DoodlePlanet and I almost shared the same Birthday

My assessments have finally arrived, in nine hours precisely, and also on my 21st birthday. Last week I managed to hand in my Documentary on time (more on that soon) and I think I may get a good grade for it. On Wednesday I handed in my two comics: “The World Inside the Toy Box”, complete, except for a few other experiments I would like to try out with it, and “How to Make an Origami Triangle”, my comic based on the lives of The Collyer brothers and my own OCD, three-quarters finished.

I’m hoping I earn a good grade, because I have been doing much better in University this year. As well as improving my attendance and general enthusiasm to work, I have also got a lot of outside work that I have also been doing and am doing (Mabinogi, Taste the Blood, Tattoos…)

So fingers crossed, and on to a good new year.

Tonight was DoodlePlanet’s 2nd birthday, and also the first time my sister Becky decided to come, along with her friend Aimee. Check out their drawings (Becky’s on the left):



I was not so successful, drawing an irritatingly bad Lady Gaga wannabe, which I left there.



And as a final last minute doodle (they ran out of canvases pretty fast tonight!) I drew Dan and myself in a bubbly cartoon style. This one I brought home to work on.



But the best piece of the night HAD to be Dan’s. The sweetheart drew me this awesome Scott Pilgrim/Wallace Wells piece for my birthday. It’s now proudly sitting in my bedroom waiting to go on the wall :)



So all in all a good night.

Finally, as I mentioned before, today is my 21st birthday and to celebrate, I’m itching to get a tattoo done this weekend during my trip to Liverpool with Dan. I’ve wanted tattoos since I was about eight, but when I turned eighteen, money and my dad were both an issue. Now that I’ve discovered the “Ink” series’ and delved deeper into the world of tattoo art I feel that it’s time for me to finally get a tattoo that is both meaningful and a rite of passage.

After wracking my brains for weeks (well, months and years if we’re really counting) I think I may have found the perfect idea to pop my proverbial tattoo cherry. I wanted something feminine, but not your typical flowers and butterflies. I also wanted something that represented me.

Growing up I was often put down by my peers for being overweight, unattractive and unpopular (the Welsh Meg Griffin), however, I eventually grew out of that whole phase into a confident, somewhat attractive and talented young woman. Comes across as a very Ugly Duckling kind of story. And therein lies my idea for my first tattoo: A Swan.

But I don’t want a boring swan. I want one that’s stylish, simplistic and beautiful. I found some reference images online and I will be using them to inspire me to draw my own tattoo, so stay tuned for any more developments.











On another note regarding tattoos, the 3rd Annual Liverpool Tattoo Convention dates have been announced for this 2010. I was unfortunate enough to miss it last year, so I am determined to attend, because it sounds just brilliant. Check it out.

Peace and Love and Happy Birthday to me!

“Dad” Comics, DoodlePlanet and Christmas Cards

I thought it would be fitting at this time to upload some of the personal things I am currently working on, as so far I’ve just been talking about work that I am doing for other people.

First of all, something I started over a month ago were plans for a mini-series, or online comic, simply called “Dad”. The strips have no real storyline, but instead represent moments or conversations that I have had with my dad over the last (nearly) twenty-one years. My father and I have always had a very strange relationship, in that we are alike in so many ways, and can sometimes have these great bonding sessions, whilst at the same time criticising and resenting each other; myself for the lack of attention he showed me as a child, my dad because of the lack of interest I show in having a normal life.

In many ways I admire and look up to him, but at the same time I often wish he were a different person. As I said, it’s a very odd relationship. The aim of these comics is not to show either of us in a bad light, but just to express the odd and infrequent moments we share together. And these are real moments the way I remember them.

The first comic I drew is a total mess, but only for the sake of it being the thumbnails for a much more detailed comic. Hopefully, if I see my dad enough, I will have enough material to turn this idea into a daily or weekly online comic.

"Dad - 20 years of Outfits" can be read here:

Page 1

Page 2

Twice in the last two months I have attended a local event known as DoodlePlanet, set up by Compulsive Scribbler. The premise of the event is just to let people come in, have some drinks and doodle on large boards of canvas left lying around the place. It happens maybe once or twice a month at Telford’s Warehouse in Chester, and once at the Glyndwr Student’s Guild.

It’s such great fun and a good way to get non-artists drawing, as I found when I took my boyfriend, Dan, along and he really enjoyed it.

Poor Dan didn’t have time to finish his psychedelic illustration because he arrived late…

... whilst I spent the night trying to paint something decent with watercolours. I came up with my own version of Ariel and Flounder from Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

The next DoodlePlanet in on December 17th, again at Telford’s Warehouse, and everyone is welcome to come along. After all, it’s a Christmas party too!

And speaking of Christmas, I have been working on a design for a Christmas card that I would like to produce this year for my friends and family. At the moment the line-art still needs a clean up, then I need to shrink it down and apply several copies to a sheet of A3 or A2 acetate so that I can screen-print more than one card at a time. Only trouble is I’m not sure how to do that. I’m not so good with photocopiers.

The design features two characters from a holiday card series I am inventing called Minky Pinky (don’t even ask where the name came from, as I’m not too sure myself). I’ll hopefully have more cards designed for birthdays, Easter, Valentine’s Day, and so on.

So there’s a chance now I wont have much to say until after the holidays. If that be the case, have a merry Christmas and a happy new year from me!