The Daily Doodles

Hello everyone!

I recently passed a milestone that I am quite proud of, but as always, I was reticent to actually acknowledge it on my site… I am afraid of seeming cocky, boastful, pretentious, etc etc.

But, I passed the 100,000 follower threshold the other week, and I am very happy about it!

When I started this site 2+ years ago, 10k followers seemed impossible.  I remember texting my sister about each new follower or new ‘like’ (for about 6 months, I had less than 30 followers).  If I ever DREAMED of having 100k followers, I would have assumed I was FAMOUS!

Of course, as we all know, I am not anywhere close to famous, and as I personally know, I am still extremely broke and unsuccessful in ways that (financially) matter.  Despite the growth of my site and my work, I’m still not where I want to be.  Working on books, keeping up content for the site, making rent, it’s all pretty damn tough to be honest (not to sound whiny of course).

Still, I feel extremely lucky that I’ve been received so well by everyone here (2+ years, over 100k followers, and I’ve still only gotten 1 hate mail), and that I’ve grown so quickly and “easily”.  I am a firm believer of doing the work you think is good and not what you think other’s want to see, and if you believe in it then the RIGHT people will find it and enjoy it as well. 

I owe a lot to the staff of Tumblr, and everyone who has glanced or even stolen my illustrations and gifs, as it has all contributed to putting me on a career path I never thought I could embark upon.  

Longtime readers will remember how I used to draw…!  It was awful!  Only now am I becoming acceptable, and in the near future there will be books and other projects… all directly caused by the success of my site here.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, to everyone, and I really do love you all!  

If everyone wants to get together and all send me 1 measly dollar each, I will accept it.  HELL, GIMME 12 CENTS EACH.  I live cheap! :’-o

New drawings and gifs coming shortly…! :-)

Love,
David Michael Chandler

Anonymous asked: Can I reblog your photo and change the statements below? I mean, I'm going to make my own statement. Is it okay to you? :) Btw, you have a great talent! I wish I can doodle too :(

Hello!

I’m making this one of the anonymous questions that I’ll answer since this comes up a lot— sometimes people just want to reblog the drawing and not my text and they ask permission to do so.

I am perfectly okay with anyone reblogging just the drawing and erasing my text.  It’s not a problem with me at all, and I am glad you like the drawing!

However, don’t CHANGE the story or edit it please… feel free to erase it and put what ya like below it, but don’t change the story I wrote somehow.

I’m pretty insecure with my drawing ability, and very secure with my creative/writing ability, so any annoyingosity I may feel from erasing my story is offset by the happyosity I feel from you actually liking my bad drawing!

So, basically, do what ya like with it :-)  And thank you for reblogging it, as opposed to saving it onto your computer and loading it to Tumblr as a new post on your blog… I don’t get why some people do that.  I don’t get riled up by it, it’s just curious.

With things like that, I am mostly just happy that people like what I made.

And ANYONE can draw like me, I swear!  It’s just a series of roundy lines, I could teach any one of you who say you “can’t draw” how to draw like me… at the very least, how to do the faces I do.  It’s CRAZY easy.

Thanks for the message, whoever ya are!  I hope you reblog my work until the end of time!!

All the Love in the Galaxy from My Heart to Yourses,
David Michael Chandler

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Anonymous asked: So how do you come up your stories? Are they based on things that have happened to you or your friends, or are they just random things you created in the random, creative place we call our minds?

Hey there!

Over time, I’ve established a few unwritten rules that I usually stick to as I make these Daily Doodles, and one of them is that I make a point of every story being an original, non-self-referential piece (nor referencing any specific pop culture thingy)… basically, almost nothing that happens in these stories happened to me or my friends and they’re just a product of my imagination.

Sometimes they might be similar or semi-inspired by real life events, but the specifics are always changed to make them not personal… I like an idea feeling good to me on its own and not just because it happened to me. 

PLUS, I am shy and don’t like people knowing my bizness. ^__^

I don’t use anyone else’s ideas, as I am a stickler for that and like to keep things pure, even if they want me to use their idea and it’d be totally fine… I just wanna use my own brain for everything.  To me, it’s more fun that way.  

However someone else creates their stories is totally fine, so don’t take this as me saying my way is better :-)  And the “rules” that work for me on The Daily Doodles won’t necessarily apply to other projects I work on, such as a screenplay or whatever.

This site is a place where I can pretty much control everything that happens here, and that’s part of what make these fun for me.  When trying to make a living doing creative work, you often have to make compromises here and there… I like keeping The Daily Doodles a place where I can just do whatever I wanna.

I hope I made sense!  Thank you for the question :-)

New Daily Doodle coming up soon!

Love,
David Michael Chandler

[EDIT] PS:  I realized I didn’t answer the first question, of how I come up with my stories!  It’s a boring answer— I just think ‘em up.  Sometimes I ‘meditate’, but it’s really just letting my mind wander and see what it trips over.  And then I write it down before I forget.

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Hey Everyone!  Just a quick question for my fellow drawerin’ friends…

What materials do you use?  What do you draw on…?  Like, what sort of paper, where do ya get it, WHY do ya use it, etc etc.

I have a few cool projects in the works and since I never went to art school and none of my pals here in LA do illustrations, I am pretty much very ignorant about these sorts of thingies.  Basically, I am looking for nicer paper to draw on, one that erases regular pencil well and is sturdy, and also looking into some new colouring tools (though I will mostly be staying with my current ‘look’ of coloured pencils, highlighters, and markers… it’s “me”).

I won’t be doing any digital artwork, but if that’s your preferred medium I’d love to hear ‘how’ ya do it as well. 

Thank you very much for the help!  As always, feel free to write me anytime at thedailydoodles@gmail.com or sending me a message via Tumblr.

I am working on my Daily Doodle right now, so I’mma gonna get back to it!

Love,
DMC

PS: And a reminder— I am an editor for the Illustration tag, and I LOVE finding new artists to feature.  If you’ve simply followed me I may not have noticed or visited your site, so please send me a message if ya make your own art of ANY kind.  It won’t be awkward!  It’s okay to tell me to go look at it.  You can even be slightly bossy and entitled about it, I don’t care!

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Hey everyone!

Just a quick mention that if one is into seeing “works in progress” of various Doodles, and a folder dedicated to the test drawings I do for various Daily Doodles, go on over and visit my ego-riffic Facebook Page!

I don’t think you need a Facebook account to see everything on the page, so don’t let it stop ya… if your heart really wants this we can find a way.  We DESERVE to find a way.

I hope all is well and almost none of you have died recently!

Love,
DMC

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I had posted this on my Facebook page, but I wanted EVERYONE to see it so I’m posting here too!

The talented and wonderful Kye Sangha of http://whimsicalbeast.com/ sent me the best gift a boy could ever get— her water colour painting she did of my murderous alien pet character, Splork!

Her version is MUCH better than mine, and it is amazing of her to send me it, framed and all. She just had surgery on March 15th, so please everyone wish her the best.  She’s truly one of the best people in the galaxy, and deserves our good thoughts!

(To see my original Splork, just click here.  As you can see, Kye did it gooder!)

Take care everyone!  We All Love You, Kye!
Love,
DMC

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Tumblr just sent me an early Christmas present— I am now an editor for the Illustration tag :-) It was very unexpected, but I’m honoured and excited at the opportunity to showcase all of the great illustrative work here on Tumblr!

It’s a Christmas Miracle! :-o

Since I just found out about it a few minutes ago, I haven’t put a ton of thought into it all, but my first instinct is that I will try to focus on original Tumblr artists more than anything else.  And before anyone asks or makes any assumptions— NO, an editor can not feature their own work. :-)  That’d be a pretty sweet deal though! 

On a semi-related note, I love to follow creative Tumblrs that post their own original content.  If you are reading this and I don’t follow you (or you think I’ve perhaps overlooked your work) and you post your own art, photography, writing, sculptures, puppetry, ANYTHING as long as it is yours— feel free to let me know via my ASK or at my super secret special email (thedailydoodles@gmail.com)… I’d love to check your site out. 

Happy Holidays to everyone out there!  I love you all, and I thank you for reading and liking my work.  You all are the best part of my year!

Love,
David Michael Chandler

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Anonymous asked: where is your mega faq?

Good question!

Honestly, I felt kinda pretentious writing it, and by writing it I felt like I was gonna give off the impression that I think people are dying to read more about me— like I think I’m a hot shot.  And that’d be lame.

It’s almost completed, it has some funny bits I like, and I could sit down and finish it… but I really hate seeming like I’m full of myself.  I think I’d feel it’s more appropriate (for me) if my site was bigger, so it’d warrant a comprehensive FAQ.

HOWEVER, if you DO wanna read a little about me, check out an interview I did recently with David Miller of CEREAL Magazine!  It’s the debut issue, if I’m not mistaken, and Mr. David Miller did a great job putting it together.  It features several awesome artists and photographers, and cool interviews.

My interview starts on page 27! 

If one wants to see what I look like (that’s the most common Anonymous question I get, and I don’t normally post Anon asks because it’d seriously clutter up my site and most of the questions are things they can figure out on their own in 2 minutes if they just look around a bit), and read a mini-FAQ (mini-FAQs are scientifically proven to be less pretentious than mega-FAQs), just click here: HERE.

By all means, keep sending in questions for the one-day-completed Mega FAQ.  I’ll answer whatever, I don’t mind!

Thank you everyone for everything, I really do love you all, and I’ll post a new Doodle later tonight.

Love,
DMC

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Heylo!

I don’t think you love your family or friends enough to buy them an original Daily Doodle starring them for only $25 bucks (plus shipping) for the Holiday season!  Ya don’t got it in ya!

So prove me wrong, and buy your friends, family, and loved ones an original Daily Doodle starring them— or even past Doodles for the same $25 charge— today! 

Or just go straight to the Paypal, HERE.

I’ve done several commissioned Doodles for Birthdays here and there, and often they are last minute and that is fine since they’re spread out… if you think you’d like to get yourself, a friend, hell even a G’oll damned loved one or family member some original art from The Daily Doodles, it is better to do it now over later so we got TIME to do it all.  Time to figure out the best story, send me a good photo, time for it to get to you, etc etc.

Everything is hand drawn, hand coloured, no photoshop trickery or shenanigans and I promise to kiss each Doodle in a special way that is just for that specific Doodle… and it will be our little secret shhhhhh ^__^.

And I give you my word, that every dollar that doesn’t get snorted up my nose will go back into the Daily Doodles in the form of much needed supplies.  As you can imagine, attempting to make something daily and colour every inch of it burns through… everything.

IN OTHER NEWS, I am moving to another part of Los Angeles, I am dead broke as a joke, stretched thin with my various projects, and hating thangs.  BUT!  Together!  Me and You!  We can make it! But!  I worry we won’t!  If we don’t join hands and work as a family to buy Daily Doodles!

EITHER WAY, I love you all very much and I hope you keep reading.  Thank you for all of your support, and as always please write in anytime.

Yours, forever <3,
David Michael Chandler

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Heeeeeeylooooooo!

OKAY, some of you know about my “Star in a Doodle and/or Own a Doodle” program (click that link to read more about it, or just GO HERE to give me money via paypal ^__^).  They’ve been some of my most fun Daily Doodles to draw and write, and some of my most popular pieces.

HOWEVER there are a few of you out there who paid for their own Doodle, and haven’t replied to my follow-up emails!  I wrote to whatever email the payment was attached to, so I understand if this wasn’t a main email for you.  Some people have names I recognize and I can bother them directly, but some who’ve done it aren’t people whose site I know (if they even have a Tumblr).

SO PLEASE, if you’d like to get your money’s worth, please send me a message so we can get going on your Doodle :-)

Thank you to EVERYONE who has commissioned Doodles, and to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday a few days ago!  All of you are awesome and I want to beat up all of your bullies for you.

If you’re all “hey I didn’t know it was your b-day dude” and I’m all “it’s okay don’t worry about it” but you’re all “dude I wanna give you a present” and I’m all “nah it’s cool” but you’re all “c’mon lemme, I insist”, then I would be all “why not commission a Daily Doodle for a present for both of us?”  Doesn’t that sound fun?

Or just donate so I can buy art supplies and eat!  I like both things! 

Sorry for the post but I wanted to make sure people who PAID get what they paid for!

Love you all,
David Michael Chandler

PS: To see some of the nice artwork and presents some people gave me for my Burfday, click on the Facebook link below!  That’ll take ya to my Facebook page.

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