Adopey Illustrator BS

stuff that i draw when i should be doing actual work

[dittyshoodles]

WOW. I am a loser.

Sorry. I want to keep this page somewhat out of that sort of self-loathing realm. I haven’t even been that busy recently, but from the creative intensity of uni, I’ve wanted to give myself a bit of a rest and let it build up somewhat. But I completely fell out of practise, more than I wanted to.

Well, even though I left my mum on a cliffhangar, I’m sure she won’t mind that I decided to do this instead - especially as this idea inspired me to actually do some doodles today. I wish I still had that session on Friday mornings to make so bored as to keep doing this. If I say that I’m hoping to keep this up, am I just promising myself? Because if I’m not careful, that could completely fall through again...

[dittyshoodles]

I told you (me) there was more work coming. I don’t particularly understand why I started doing this though - I still have several ideas for little pages or doodle pages I could put up, but this is what I went with. I started off doodling the little girl and came to end up with this whole story for her... which I plan to unfold in this sort of format. 

I guess you could look at this as a part one of this story, but I prefer to think of it as more of a first installment - it feels a little less mandatory, serious, and above all else, committed. But I do want to keep this up. The second installment may not take the form of the next post, but it will be coming, since I already know what I want to do for the panels.

I guess I also wanted to see how this would look on my ‘business’ page of tumblr, because I guess I want to start working more professionally, or at the very least, less sporadically (even though it’s clearly my best quality). I guess we’ll see, huh? By the way, if anyone does genuinely actually follow this badly-drawn, documentation (I have no idea), then hello. If you like what you see, then cool - I hadn’t really planned anything to say... But I hope you’re having a good day.

- Max.

[dittyshoodles]

Please officer, I can explain...

Wait, that was weird. I’m sure I’ve said that already. Anyways, more things are coming. I’m making this because I want to confirm it for myself, too. But to add to my confidence (and anyone else’s), I have a new laptop, decked out with as much Adobe software as I can afford... So, here’s to new beginnings - and to carry on procrastinating during those times when you should be doing work.

- Max

P.S. Please someone tell me how I’ve been avoiding procrastination with another deeper level of procrastination. It’s beginning to sound like a new Inception film is coming...

[dittyshoodles]

Wow. I feel like I have so much to write here today, so I’m going to try and condense it so it isn’t like a million words’ worth of waffle. So:

I have been super busy recently with uni. my last project was very demanding, but it paid off in the marking.

In the time when I would have typically done this, I actually had to do work, since it counted towards something, hence the lack of doodles.

I got to the point where I couldn’t get something to look how I wanted it to and then proceeded to go crazy and add colour... how does it look? I thought about it a little as you can see from the photo.

I would love to keep working like this, in full blown mini-strips but for once thing, that would mean less posts or less content, since I just sit down and go straight into these; and for another, I would very quickly run out of ideas. So I’ve decied that I want to do pages like this, and then do pages of comic inbetween and find a balance that works for me.

Lastly, I’ve learnt so much about Illustrator today. I wasn’t awful at it before, but in terms of doodles I have learnt how to make things look a lot smoother, especially a much simpler way of making colours dynamic and sharp. My only worry is that some of the colours are a lot brighter in the jpg than in the document, but this may be because out of habit I typically set documents to CMYK colours, which are typically less vibrant...

Okay, all bases covered. But yeah. I’d like to think this is going well. I have some ideas for more little strips that I can work on, and with a free weekend ahead of me, I plan to get to them quickly and get sunk in. Stay tuned, mum!

- Max

[dittyshoodles]

Here is the other half of what I was talking about in that post that I keep referencing (which might not be as acknowledged as it should be but hey look, content!). In fact, this is a subtle improvement on my original idea, since it has an actual, consistent format (unlike most other things that I do) and a coherent, deeper meaning behind it! I’m actually quite proud of this. I barely had an idea in the first place, but here we go.

Something I must stress though: as much as I love this strip, and would love to produce more strips like this, I don’t think I could cope if all of the following posts on here were done in the same format. I might play around with panels and strips, but for now I can barely cope with just clumps of mediocre doodles. Whatever. I’ll just do what I like, and inevitably over-explain myself about it in these typical, tedious paragraphs. That was the point of this after all.

- Max.

[dittyshoodles]

Wowee, I’m sorry for the lack of things around here. I feel like I’m mostly apologizing to myself; I’ve been wanting to post something on this page for the last few days, but said last few days have been exceptionally disruptive. My uni has been closed due to an amazing amount of snow, some of which is still falling from the sky now. Unfortunately, a lot of it has been sitting around, wondering if the uni will open and if I need to do any work - and the rest of it was spent sledging or recovering from injuries formed in sledging.

Still, these last three or four days have been good. There hasn’t been any major issues from anywhere else, it just seems most people are having meltdowns about all the snow and such, when in reality it hasn’t been that bad. Regardless, I’m guessing things will return to normal for me next week, which is nice, but at the same time having this little on-the-fly, improvised vacation has been great.

Anyways, here’s another page, with some drawings of friends too. If one of them looks familiar, it’s because it’s based on the same person, but she recently had a haircut. It’s nice.

- Max.

[dittyshoodles]

Well, this is what I was talking about in my last post – well, half of it anyways. I’m sure you can see what this was based on but I thought the originals looked great! So, meet the crew. They aren’t based on anyone in particular, but the shapes line up with the first letter of their names – neat, huh? I thought it was at least. Regardless, I haven’t actually gotten around to completing the second idea yet but it is still in the pipeline for me, thought there might be another page of doodles in between the two.

As for everything else, we actually have a test next week following the sessions in which I’ve been drawing doodles... But it shouldn't be a problem – it’s a fairly simple poster and it only covers the use of Photoshop, which I’m pretty sure anyone and everyone can use (or so I’d have thought). I’ve forgotten the sort of stupid stuff I usually write in this little section. Meh, this looks like it’s about enough.

- Max.

[dittyshoodles]

I hate the way things work out sometimes. Literally an hour or so after posting the last load, I had done almost everything on this page. But because over the weekend I was busy, and have started some new projects, time escaped me again. I should be working now really, but I feel a tad sick.

On the other hand, I really like these ones. I even feel like I could stomach it to say I feel that I have improved. What a skill to have – improving at computer-mouse-doodles whilst I should be doing work. Regardless, I have actually had two ideas for the two following pages (respectively) that I hope to achieve, and they are a little bit different from what came before. They have a bit more thought about them, and they have an actual purpose. 

By the way – I have now had a haircut, and my back doesn't hurt anymore. But John definitely had a haircut.

- Max.

[dittyshoodles]

Looking at this now, I feel like it is almost a waste of a post. This page was a lot busier last week but I accidentally reverted my Illustrator document back to like the first two drawings... Following this, I then drew my reaction to this, and tried to re-create some of the drawings. I tried doing some whenever I could, including whilst watching Futurama, hence the loose Professor Farnsworth doodle.

Also, the little guy called Otto is actually from a uni project about creating a video game. It ended up being a terrible project, but I did some cool promotional art, which I may even re-create and/or re-purpose them. Maybe I’ll even post them... In doodle form.

[dittyshoodles]

I’ve always had a big interest in comics - not the ones with superheroes and shit, I mean the ones that are more contemporary. The ones that have a deep, underlying meaning hidden under a silly aesthetic, almost like a cartoon for children. Unfortunately, I’ve never really had the time or the commitment to stick to one idea for that long to create anything even remotely successful. To be honest, a lot of the drawings in here probably relate to some of the ideas that I hung on to for all of five minutes.

I’ve even thought that in the future, using Tumblr I might even be able to develop a more definite idea that I stick to - but I don't want to jinx it. Also, so much for having a lot of free time. I’ve learnt that time is a sporadic little bitch and I need to make the most of what I can with the time I have at any given point. Is that what adulting is?

- Max

[dittyshoodles]

I’ve had so much free time this past week - but it’s because I’ve been waiting my partner in uni to do her side of our project... This means I sat in my studio for three days not doing too much, other than this page and half of another one. This does mean I’m slightly ahead of myself with posts though, which is a position I’m glad to be in. Also, a friend added to this with a drawing of a headband (top left area), so I drew her badly to feature in this post.

Finally, always remember: fly guy never lies, but cat bro might though...

- Max

[dittyshoodles]

Having thought about it, I still don’t really know what to write down here, so I’ll stick with the truth - I think all of these pages look exactly the same and now I’m worrying that there is no point to this. Also, I have continued drawing people who are real (or based on real people). The biggest drawing, sat in the middle is a dude in my class called John. I spoke to him today during a class, and he made a note that being ‘No.1′ is very important to him. I didn’t know how to feel.

Also, one of these drawings is actually loosely based on myself, so if anyone looks, maybe you can figure out which one it is...

- Max.

[dittyshoodles]

So, let’s get right into it - right after I made my introduction, which I now realise you may not even read, or if you do, it will be after you’ve read this. But this is the type of thing that I do. These were in Illustrator CC, on an iMac in my university, with standard Apple mouse. The lowest one in the left-hand corner is based on a lecturer, called Dave. He’s nice, but hard to follow... hence the doodles.

- Max.

[dittyshoodles]

Please officer, I can explain...

Hello. My name is Max.

I have been drawing for as long as I could walk. When I was a kid, I would draw different things everyday, anytime I had the chance. Fifteen years later I still like to draw a lot, but usually when I’m supposed to be listening in lessons or lectures - or sometimes other actual work. Anyways, I have started to consider that they may be worth keeping, so that explains this place... A weird gallery of stupid stuff that I draw when I’m supposed to be doing other stuff.

For the one person that follows this (that may end up being my mum), please never expect a consistent line of work - I am terrified of commitment, and can barely keep consistent with myself, let alone other people and a whole tumblr. But at some point or another, another load of stuff may appear, maybe in one big load. If I get better, maybe I’ll even do requests, OCs, and seasonal posts - but I like to keep my eyes on the floor, not the stars. Also, if my mum is interested, I draw these in mostly Adobe Illustrator CC (hence the rapidly-less-funny name for this) with a USB mouse. From time to time I might use Photoshop, and/or a graphics tablet, but it all depends on how I feel (and where I am).

I also have another, more enthusiastic page on tumblr: rhaxmys.tumblr.com, which features actual university work (you’d think it’d be superb illustration work, but it’s actually mediocre graphic design), which should be more regular with updates and full of weird and wonderful things that a university course entails. Another page that may be somewhat interesting is my instagram, maximooose_, which features a whole range of things related to work, doodles, and everything in between.

So sit tight, strap in, and prepare for some weird, pointless doodling and mildly pessimistic comments about them from yours truely. By the way - this is not supposed to be a reformed, re-invented purpose of myself, this isn’t meant to be for anyone or anything (well, maybe my mum). Everyday I just go into uni, with the same battered Vans, drink seven cups of tea, and when I have the time try and do some doodles. That’s all this really is - pathetic, isn’t it?