About the creation of Doris by Hasani Walker

The Doris Doodle story was first posted online around 2019, ending in 2020. In that time, Doris and Dawn have gained a following that helped urge me to add more to their story. The comic was reposted a few times in different places, but I wanted to have a definitive version. One that didn’t need to ask permission to use copyrighted characters and existed in a world of its own. This came after a few times of trying to pitch Doris as a show or film and finding a lot of roadblocks in that path. A book was a good way to tell the story, get it to more people, and have something that would be a kickoff for this world. This venture would take about 2 years to complete. Recreating all the pages, adding new original characters, and doing some world building along the way.

Original Doris Doodle Drawings

I like working in different styles and tried to show a few different ones in the book. Doris started as a random doodle I did around 2017 and didn’t have a story until years later. I just wanted to draw an old timey style character.

When I started the story, it was all free writing day by day. Many times I didn’t know what the next entry would be until the day before I would post it. Dawn naturally came into the story and I had to figure out her look the day before she appeared. If you see the original comic, you’ll notice she looks different from start to end as I became more comfortable drawing her and figuring out her character.

As the story continued, Doris gained a following. To make the world feel more alive I created social pages for Dawn and Doris. Pages that would be referred to in the comic and people could follow the characters outside the story. the social posts included in universe photos.

With the characters growing a following, I decided to try to pitch Doris and Dawn to studios with a pilot script. At the time I had representation with an agent and manager as well as having worked with some studios. Unfortunately, despite showing the growing fanbase, the story and the social pages, my reps didn’t show the idea to anyone believing it wouldn’t go anywhere. They didn’t like that it had dark themes in it and critiques on Hollywood. I had one chance to talk to story development on my own (a meeting I had to figure out without my reps) and I was told essentially the same. it should be a comedy only and I needed a celebrity attached. I felt that making a story that says nothing wouldn’t be worth it. Also, making a film/show where I would need to explain to the fan base why all the meaning was taken out would just be disappointing to them and myself. So I decided to keep the idea my own and make a book from the original comic.

Once the comic was done. I did a few “check in” comics showing Doris and Dawn’s life in small comedic segments. I also answered questions as the characters. A few months later, I found out a fan discord had been made.

The book took a while to put together, but it was worth it to tell the story I wanted to tell without needing to change the feeling and the message I want this story to give to people. I also got to add a lot to this world and I’m continuing to add more with side characters and bits of information in the book, comics and on this website.

I hope this book is the start of a full series with Doris and other characters. And I hope you’ll enjoy the story when you read it!

-Hasani