The Doodologist and the Prince

The Prince's Trust:
My doodling business The Doodologist is developing quite nicely and I am officially allowed to say that This business was initially helped by the Prince's Trust.They obviously have to be quite strict about how their good name is used and you can't use their logo, without paying a hefty sum. This is to protect the charity from unscrupulous people.

What is the Prince's Trust?
The Prince's Trust is a charity set up by the Prince of Wales (Charles) in 1976. It does a lot of great work with young people, covering many different aspects of life. I found out that I could receive help with my business idea, when I was making some general enquiries about business start ups. They have a program called the Enterprise Program, which helps you decide if self employment is for you and if your business idea is sound.

They do a thorough job of turning an idea into reality, well they make you do the hard work and hold your hand along the way. You have to prove that the business can make money, and that it has potential for growth. The type of businesses that they support have changed over the years and they have allowed small businesses like mine to sneak in.

Once I launched the website and facebook page, and starting getting commissions, that answered the BIG question of "Will it work?", as they had never seen a doodling business in their midst before and were concerned that the business wouldn't work.

They asked lots of valid questions, like:

1. What do you sell? It may seem obvious to say 'doodles', but what type, what size etc.
2. What do you do if someone doesn't like it?
3. How long does it take you?
4. How much and why?
5. Are making enough money to sustain and improve what you currently have?

and you can't just give them half  hearted answers, you have to really know your stuff. 

Once I had satisfied all the criteria, from the 'Will it work' section, comprehensive business plan, Insurance to opening a business bank accounts, they then submit it all to a panel. The panel then look over it all and call you in for a meeting.

It is hard not to think of it as a 'Dragon's Den', even though they assure you it is not. I am not lying at all, when I say I was very nervous! Luckily they were absolutely lovely and although they ask difficult questions, I was well prepared to answer them all. They then send you out for a short while, whilst they deliberate and then call you back in with the verdict.

In my case the verdict was..... Positive! They seem to really like the idea of the business, although with some concerns. That means that I was also awarded a business mentor for two years! and some pocket money in the form of a grant. The mentor is a professional successful business person, that volunteers their time around once a month. They match you with someone that can help you, were you need it the most, in my case we are focusing on marketing and some other general stuff. With the grant you have to spend it strictly on the business, providing receipts/invoices for stuff that you need or have already purchased.  If you are entering into this process *just* for the money, then I think you are missing out on tapping into some valuable knowledge. 

So although I am not a royalist, I am very happy that his royal highness decided to set up this charity and I look forward to paying some of help back by donating my time, as and when it is needed.

If you have any more questions about the process, please do ask! 

Latest Commissions:
I am very thankful that people took a punt and commissioned me before the business was a fully formed being, it gave me the confidence that I needed. It is also gave the business people the proof they needed, to show that this was a viable business. I will always be excited about the next doodle project, but these first few ones are special to me. Here are the latest ones for you to look at, watch the slideshows to see how they were created.

Somerset Sally: This is a snapshot of the county Somerset for Mike Camp, who is an excellent quirky doodler himself.


Grandma Rocks: This was commissioned by the lovely Lisa Ceaser, who commissioned it for her stepmom. This was my first international commission, as it flew across the pond to America.



Joey's Dream: This is the lovely Joey commissioned by p3dro , who provided some awesome photographs of Joey, for me to work from.




What am I doodly doing now?

Working on some awesome new doodle commissions, which I will blog about as and when they are finished. I am also creating some new doodles for art and craft fair type events.I decided to venture into the world of Arty farty crafty fair type things, as I way of meeting clients/potential clients face to face and to sell some original art and limited edition prints. I thought it would be cool to meet new people and have a conversation in the real world and get some first hand experience of selling (scary stuff).

Please keep your eyes on The Doodologist facebook page and blog to see where I will be in the next few months.

Any questions? Leave a comment and I shall endeavour to answer.

Erm, where was I?

Things have been rather busy at 'The Doodologist' Headquarters (In a good way, mostly).

Firstly the computer had to go back to the shop, which was a major pain in the arse and something I had blocked out of my mind,until writing this blog post and realising how long it has been since I actually wrote anything on here!Ooops.

Secondly I found out my first Art Fair/Craft Fair/Fete type thing will be on September 10th and there are also a few more that I am hoping to do, just waiting to hear back from them.

One of the events that I have applied for, was a bit more official, so you had to fill in an application form, with a few samples of your work. For the photography stuff, I sent a print of this collage type thing:


and for all things The Doodologist, I created this sample:


Fingers crossed that I get a few more spots at the various art fairs and craft fairs, that I wanted! Although to be honest, I still haven't got a clue what exactly I will be taking with me to flog!

Along with finding art fairs to attend, I have also been finding the right insurance policy, figuring out cash flow projections, writing final business plan and all that fun stuff.

In the meantime 'The Grumpus' has been his usually cheery self and started to do special Grumpus messages (for a fee, green fur is high maintenance!)

Firstly a 'Happy Birthday' message to a lovely 18 year old girl, Grumpus decided they were actually 21, what an idiot....

 
Then begrudgingly Grumpus came up with a few words of wisdom, for my chum Collette who got wed last Saturday.

"Marriage is a three ring circus: Engagement Ring, Wedding Ring and SuffeRing"


Got some awesome doodle projects to blog about next time, I just need to edit the pictures, upload them and all that bollocks first.

Please 'like' me over on the book of faces for The Grumpus and The Doodologist, for the time being I am updating more frequently over there, thanks muchly!

Doodling ding dongs and some photographs

Life Drawing :
Not wanting to become complacent as I strive to find my own drawing style, I decided to sign up for a life drawing class. I have had no formal arty training since back in ye olde times of high school, many moons ago now. So I was rather nervous about it all, but nothing ventured, nothing gained etc



What did I learn?
Well firstly, that I am not good at life drawing, but I didn't expect to be. My main aim was to draw a recognisable human figure and not giggle at the naked person, which I was successful in achieving. Secondly,
it is surprising how quickly you get used to the model being naked. The only thing that surprised me, was that is was a naked dude, as for some reason, I thought it would be a woman. The model 'Arthur' was obviously a professional, as he disrobed with ease and had an air of being totally relaxed and comfortable, which rubbed off on everyone else. I didn't even have time to concentrate on the dangly bits, hence the reason why all the drawings are Ken Doll esque.

Measure, measure, measure and measure some more! 
Ever seen an artist, in real life, TV or movies, squinting and holding up their paintbrush in the general direction of their muse? Now I know what they are up to!
This is a good explanation of some of what I learnt 'Measuring like an artist' 

Tick Tock:
For measuring angles the tutor gave us a tip to tilt the pencil ( or paintbrush) and follow the angle, then visualise a clock face and think about what time the angle would be on. This makes it easier to then translate the angle onto your drawing. I have yet to put this into practice, so will see how that works out for me.

This introductory course was run by Dot-Art Check out their Website, Facebook, and Twitter (especially if you are based in the North West of England).

Summary:
Hopefully time and money will allow me to attend some more classes, as I can already see how this will improve my general doodling abilities (plus they had REALLY tasty sandwiches).
It did make me feel slightly sorry that I never went to a proper doodle school, but I can honestly say that I wouldn't doodle like I do now, if I had gone. From what the other people in the class said, you don't actual learn that much anyway (so there!).
What it has shown me, is the things I need to work on, to make the doodles, that I do, even better. Working out the right angles and proportions for an Octopus, riding a bicycle, into space, that kind of thing. With my style of doodles, sometimes a lot of work goes into drawing/sketching out realistic(ish) versions of animals/people etc and then turning them into cartoon form. I am looking forward to seeing how this new knowledge impacts the next lot of doodles.

Bonus: I got to meet up with Sophie Green and see her awesome artwork up close and personal. I could have bombarded her all day with questions, but she had some amazing work to do and I didn't want to be a pest! Check out her Website, Facebook and Twitter.


Gardening and stuff:
After the life drawing class I got the opportunity to meet up with someone that I have been following for the longest time on twitter @JenniferWelch . We have been trying to meet up for an age and finally managed it!

I got to go up to the secret rooftop garden living on the FACT building, what a beautiful place! I am hoping I get to sneak back there and take some photographs. The garden is called 'The Mediated Garden', more on this in a moment.
After a chat and poke around the garden, we popped downstairs for a glass of wine (well I did, it was free) and took in the rather fascinating exhibition 'Semiconductor: Worlds in the making' . It was definitely a day of indulging in cultural brain treats and meeting fascinating people.

I have seen a lot of similarities in gardening and doodling of late, for me they both hold a feeling of freedom, without having to travel anywhere at all. The Mediated Garden is not just a garden, it is a piece of artwork, asking the kind of questions about public space and what it feels like to see something beautiful that you are NOT allowed to play in.

Check out the website, facebook, twitter and flickr stream.

It was great to chat with Jenn, such a cool way to end an already arty farty day. Although not sure how I feel about the pigeon (or seagull) that decided to poop on me as I was saying goodbye, surely a sign of luck? right?

Jenn also gifted me with a Tomato plant,  Jalapeno Pepper, bean plants and a marrow (or squash), apparently my brain can't remember more than two things. These plants then accompanied on my train ride home, much to the amusement of the train conductor and my fellow train passengers.

Photographs:

After chatting with Jenn, I felt the need to spend some time in the garden, documenting some of the lovely plants and veg growing.

Also got round to editing some other photographs too, these are of my niece Arwen, from a visit a few months back.



So endeth my waffle for this post, if you have any tips about Life Drawing, drawing in general etc or gardening please dump them in the comment box! Thanks muchly xx

Doodlinations and all that

Worry ye not, I have not actually died or even worse than death, stopped blogging. The lack of blogging has been a mixture of things:

1. Doodle Madness, as one will see further down this web like page.
2. Sister 1 got wed on Thursday, with all the family shenanigans and obligatory running round like headless chickens.
3. PC died! Okay it didn't actually die, but it was very poorly sick and had to go away to the pooter shop.

What is happening in the world of The Doodologist?

Things are going very well in the world of The Doodologist and I have had some great commissions already! You have previously seen 'Lady Jean' mentioned in the last post Reasons to be a Grumpus. I thought I would update you on the latest finished pieces.

Web Ducks

The Brief: Create some large headed cute ducks for 'avatar/profile picture' use. The original paintings are then to be donated to charity. More on these little ducks in the very near future!

Creating Camelot

The Brief: Create a doodle that can be used as a teaching aid, the theme is 'King Arthur', with a few hints of England thrown in.

18 years of memories

The Brief: Create a doodle piece that encapsulates the personality of the doodle recipient and some of their special memories. This was an 18th birthday present from a mother to her daughter.

The Lincoln Imp

The Brief: A Fathers day present, which has the theme of Man United/Old Trafford burning to the ground, Alex Ferguson being squished and Lincoln City FC winning 'The Cup'.

As you can see, all the commissions have been VERY different, as are the ones to come, but they have all had one thing in common, which is FUN. The communication between myself and the doodle clients has been awesome and it is such an honour to take an idea of theirs and turn it into doodle form. 

For more regular 'The Doodologist' information, pictures, updates etc, please follow me on facebook and twitter! Thanks Muchly xxxxxx

Question Time:

Firstly, I would love to know what you think of the doodles in this post, Secondly, if you have any questions about The Doodologist type things etc, please feel free to ask away! I will be doing a more wordy business update in the near future and it would be cool to know what people wanted to read.

Robert Schmid Paintings at Sears Peyton

As long time readers of the this blog probably know, I'm married to Robert Schmid, the painter.

His new show is opening this Thursday (June 2nd)  at Sears Peyton in Chelsea.

Most of the paintings have quite a lot to do with New York --in one way or another......the people

the cars, the buildings, reflections

and more people still....

The show runs all through June, so if you are in New York......

Press Release:

Robert Schmid was initially trained as a chemist, and his background in math, science and art combine to create paintings about ideas. He paints what he sees, experiences and thinks about, using his work as a sort of visual diary recording images that defy verbal explanation.

Many of his paintings have been influenced by quantum mechanics, the Fibonacci series, fractals and electronic distortion which all effect the patterns and visual organization of his work. He says, “I love the mind’s manipulation of time; there is no universal now. The ideas for the paintings come from thoughts and experiences often totally unrelated to art.”

He has been painting figures for many years, from life, the computer, TV and photographs. His current work uses photoshop as a method of ‘sketching’, organizing and positioning figures before they are painted. The crowd scenes are a result of taking individual figures and placing them close together. These works have a peculiar sense of uncertainty because the randomly placed people create a sense of perceived patterns and associations even as they are separate and unrelated.

Most of the images are from Manhattan, Florence and Marrakesh.

Works on paper and canvas.

Defining Me - The Doodologist and Doodology

Doodology dú-dŏl'ə-jē
Doodologist dú-dŏl'ə-jĭst

I have realised that I have never explained my switch from therapist in training to The Doodologist, especially confusing for those that have been reading this blog for quite  a while now. In this interview, I explain myself somewhat, if you care to read it: Interview with me, myself and I.

So moving on, I have survived my first week as a businesswoman, so I decided to get a tattoo as a reward for all my hard work.

It is bloody hard to photograph ones own wrist

Only bloody joking, I am not getting a tattoo...yet! A facebook page that I 'like' called Creative Boom mentioned these dudes called Roood Boogie Temporary Tattoos, I was intrigued, as I love all things tattoo.

Awesome Roood Boogie (latest WIP in the background)

So I wandered over and discovered that not only were they cool temporary tattoos, but you could also create your own bespoke temporary tattoos, using your own doodles (designs).

You can read more about this over here 'What to doodle do? Get inked!

Question: If you had a 'The Doodologist' temporary tattoo, where would you put it?

Shout out: 

My good chum TJ,who is my doodle mentor/creative partner in crime has been a freelance illustrator for over six months now, wow that time has whooshed by. She magically rambles on about it in this blog post Magical wiffle waffle. Also she has finally set up a facebook page TJ Lubrano's Illustrations ( which you can like, after you have liked The Doodologist and The Grumpus, hehe).

Other stuff:

I have added a blog section over on 'The Doodologist', I think this helps with the googly moogly type stuff. I also thought it would be cool to have a business blog. My head may explode with all the social network/media things that I have to update now, but every little helps? Right?

A big THANK YOU for all the support I have had so far, from people blogging, twittering, facebooking links and wishing me 'good lucks'. 

Please keep offering thoughts, opinions, criticisms and all that fun stuff, it really has been invaluable! Over the weekend I will be asking for input on business card designs, so keep your eye out for that. No rest for the wicked and all that.

The Doodologist is open for business

 

Tada! Finally the website is finished! So I can now talk at great length about my new business like venture. It is still only in the baby stages, so as I learn, things will change and evolve.

Firstly the name.... The Doodologist, which is pronounced dú-dŏl'ə-jĭst, is because I have a degree in Doodology dú-dŏl'ə-jē...

Okay not really, both are terms that I have made up, but I think they sound rather cool? Folks that have been reading my blog for a while now, should know that I always refer to any artwork that I do, as a 'Doodle' even when it is technically not. I think 'Doodle' just became a term I felt comfortable with, so when thinking of a title that I could identify with 'The Doodologist' just seemed to fit. I wanted something fun and also self explanatory, so I hope that it works?

Now I will treat you to an illustrated guide to the new 'The Doodologist' website, you lucky swines! heh.

About:
You will be shocked to find out that the 'About' section of the website, is in fact all about me! Oh? that is not shocking?  Moving swiftly on.

FAQ's:
The 'FAQs' section of the website is the largest section, as I have tried to answer all the things that 'I' think need answering. Hopefully I have not left out anything glaringly obvious? 

Price:
I have included information about prices in the 'FAQs' section, as that seemed the best place for it.


Doodle Mail:
I have also included the Postage and Packing information in the 'FAQs' section.

Gallery:
I have created a 'Gallery' section on the website, where you can see a small selection of my current work, with links to my larger Flickr Portfolio. I will hopefully be updating this section quite regularly, with fresh new content.

Contact:
A rather simple and to the point 'Contact' form , nobody has tested it out yet, so if anyone wants to try it out?

Creating Your Doodle
In the 'Creating Your Doodle' section of the website, I have tried to make the process of getting the doodle ball rolling, as smooth and as fun, as possible. I have done this by creating a form that, once filled, contains all information I need to create the doodle and allows me to give the customer a final quote on the cost of the doodle.

Suggestion Box:
In this section of the website, the 'Suggestion Box' is really just an example of the work I have done, could do and would like to do in the future.

Find me:

Oh and if you could be a love, I am also on Twitter and Facebook as 'The Doodologist', so if you could follow/like away, that would be bloody grand of you.

Just how many personalities can one have on Facebook and Twitter... A Lot! But each are important to me, in their own special way.

I would really, really, REALLY! Appreciate people's opinions, thoughts, criticisms etc on this new business venture of mine, so please have a look and then let me know here what you think. This is all very new to me and as it's something I am doing alone, you can sometimes lose perspective on things.

Thanks for reading/looking/contributing/supporting and all that bollocks... Mwah

The Doodologist 
dú-dŏl'ə-jĭst

George, Grumpus, Barbara and The Egg

Meet Barbara, she is one of England's last dragons

There she was, just minding her own business, when a pesky bee decides to pick an argument with her! How bloody rude. Normally a dragon like Barbara would have just cremated the flying pest, but her fire glands were swollen, due to hay fever.

Unbeknown to Barbara, a pesky little man named George, was sneaking up on her, ready to make his name in the dragon killing world.....

With a fatal stab to heart and wallop of his axe, poor Barbara lost her head and that pesky little chancer would hence be known as Saint George the patron saint of England.

Meanwhile lurking in a cave, The Grumpus had found a rather large egg and was contemplating a mahoosive omelet for his tea.

So yet again, poor Grumpus misses out on Sainthood and will this be the last we hear about that mysterious large egg?

Grumpus on Facebook: Like him!

Grumpus on Twitter: Follow him!

The Grumpus has a Easter message for you...

Happy Easter minions!

Business news: 

I have created a series of cartoons to illustrate various parts of the new website, so as soon as they are painted, uploaded and titivated, I should only be a few days away from the site going live!

Animal mad aunt and stuff

Well I was going to do a "Grumpus visits his Mother" post, a nod to it being Mother's day in the UK(tomorrow), but he doesn't like her and refused to cooperate. Now some people would assume that that was just a flimsy excuse about not being prepared and time catching up with me, but we know better, right? Anyhoo I can always backtrack and make him visit his mom for the US version of Mother's day.

So the question still remains... WTFWGGN?

The creation of a doodle for my Aunt's birthday.

News:

Soon I will be opening for doodle business, it has been in the works for a quite a while now! I just wanted to mention it here and put the feelers out, as I will be wanting opinions from the people that have been a great support to me (you lot). Well not just a support, this blog is the thing that inspired me to pick up a pencil again. So I will be writing more about this when I am at the next stage, which will probably be the webiste launch and facebook page shenanigans. When I have created more examples and the website is done, I think that will allow me to explain what type of doodliness I will be offering. I am excited/nauseous/excited about it all and have been lucky with the help that I am getting to set things up. It is a long process from market research to marketing to selling and more. As I take a giant leap into the unknown (for me), it is nice that I will always have this place to brain vomit on.

Random thoughts:

Waffles (potato) and tomato sauce, has evolved into Brie and fiery hot chutney on crackers.Just a thought that popped into my head, as I was munching on the crackers. Brie use to be a horrid cheese that my parents loved, now I think it's awesome. Actually the highlight of my night was eating that brie and crackers with a mug of hot chocolate. What is happening to me!

Shadow Shot Sunday/Cheerful

Haven't participated in Shadow Shot Sunday for such a long time. Anyway it's lots of fun.

This first picture isn't about shadows really. More something cheerful in this miserable cold weather.

This is the shadow shot. The local diner with decorations by Berch

 on the window and the paint casting shadows.

Some shadows here too. Late afternoon from our sitting room window.

Yesterday we went up to 66th Street to deliver a painting.

Such a view from the collector's apartment! This looking North.

This looking  directly down from the 29th floor. (Not highly recommended....)

This looking towards Central Park. It looks like fall because I tweaked the color......

It still feels like the middle of winter here!

*

Grumpus and the Damned Pancake

Tis Pancake Day! Otherwise known as Shrove Tuesday and Grumpus does NOT like pancakes. He normally loves all things bad for you, but not these edible circles of doom and fat. In fact, just the thought of pancakes is making Grumpus even greener than he already is! The pancake hatred started when Grumpus was just a wee furball and Great Grandpa-pa Grumpus put a hex on his pancakes, so if anyone tried to eat them, the pancake would come alive and slap you in the face. As you can guess, Great Grandpa-pa Grumpus, was not allowed to Grumpus sit very often.

Instead of pancakes,Grumpus dreams of living the life of his cousin Le Coeur Méchant, who is currently living it up at this year's Mardi Gras Day festivities in New Orleans. The Mardi Gras brings back a lot of fond memories of the days when people wore less clothes and were generally more naughty.

What is next for Grumpus? Guess or Die*

*Death is not guaranteed or in fact expected, but would be appreciated.
ermi guessing would be appreciated, not death.

International Women's Day

In other news, today is the 100th year of celebrating International Women's Day, which I have blogged about before in 2009, but subsequently forgot about, whoops! I could pass off Grumpus as a very hairy woman (he might be!) and dedicate the post to all the hairier than average women out there. 

Instead I shall direct your attention to my other project, which is 'Self Exam Doodles'. That is most definitely a project about women and trying to go international, by translating it into as many languages as possible. The project also fits quite nicely into the 'arty' theme of this year's International Women's Day. Just like you can get breast cancer any day of the year, you can also look around you any day of the year and see inspirational women. You don't need an awareness day or month, but reminders are always nice. So a rather mixed message of feel your breasticles and take note of the women in your life that inspire you, from me.