Doodle Roundup: ephemera

Written by Patrick J Turner Jr

Published on September 1st, 2023

Hello all. I have some more doodles for you. Earlier this week I purchased my first film camera. The nature of older, analog photography got me thinking about emphemeral and fragile media. Film is highly sensitive to light and the chemicals on it will break down over time, eventually making it unusable. The older something gets, the more likely it is to cease functioning properly. This is true of machines, people, plants, etc. Everything has an expiration date.

Because of this, archival is an important task we are burdened with. If you want to ensure that something will last a long time, you must take the steps to preserve it properly. For my photos and doodles I do this by backing them up on multiple devices. I share them online on this website and social media. What would once be doomed by its emphemeral nature is now saved for future viewing. Is it all worth saving? That's up to the eye of the beholder. Here's a couple doodles I saved this week:

FREDWARD

Fredward has a gaping mouth with massive buck teeth on his top and bottom gums. His face is frozen in a permanent expression of shock. Fredward exists somewhere between a living creature and a working machine. I guess he is sort of locked up like this forever. I wonder what sort of dental work would need to be done on him. I need to go to the dentist soon.

JONNATHON

The greatest time honored tradition amongst my friends is showing each other the most absurd, strange videos we can find on YouTube. This has gotten harder to do as the YouTube algorithm has evolved, but the video Jimmy Neutron Family Happy Hour has remained a staple within my friend groups. I rewatched the video recently and drew Jimmy from memory. It is a kind of scary, rough 3D abstraction of a show I watched a lot growing up, so maybe there's some odd feelings there.

SLIME

I drew a slime from the Dragon Quest series of JRPGs. When I was growing up, Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies was my favorite video game and I played it for hundreds of hours. It was my first real RPG experience and I loved customizing the characters, maxxing out my numbers, and exploring the world. The designs in the games are stellar, just perfectly fun, striking, timeless drawings from Akira Toriyama.

PSYSLUG

The psyslug is a species of slug native to the deepest parts of the Amazon rainforest. They are about twice the size of the average slug and contain small amounts of what appears to be psychic power. Researchers have reported minor feelings of hopelessness or despair when monitoring these creatures. They have hypothesized that this could be a defense mechanism developed to ward off predators by affecting their mind. Multiple governments from around the world have already expressed great interest in funding further research for the purposes of military applications.

FRANCIS

Francis is a young horned, bull-like creature. They are growing horns and are flustered about one horn being bigger than the other one. This brings Francis a lot of distress and frustration as they feel that their lopsided horns are all anyone can notice about them. It begins to affect the way they interact with others and taints Francis' connections to others. Maybe the other horn will grow out too. I think Francis is wonderful either way.

MAGNUS

I was trying to draw either a flame creature or a fuzzy ball creature here. Magnus is somewhere in between I suppose. Hot to the touch, Magnus has the texture of steel wool and rolls around all day like tumbleweed. I wonder what he must think as the wind blows him around. He has been known to accidentally start fires from the heat he gives off, but always by accident and never by malice.

That's all for this week's doodle roundup. It's the start of a new month, and I can feel the cooler air blowing through the city. I feel strange preserving these doodles to be honest. Because of their subconscious or thoughtless nature I feel I am sort of depicting an unfiltered, unpolished view of my work that I am unsure I really enjoy. It can be hard for me to appreciate work that falls below my semi-perfectionist standards as I want people to see the best version of my ideas possible. But, in a way it also keeps me more open and honest. Until next time, remember: none of these doodles will last forever, and neither will we.

- Patrick Turner