Brian completed his 60th illustration for Screenmedia today and deserves a good pat on the back for all his hard work. His labour of love for our 365 project has turned into an excellent body of work. But even as I write this blog to mark the occasion, I can't help feeling that 'a doodle a day' has become much more than the sum of its parts.

Brian is drawing a picture (almost) every day, a picture of something that inspires him. He is then sharing it on our online spaces like Flickr and Twitter. In his first 30 drawings, Brian commented:

"Initially I was illustrating random objects from in and around the studio. I would then apply meaning to them to represent studio life. I think I covered most of the obvious choices in drawings 1-30 but this is an area that will naturally expand over time."

Brian is now documenting our lives both inside and outside the studio. His attentions have turned to looking at what we are involved in and what is happening around us. As a result, Brian's drawings are becoming as much a marker of time as the date in my calendar.

G is for Glastonbury

He recently introduced the new concept of 'Alpha-doodles' into his work. This is what he had to say about it:

"It turns out that my 365 project, where I agreed to do 365 doodles, is a huge amount of illustrations to get through. So, I'll be peppering the series with an illustrated alphabet and number series. Normally taking the focus of the doodle from a topical subject of the time, for example 'W is for Wimbledon' and 'G is for Glastonbury'."

W is for Wimbledon

It's worth mentioning that Brian doesn't just do doodles for 365. He works on illustrative drawings for our clients producing instructional diagrams and how to guides. He gets involved in character design, development and animation for learning tools. And quite often, data visualisation begins with pencil sketches too. As Brian says:

"It's a traditional method but I always find my ideas flow quicker and are more experimental at the initial illustrative sketch stage. Take the Big Plus project 'Work Skills Academy' I had developed the characters look and feel first. This allowed the client to gain a quick visual of what the character might look like.'

Early character development for the award winning Work Skills Academy

The Big Plus project for Work Skills Academy won an eLearning Award last year for Excellence in the Production of Learning Content and I must say Brian's illustrations are making a big impression on me too.

When I start looking closely at them I get something else, something more meaningful than I think can be achieved in a quick photo. You can play with and communicate a concept however you want and that makes it a very flexible medium.

Now that Brian has built up such a large body of illustrative work for our 365 project, how does he feel?

"I've reached 60 doodles. The 365 doodle project is really starting to feel like a bit of a marathon that I have undertaken. 60 drawings is a big achievement but I have 305 to go. I will finish my marathon though, I'm just going to have to roll up my socks, tie my trainers tight, adorn myself with plenty of sweat bands and just go for it."

You can see the entire collection of doodles here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/screenmedia/

Check out the first blog post: http://www.screenmedia.co.uk/blog/2011/april/30-days-of-doodles-(only-the-beginning)