Getting a Little Personal...It Probably Won't Happen Again!

I don't usually post anything personal here, but I ate a fortune cookie today and I got this fortune and it made me think about how true it is.

"The small steps you take will ultimately bring you great fortune."

I have always been very shy and I don't typically put myself into the spotlight in any way, which is why I remained mostly anonymous for so long on my pages and why I didn't really do much with my YouTube channel. I've always felt like people won't care about what I have to say. Add in anxiety with talking to people I don't know or public speaking, and I have myself a recipe for holding myself back from doing the things I want to do. 

I have had so many ideas for so many years, Scooby Panel being one of them, that I kept saying how fun it would be or how cool it would be to do, but I'd always talk myself out of it. I'd tell myself that no one is going to care about my opinion or I'll never find people that would actually want to talk about Scooby-Doo with me. I even went as far as to write down a ton of topics that I'd want to discuss with people, thinking that I'd never really do anything with them. 

At the beginning of 2021, my husband convinced me that I should just start Scooby Panel, put myself out there, enjoy myself, and not worry about if anyone will care. So I reached out to a few Scooby friends (Wendy and Cameron) to see if they'd be interested in doing the panel, and they were super excited about it! As I reached out to other people, I was actually surprised how many of them were interested in doing the panel! 

I had thought all these years that the idea probably wouldn't go over too well and it would take me way out of my comfort zone, and here I am getting people excited about being on the panel. It was really fulfilling for me because I finally put myself out there and I didn't fall flat on my face. 

So how does the fortune from the cookie come in? The small steps I took - coming up with the idea, writing down topics, asking people in the Scooby community to be a part of it, actually recording episodes, and releasing those episodes - have brought me great joy and have helped me to be a bit more confident about my ideas. Plus, I have gotten to talk to some amazing people and even made some new friends in the Scooby community. 

Today, not only is Scooby Panel a YouTube web series, it's also available as a podcast on platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Deezer, and more. And while I still get nervous before we record, I feel great that I have finally made my idea a reality! 

If you have ideas, work at making them a reality. If I can do it, so can you!

Click here --> To listen to Scooby Panel as a podcast

Click here --> To watch Scooby Panel on YouTube 

Click here --> To support Scooby Panel

New Logos and Artwork for Scooby Addicts

I just have to say that I am speechless when it comes to this new artwork for Scooby Addicts! It has exceeded my expectations a million times! 

My previous logos were pretty simple. I had created them myself in 2007 when I started my website and I'm not an artist, so I just did what I thought would work. I wouldn't say they were horrible, but they weren't anything special. Just black and white images of the gang silhouettes. 

When I first contacted Will Davenport to do some new artwork, I sent him the following ideas:

"I was thinking a full body picture of me wearing the ScoobyAddicts shirt and holding the stuffed Scooby"

"I'm wondering if there is something cool that can be done with my ScoobyAddicts logo. I have attached the 2 logos that I have used. Is there something cool you can do to make it look better?"

He literally had nothing to work with, especially where the logos were concerned. I had a slight idea of what I wanted for cartoon me, but even that was not a clear vision in my head. Surprisingly, he went with what I told him and he sent me some rough sketches.

 One of the things that stood out when I first saw the rough sketches was that there was a 6th member of the gang. I looked at it and was like...Wait...What?...THAT'S ME! I couldn't even believe my eyes. I had never even thought of having me in the logo. I only ever thought of Scooby or the gang. So Cool!!!

Then I looked at cartoon me, mostly focusing on the Scooby in my hand because I don't usually like pictures of me, though seeing myself in cartoon form was extremely cool! That Scooby is beyond adorable! He's the Scooby I take all my pics with, only more life-like. His cuteness had me smiling from ear to ear. My expectations have already been long surpassed and these were just the rough sketches. 

I had asked Will to change the cheeks on cartoon me to make them not stand out as much and I chose the Mystery Machine type writing for the logo as I thought it looked more fun. Will also thought that having the entire gang in the logo was overcrowded, and I agreed, so we went with just me and Scooby.

Removing the gang, Will sent me the rough designs for the logo. It was really hard to pick just 1, so I chose 2 haha. I liked #3 for the logo for social media, but I also liked #1 for a banner. Looking at these, I was just in total awe. I never thought of me being in my logo with Scooby and I was just so excited with the idea of it. 

Moving on to Cartoon me, Will sent me 2 new sketches, with the original sketch next to them. I knew instantly that I wanted to go with #1. I thought it looked more fun and I really liked the changes he made. It's an image of me that I can actually look at and be happy with, and that little Scooby is just the most adorable thing I have ever seen! I sent him the ok to go with #1 and asked him if he could add the Scooby Addicts logo to the shirt.

He sent me these logos in color, which blew me away! The color really added a whole new level to the logo and seeing my silhouette standing next to Scooby was unbelievable. 

Then came the first image of cartoon me in color. I opened the image and couldn't believe my eyes. It was amazing! It was spectacular! It was ME holding a little Scooby in my hand and the gang was watching me. Never in a million years would I have ever expected a cartoon version of me to be this awesome! I just stared at the picture for a while, in complete shock and awe!

There was just 1 change I felt needed to be made to the image. I wanted the logo on cartoon me's shirt to be the colors of the Mystery Machine to make it stand out more and give it a more Scooby vibe.

 The change of the shirt really made a huge difference. It screams Scooby-Doo now! And the shirt turned out better than I thought it would be. I just had 1 more change. 

I wanted my shoes to be purple. Purple is my favorite color, so I wanted to add that one little touch of purple to me and then it was perfect! Even the shadow behind me and Scooby is perfect! I just can't even comprehend how my very non-descriptive ideas of what I wanted turned into this! Will is like a magician! He truly is a super talented artist! He basically took nothing and turned it into everything I could have ever wanted and then some. 

The black and white logos are amazing! The flowers add so much character to them. And I still can't believe I'm in the logo! 

Here is a closer look at me and Scooby. I love us both! Still, Scooby is just too adorable!! I love that I am a cartoon character and in the Scooby style. 

Will did an awesome job with the logos and cartoon me. He more than exceeded my expectations and he created these images with barely any direction from me. He was so easy to work with and he did all of this in 3 days. I highly recommend Will if you are looking for artwork. You can find him at the following links:

Instagram - @davenportwilldraw

Facebook - @davenportwilldraw

Twitter - @davenportwilld1

ArtStation