Ned the Robot

Ned the Robot by Doodle Dojo

I thought I should introduce you to my new character. This is Ned the Robot. He's just a tiny cute robot, who does cute stuff. I wanted to come up with something a little more simple and cute than most of the stuff I've been doing lately, not to mention he is a character that is completely my own. Its great fun doing designs based on cool stuff by other people but sometimes its good to see how people like stuff that just comes out of my brain! :)

So far I've managed to make quite a few Ned greeting cards which are available at my GreetingCardUniverse and Redbubble stores as well as a range of Ned gifts and homeware stuff at some of my other stores, including Redbubble, Society6, BoomBoomprints and Zazzle.

You can also get your hands on a completely unique, handmade Ned the Robot greeting card at my Etsy store. You just tell me what you want Ned to be doing or saying, and I'll draw up a special birthday card just for you.

The Doodle Dojo Neatoshop Giveaway

Win yourself a free tee from my Neatoshop Store.

To celebrate me getting my Neatoshop Store up together, the very lovely guys there have let me run a giveaway. They will print and ship out free shirts to two lucky winners to anywhere in the world!

Entering couldn't be easier. All you need to do is visit my Neatoshop Store and pick your favourite design. Then head to my Facebook page, click like and leave a comment on the post I linked telling me which shirt you want to win. Share that post with your friends (you wouldn't want them to miss out would you?) and you are done. All that's left is to sit back and wait for me to pick a winner! You don't have long though, all entries must be in by July 8th (2014) so get yourself over there now.

Doodle Dojo on Neatoshop

Doodle Dojo on Facebook

Sketching and New Stores

Howl's Moving Castle Sketches on Etsy.

Its been a long time since I updated this blog again. I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that I am rubbish at blogging. Luckily I'm much better at keeping social media sites up to date. So if you like my pics and want to see more of them you should probably follow me in some other place. I've got a newsletter that I send out around once a month and there's a whole bunch of other sites you can follow me on. Like Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter and I'm even on Pinterest!

On to the art now though. I've been getting actual pens and paper out a bit more often recently. Its a nice change from a mouse and graphics tablet, you connect with the picture  in a whole different way. Not to mention the whole, get it right first time or live with your mistakes thing. There's no undo for a marker pen after all! Howl's Moving Castle is probably my favourite Studio Ghibli film. Everything in it is just beautifully drawn. If that doesn't inspire you when you are sitting with a sketchbook in your hand you have no chance. So I gave in to temptation and drew a few of my favourite scenes. I had to put them up on Etsy as there's only so much room for keeping things in my house. Which means you can head over there and check out, Howl and Sophie, the Moving Castle and Turnip Head in more detail.

I've got a store on Neatoshop now!

In other exciting news (for me at least!) I've been invited to open a store at Neatoshop. They are the geeky shop side of the Neatorama blog and they sell great quality T-shirts and other stuff at great prices. They even have free shipping in the US and you only have to spend $50 to get free shipping anywhere else in the world. I haven't got all my designs up there yet so keep checking!

Finally I have some good news coming up soon, so sign up to my newsletter to keep in the loop. The next one should be going out around June 6th 2014 so get signed up before then. There's a chance you could win an original sketch by me with absolutely no more effort than putting your email address and name in a form.

Cornetto Anyone?

Anyone fancy a Cornetto? We've got Strawberry, Original and Mint.

The Cornetto Trilogy. Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End. They are such a classic series of films that I just had to draw something about them. So here's my tribute. Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and Nick Frost really did a great job with these parodies of their (and my) favourite movie genres. Its hard to pick a favourite out of them, and if you have one, I think its probably because you have a favourite type of movie that matches up. In fact, just thinking about which is my favourite is making me want to go and watch them all again. Just for research purposes obviously!

Anyway if you want to pay tribute  to your favourite (or maybe all of them?) you can get your hands on these designs at my DesignByHumans Store (Strawberry, Original and Mint) as well as the usual suspects, Redbubble (Strawberry, Original and Mint) and Society6 (Strawberry, Original and Mint). All the details are on the Doodle Dojo Store (Strawberry, Original and Mint).

You can also find some of my original sketches and some stickers and stuff on the Doodle Dojo Etsy Store. Sign up to my Newsletter to keep up with all the latest Doodle Dojo news.

Camelot Dogs

On second thought, lets not go to Camelot. It's a silly place.

One of these days I'm going to remember to update this site more often. But today is (probably) not that day! Until then you are just going to have to put up with random updates when I  feel like it. And today is one of those days!

So here is a Monty Python design for you. King Arthur and his band of adventurers off on a mission to retrieve the Holy Grail. They aren't really as cool as the guys from Pulp Fiction, but regardless I thought they would look pretty good in this classic movie poster pose. They certainly are off on a mission that goes horribly wrong and has unexpected consequences for everyone involved though.

This isn't the only Python design I've done you know. You can find Bicycle Repairman, The Larch, Stop That It's Silly! and Basil's Fury over on Redbubble or Society6.

Camelot Dogs is available at Redbubble and Society 6 on a variety of cool stuff including T-shirts, phone cases, greeting cards, posters and even Mugs.

I also now have a Doodle Dojo Stores at Design By Humans and Teepublic where you can get a selection of my designs. I'll be adding more all the time, but do ask if you would like to see a particular design at a particular store.

Happy Valentines Day!

Sending a very special hug your way, look out!

Its Valentines Day! I may be a little late but I'm here. I did this design especially for the most loving time of the year. A time when everyone needs a hug. And nobody give a better hug than the facehuggers from Aliens. They can be a bit too tight and might leave you with a lump in your chest, but doesn't that just make them extra special?

Thanks for following my slightly odd ramblings and drawings, I love you all. Not in that way though, I just don't know you well enough for that!

As usual this one is available at Redbubble and Society6, all the details are on the Doodle Dojo Store. Sign up for my email newsletter and you can get special offers and all my latest designs delivered to your inbox. Its only once a month (ish) so you won't get spammed to death either.

Why Did it Have to be Snake?

You can find some unexpected things in ancient tombs.

Indiana Jones finds some unexpected puzzles in most of the tomb he explores, but none as dastardly as the 90's phone classic, Snake. He hates Snake.

Sometimes you get a pun stuck in your head and it just won't go away. In cases like that I always think its best to give in and just draw it. Sometimes the result can be a bit more fun than you thought. I imagine Indy would hate this game just as much as the creature. There's probably more reason to dislike the game thinking about it. Its just so frustrating! It never reaches a conclusion which always makes you want to play again. My finger slipped off the key, I got distracted at the wrong moment, there are a million reasons you failed and they all make you want to have one more go.

Anyway, if you love snake (and Indiana Jones) as much as I do, you might like this design hanging on your wall, or on your phone. Or something else. I don't know! Just check it out at Redbubble and Society6 or get all the info at the Doodle Dojo Store. And if you like designs like this and want to hear about new stuff and special offers from me, sign up to my newsletter.

Dancing Sherlock

The adventure of the Dancing Sherlock

Everyone loves a bit of Sherlock right? Well I do anyway so there! Its well known that Sherlock gets restless between cases and its also well known that he loves a puzzle. While flicking through my Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes I came across The Adventure of the Dancing Men, and it gave me this idea. I can just imagine Sherlock leaving puzzles for Watson to figure out. He would probably take some photos of himself in these poses and then text them to John. Much to his own amusement and John's total confusion. Figured out the message yet?

This design is available at Redbubble and Society6 on phone cases, cards, T-shirts, posters and lots of other stuff. Find all the details on the Doodle Dojo store.

If you want to keep up with new designs, special offers and even be entered in the occasional giveaway, sign up to the Doodle Dojo Newsletter. You won't get more than two emails a month and I promise I won't sell your email address to spammers.

Doodle Dojo Newsletter

Sign up to the Doodle Dojo Newsletter for a chance to win!

I've been looking at new ways to keep everyone updated with what's going on here at Doodle Dojo and I came up with the idea of an email newsletter. I don't want to scare anyone into thinking that you are going to get lots of spam, so I promise that you won't get more than 2 emails in a month. What you will get is news about new designs, interesting stuff and new places you can find my work, special offers and maybe even a giveaway now and then.

Yes giveaways! When shirt-a-day sites print one of my designs I usually do a sketch on the theme of the design and give it away on my Facebook page. This time I'm going to open it up a bit and enter anyone who subscribes to my newsletter. The even better news is that my next print is on Saturday January 18th, so if you subscribe before then you get entered, easy! So if you would like a chance to win the Shaggy & Scooby sketch in the picture up there, get on and sign up!

There's other news too, but I won't spoil it by telling you all here. You just going to have to subscribe to find out what it is.

The Green Demon

The Green Demon, wildfire!

Its been a long time since I poster here! That's something I really should fix for the new year. I haven't been doing nothing since I did last post though, lots of drawings and doodles and all sorts of other art related stuff. But more about that later.

Game of Thrones has been one of my big obsessions last year. A great show full of intrigue, drama, violence, partial nudity and dragons. It doesn't get a lot better than that. Unless of course you fill it with British actors. One of the best bits for me was the Battle of Blackwater Bay where Tyrion proved himself a formidable general by using wildfire to fight off Stannis Baratheon's forces. In the books wildfire is described as 'the green demon'. That reminded me of Absinthe, or as it is sometimes known, the green fairy. So I had a quick look around at Absinthe labels and found one that I thought would serve as a good starting place. After that I only needed a few of my own tweaks to make it look right as a label for wildfire.

As usual this one is available at Redbubble and Society6 and you can find all the details on the new look Doodle Dojo Store.

Speaking of the new look Doodle Dojo Store (and taking the opportunity to add a gratuitous link again) I've made some changes over there to bring the place up to date for the new year. I also thought it might be fun to start up an email newsletter. I'm going to be telling you all about my latest designs and upcoming prints at shirt-a-day sites. I might even throw in a few exclusive giveaways to subscribers and special offers when they are available. Don't worry, I won't be spamming you every day! There will probably be one email a month and maybe the odd special for when there is something that just can't wait.

Sign-up here for the Doodle Dojo email newsletter.

Solo Smuggling and Wizard of Who

Wizard of Who and Solo Smuggling

Its been a little while since I got around to posting here! I (probably) won't leave it as long next time, its just that I've been busy. Busy getting some designs done and getting in contact with some people who want to sell my designs. This is basically a long winded way of saying that two of my designs, Wizard of Who and Solo Smuggling are up for sale for $12 right now.

Wizard of Who is at BlueBoxTees until the end of October 22nd and Solo Smuggling is at CosmosTees until the end of October 20th. So all you Whovians and Star Wars fans looking for a new T-shirt can get your hands on those for a bargain price for a little while.

When the sales are over both of these designs will still be available through Redbubble and Society6 along with a whole bunch of other stuff. I've also started a store at Teepublic so look out for more designs appearing there!

Ring Yang

Bilbo, Gollum and the Ring

Well its been a little while since I got around to posting here! Here's a design I did a little while ago when I was in a Tolkien sort of a mood. Bilbo and Gollum seemed to be opposite enough in their characters to make this sort of idea work. And of course it ends up that both are needed to complete the story of the ring.

As always this design is available on T-shirts, iPhone cases and all sorts of other stuff at Redbubble and Society6. Check out the Doodle Dojo Store for all the info an lots of other designs.

Would You Like a Jelly Baby?

Well would you?

Doctor Who has a very long history. One of the best of the many actors who played the part (in my opinion) is Tome Baker. The fourth Doctor was a pretty odd character and had some pretty good fashion sense. For an alien. I got a DVD of one of the fourth Doctors adventures for my birthday and of course after watching that I had to get out the sketchpad and get to doodling. It was The Ark in Space and despite a number of classic scenes of terror (and bubble wrap) it was the ending that inspired me most. As usual, just as everything is being sorted out, the Doctor says his goodbyes and offers everyone a Jelly Baby. Well what else could I do except draw a little something based on his catchphrase?

Available on Society6 and Redbubble as always. Check out the Doodle Dojo Store for all the links you need.

Hershel's Walker Barn

We've got more walkers than we know what to do with!

Do you need somewhere to store your loved ones while we work out away to cure them? Hershel has the knowhow to keep them safe and well fed. All we need then is a qualified genetic biologist or two and a fully equipped lab and we'll be able to restore them to normal. Probably. Unless there's a fire or something.

It took me a while but I finally caught up with the Walking Dead. And obviously once I did it inspired me to put pen to paper. Hershel's barn was a big enough moment to stick in my head pretty firmly. Once that other famous barn (belonging to Al McWhiggin) popped into my mind I knew I had to put them together.

Available on Redbubble and Society6. All the details are on the Doodle Dojo Store.

Craggy Island Gothic

Father Ted and Father Dougal at the Parochial House

I've been watching a fair bit of Father Ted again lately. Great show, so sad it ended like it did. I would have loved to see what Dermot Morgan could, and should, have gone on to do next. Something about Ted and Dougal suggested that they would be perfect for a re-working of Grant Wood's classic American Gothic, so that's what I did. Obviously with those two the severe pose of the original had to go in favour of a confused expression for Ted and a surprised one for Dougal. There are very few times when Dougal isn't surprised by something. Such as the sky, or the ground, or by the fact that other people turn up and tell him that he is a preist.

This one is also available on Society6 and Redbubble and you can find all the details on the Doodle Dojo Store.

Ripley & Hicks Exterminators

Ripley and Hicks, for when its not just another bug hunt.

If Ripley and Hicks had survived the journey home from LV426 I like to think they would have set up in business. After all they both had extensive experience of dealing with unwanted visitors. Hicks had certainly been on a few bug hunts before. And despite every paycheck being a fortune in the corps, I'm sure he would have preferred to work for himself after his latest experience of someone else being in command. Besides they always have the ultimate backup plan. Take off and nuke the whole site from orbit. Its the only way to be sure.

I wanted to make this one into a bit of an old fashioned logo. I'm beginning to think I have a bit of a thing for victorian style logo design, so it got out the pencil and started working on a nice chunky type treatment and it sort of struck me that the texture and pattern would be the thing to make this work properly. So a bit of H.R. Giger research later, I came up with some ideas of how to give it that extra-terrestrial edge that it needed.

This one is (surprisingly) available on Redbubble and Society6 right now with all the details available on the Doodle Dojo Store. Don't forget to stop by my Facebook page to keep up with my latest designs and sketches.

Anti-Grav Olympics 2074

Anti-grav Olympics

Now that Doctor Who is on a break until November I thought I'd better post up some more Who designs. This one is right back to episode one, 'The Bells of St. John'. Quite often the Doctor mentions things that don't make it into the show and this one just leapt out at me and said make me into a logo. So I did. He may have come last but it was probably because he had to take a detour to save the world or something. You know how it is.

As always this one is available at Redbubble and Society6. Check out the Doodle Dojo Store for more info.

Doodle Dojo Etsy Shop

Doctor Who Villains. Available in the Doodle Dojo Etsy Store.

I've been doing a lot of actual proper sketches lately (on paper and everything!). So rather than cluttering up my house, which already contains lots of my drawings, I thought I would offer them to you. So I've opened the Doodle Dojo Etsy store. This is my opening selection, as you can see I'm in a bit of a Doctor Who mood right now. I did have a Boba Fett picture up there too but its already sold so I won't bother to show that to you guys.

All these sketches are on nice thick A5 cartridge paper and hand drawn by me with a rather nice India Ink brush marker. I will be adding more as I get time to do them and of course if people show an interest in owning them!

Strawberry Cornetto

Want anything from the shop?

Thought I would go back to a great movie for some inspiration this time. Shaun of the Dead is one of those great movies that really puts a new spin on a (sometimes) overdone genre. The way Shaun manages to not notice the zombie apocalypse until it literally stumbles into his living room is probably the same way I would work out what's happening. Very silly indeed. So here's Shaun and Ed getting ready to defend themselves from a zombie horde by topping up on frozen snacks.

I don't quite know how Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright managed to come up with the 'Three flavours cornetto triology' but I can't wait to see part three. I think I may have to try and get a Hot Fuzz doodle done before The World's End appears too.

You can probably guess already that this design is available on all sorts of cool stuff at Redbubble and Society6. Get to the Doodle Dojo Store for all the info.

Ood One Out at Limiteed!

Ood One Out at Limiteed April 20-21

Its been a little while since I got round to posting here. Sorry about that! But I'm back with some good news if you are a Whovian. This design - Ood One Out - is going up for print at Limiteed.com. That means you can get your hands on it for the bargain price of £8 or €10 or even $12. Its only up for 24 hours, starting at 11pm UK time (6pm Eastern & 3pm Pacific) on April 20th, which means you have to hurry so what are you waiting for!

Obviously this makes it a very full Doctor Who weekend for me, with a new episode on as well, so I thought I'd up the Whovian stakes even more by giving away a drawing. Head over to my Facebook page and I'll put a post up when the shirt goes on sale. Share it and comment and you could win this Silent sketch! That can't be a bad deal can it? :)