The story of Doris
She was set to be a star of the animation industry, but today no one knows who she is. This is the story of Doris Doodle. A toon actress trying to find her way back into the world of cartoons while reliving the memories and situations that caused her to be forgotten.
MEET DORIS
Doris Doodle has dreamed of becoming a cartoon star ever since she was first drawn in the 1940s. After years of auditions, she finally made it in 1945 as an ad girl for the King Cartoon Show. Soon everyone was noticing the new star in town and her dreams were all coming true. But the path to stardom had a price. One Doris was not willing to pay
A WORLD OF LIVING CARTOONS
This is a hybrid world of cartoons living among live action people. A world where toon actors can be manipulated to the desires of audiences, made to perform for countless years while barely changing or being able to grow or have families without studios approving it. All while navigating the hardships that real people need to face everyday. Finding a living wage, discrimination, harrasment and more. It’s not all laughs for toons and for some, life can hit extremely hard.
A LOVE LETTER TO ANIMATION
Doris’s story was made as a celebration of the artform while also creating a world that feels powerful and connects with people. A world that tells a story about Hollywood, the brutal struggle of trying to be relevant, and finding the resilience to overcome struggles. Through the eyes of Doris and Dawn (her rebooted self) we see a path to life and family that’s fantastically different but still extremely relatable.
These are living forms of ink and paint who are greatly human.
A WORD FROM HASANI WALKER
Doris started out as a quick doodle made in a sketchbook. An attempt at making a different style from my usual work. I kept that sketch for a while, wanting to do something with the character who I simply called “Toon Princess” at that time.
I knew I wanted to tell an old Hollywood story with her, but I wasn’t sure where it would fully go. It wasn’t until a long break from studio work had me looking for distractions and eventually I started free writing and drawing a comic about Doris. It became a story about a vintage star, living forever, seeing themselves forgotten, and trying to become relevant. At least, that was the main focus at first. As the story went on, Dawn came into the picture and everything moved to a path that I believe made this story better.
From the moment I shared the story of Doris and Dawn online there was an interest in the characters and I hope to share them with more people. I grew up loving the art of animation and I have a great respect for the artform.
I hope Doris and Dawn Doodle will connect to more people and open more to the medium of animation and story telling.
Thank you so much for reading their story and I hope you continue to follow them as I try to do more with them in the future.
-Hasani