Sunday, August 8, 2021

Book cover, doodle-versary, mask confusion, and fake mini polaroids.

Hello! I missed you last week! In my week off of the newsletter, I realized it's been a full year since I posted my first doodle on my Instagram. How should I celebrate this doodle-versary? ... I guess by creating a book!?

I'm putting all my pandemic-themed doodles together in a book called "Quarantine Chronicles." I'm moving slower than I'd like, but I do have a preview of the first draft of cover! You can, and are encouraged, to reply to this email with feedback!

The delta variant and going back to masks is confusing for us (not to mention, also for my book intro) — so I have a doodle about that.

And, for my friend Alex's birthday, I made some fake mini polaroids (the kinds you take with those Fuji Instax cameras). 

Enjoy the doodles!

If you're new to Danielle in Doodles, welcome! I publish this newsletter of my latest doodles most Sundays, and you can see archives here.

Quarantine Chronicles cover

The book is moving along and the delta variant is making me rethink the intro I shared a few weeks ago. It was structured as a "the pandemic is ending" kind of narrative, but now, who knows? So this cover tries to reflect that. I'll share the back cover soon, which will be a word cloud. My dad thinks I should use just one image, but so much has happened, what would that even be?! I also like seeing all my characters from the past few months come together. This is not final, just a first draft. Send any thoughts or feedback!!

What do we do with our masks?

This image may look familiar, because I tried this duo in a different doodle in my last newsletter. Using masks as crop tops was inspired by my series doodling a Brooklyn photographer's street fashion photos. But, then I changed the concept, and I think this is better — and can go in my book!

Looking back at my first doodle: Dates from the past that didn't last!

If you haven't heard my "origin story yet" — here's the spiel. I had been doing open mics honing my standup skills when the pandemic hit. I started drawing and painting to ease my pandemic anxiety, and ended up mixing the two hobbies on a whim and doodling my exes. People liked it and I kept going. The encouragement I got led to over 100 doodles, the newsletter (started in November), and more, including several cartoons about my love life.

Mini pics for Alex, my friend of 26 years

Alex and I met in preschool when we were 3 and have been friends ever since! She is incredibly loyal and supportive. She's even proofed this newsletter since the beginning, so I wanted to make her her own unique doodle for her birthday. I took a picture of us and a picture of her and her sister (sitting in front of Hamptons restaurant, Lunch) and doodled them. Then, using Cavna, I designed them to make them look like mini polaroid prints (2x3 inches), and slipped them into little frames. They're so cute! I'm going to make a video about this process soon.

Thanks, as always, for reading, and for keeping me going for a YEAR!

xo

Danielle (in Doodles) Brody

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