Life's a doodle at London's pop-up bar

DoodleBar is a blank canvas waiting for guests to get creative, and even Vivienne Westwood is popping in for a scribble

by David Vincent Friday 5 June 2009/ The guardian website

Finally, a pop-up bar with some credit crunch cred...instead of rip-off prices. Tonight the DoodleBar opens in Battersea, London, with beers for £2.50, and bottles of wine for a tenner. The events café-cum-bar, built through bartering and sourcing furniture from the giveaway website Freecycle, is a low-cost, high-concept sort of place intent on spurring creativity in the community.It will host exhibitions, screenings, classes and workshops throughout the summer. Many will be in collaboration with Onedotzero, the digital arts organisation that provides educational outreach to young children and teenagers. Forthcoming events include monthly film screenings hosted by Vivienne Westwood, and US filmmaker Jamie Johnson giving a free talk and screening of his new movie Sounds Like Teen Spirit. But the DoodleBar, as you might surmise, is also designed to be a haven for - doodlers. The walls, chairs, tables and even waiters are all blank canvasses, waiting for some creative types to come scribble, sketch or plain graffiti them. "The waiters will be wearing white jeans and shirts," says Jules Cocke of filmmakers Squint/Opera, who along with illustrator Serge Seidlitz, came up with the idea for the bar. "You can doodle anywhere you want on their clothes. It's up to the waiters where they draw the line." There's a VW Beetle, a Seventies chaise lounge, a sled and a ping-pong table in need of a little colour. And there's a basic mural of London mapped out and people can add whatever they like – the Thames and Big Ben are already in situ. During the day, the bar will turn into a café, serving salads and sandwiches. There's also free Wi-Fi. "The aim is to make The DoodleBar into a walk-in, constantly evolving work of art, created as a collaboration between all those who visit," says Seidlitz.

• The DoodleBar, Ransomes Dock, 33 Parkgate Rd, Battersea, London; thedoodlebar.com; launch party 5 June, 6pm-12am. Café: 9am-6pm. Bar: check calendar.

Welcome to the Doodle Bar

The Doodle Bar is opening on Friday in Battersea at Squint operas head quarters. The Doodle Bar overlooks Ransomes Dock, 33 Parkgate Road, Battersea. White-washed from top to bottom and with an illustrated map of LONDON weaving across the walls, participants are encouraged to DOODLE on the wall map, tables, chairs and even the waiters. We believe in the Freedom of Doodle. The Doodle Bar supports creativity in the community and will be hosting exhibitions and events, classes and workshops throughout summer 2009. Come and doodle and support the launch of our recession-proof credit crunch cafe on 5th June when we will be unveiling our exciting Events Calendar for the following weeks. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PRESS RELEASE & SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES, please contact: jasmin@thedoodlebar.com , alice@thedoodlebar.com In association with: www.doodlearth.com, www.squintopera.com, www.sergeseidlitz.com. Sponsored by uni-ball POSCA pens and Mozzo Coffee

Kill your idols

When I met Gerald Scarfe at Hay festival I told him that i spent my angst ridden teenage years listening to Pink floyd and looking at his drawings. His formative years were spent bed ridden as he was suffering from chronic asthma, which led him to spend hours drawing and making little sculptures. This is evidence of Malcom Gladwell's Outliers theory that the amount of time spent honing a skill or a craft from an early age is essential in the pursuit of success. Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.

"lets go down..."

a resurrected leap froggin', see sawin' drawin' with harry malt...

let the games begin!

http://harrymaltdrawspictures.blogspot.com/2009/05/lets-go-down.html

THE SMALL PRINT presents OFFSET 2009, Nov 6th-8th, Dublin

Dublin is the largest town in the world, and im very excited to be a part of this event ...

http://www.iloveoffset.com/

James Jarvis for Nike - delicious!!!

Onwards from AKQA on Vimeo.

frequently asked Questions !

I am often asked to answer questions by students about life as an illustrator and my sources of inspiration, I sometimes don't get chance to respond to these questions, which are, invariably variations on the same line of inquiry.

Having just read a couple of other illustrators thoughts on the subject, I am inclined to agree with what they say and urge you to read and digest :

http://davidfoldvari.blogspot.com/2009/03/update.html

http://jodybarton.blogspot.com/2009/05/questionnaires-from-students.html

(ps. dont even get me started on magazines that offer tuition and step-by-step guides on "how to be an illustrator")

'Elisava School of design' - books and posters

A collaboration with soonintokyo, made for Barcelona school of design, here are the books and posters that i illustrated.

Jamie J Johnson's, 'SOUNDS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT'

I had the chance to see my friend Jamie's new film at a screening last month. Its proper funny! a brilliant documentary in which Jamie followed a selection of contestants around in the lead up to the Junior Eurovision song contest.

It's released on the 8th May, and i urge anyone reading this (if anyone is ?) to go see it :

Here's the trailer :

http://www.soundsliketeenspiritthemovie.co.uk/

Ribblestrop book launch and website

Ribblestrop is Andy Mulligan's first book, and has been hailed by The Independent as the ‘next big thing’ for 2009.

http://ribblestrop.co.uk/