep, unicorns, trolls, castles, boats and Grumpuses! Check back often and bring all your friends.

PS: I would REALLY appreciate peoples input on this project, as in the Breast Self Exam Doodles ^, as I would like to know whether its something people enjoy/get something out of. I am feeling sorry myself, waahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (whinge alert) and I really do enjoy any comments I receive, all suggestions are always banked for further use and ponderation. It is not about patting me on the back and saying the doodles are wonderful, although that's nice.

Also check out my wiffling on Twitter, Naked Ladies on Self Exam Doodles and favourite musical listening on Other Bits and Pieces.

Pain in the neck

Things are rather busy here at doodle central, which I will explain further in a near future post. In my last waffling's 'Grumpus and The Slanket of Doom', I asked for favourite love quotes/poems/sayings etc. These are being used for an ongoing doodle project, which will also become clearer in that near future post. Anyhoo I also asked my Twitter chums for their input on what type of Valentines cards they like, which is a question I should have also posed here. So feel free to leave me some input in yonder comment box!

In the comments on the last post, the quote suggestions I received where great! But it's interesting when I posed the question differently on Twitter and mentioned Valentines cards, the responses veered away from romance and headed straight towards funny, sarcastic, cheeky and a little bit naughty (a lot naughty in some cases).

I received several ideas, but the one that I decided to work on first, is called 'Pain in the neck', inspired by Mr @deftnetmedia. He likes the funnier romantic side of Valentines and for some reason pictured dinosaurs with their necks intertwined.

I like funny romantic cards. Two dinosaurs spring to mind.

Veggie with long necks intertwined

Sometimes ideas or suggestions work straight away for me and immediately I see the doodle in my head, other ideas take a lot more thought and research. This dinosaur one was the former, rather than the latter and this is the doodle slide show of how it was created:

If it were a Valentines card it would say:  

You may be a pain in the neck, but I'd go extinct with you.

or

Q: What's as big as a dinosaur but weighs nothing? 
A: Her shadow!

So Dear Readers, what valentines cards do you buy or like to receive? Or does the thought of Valentines make you want to stab yourself in the eye?

PS: Yes I know it's early to be mentioning Valentines, but get over it, I am going to be posting a LOT more Valentines related doodles and annoy you as much as the early over merchandising shops! Hahahahahaha (Please come back!)