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Michael Duckett

@mducked

Drawing (urban sketching, comics, zines + lifedrawing) Bradford. Northumberland. Wildlife and the outdoors.

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12.01.2025
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Latest posts by Michael Duckett @mducked

It would be nice to think ai slop would remove copyist and trite illustration, which also harms my mind and yours.

11.03.2026 14:55 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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#UrbanSketches from #Bradford today. For another BD #postcodes #zine

03.03.2026 17:38 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

"Generative AI is an assault on art, creativity, copyright and livelihoods. Please, think again if you're engaging with this in any way."

02.03.2026 23:11 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

As I take a break from my #punkrock lifestyle of cleaning the porch and listening to radio 4, can I mention my sheer pleasure in hearing the so-called #equitypunks or investors in #brewdog may lose their money. #punks always hated brewdog and all fakery - the #punk ethic remains what it always was.

25.02.2026 12:28 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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#webinar faces as I do a bit of catching up on #trends

24.02.2026 11:12 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Inspired by Paper Jam (incredibly) turning 18 years old last year (people literally not born when it started can now be part of it??), our latest anthology GROWING UP ...AND THAT tackles the theme of growing up.

Launch party 14/3 Newcastle City Library!

paperjamcomics.blogspot.com/2026/02/new-...

19.02.2026 08:39 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 3
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Drew #bjbarham of @americanaquarium.bsky.social as he did a wonderful set at #GatesheadLittleTheatre

#urbansketch #gigzine #gateshead #jumpinhotclub

22.02.2026 08:44 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

"Billionaires like thinkers who see their exploitation of the weak as good and natural. Epstein funneled ~$20m a year to academic men who shared his ideology [and got] to hold forth in formal sessions at Harvard, condemning feeding and caring for the poor as if he were making a scholarly argument."

15.02.2026 15:49 πŸ‘ 1365 πŸ” 555 πŸ’¬ 17 πŸ“Œ 28
Preview
Britain’s Story: The Next Chapter - BBC Royal Charter Review, Green Paper and public consultation

This is the Gov looking for your input on the BBC. It takes a while to complete (15/20 mins) but it’s pretty comprehensive and covers most aspects.

Please share. I’m surprised many people haven’t seen it yet.

www.gov.uk/government/c...

15.02.2026 18:19 πŸ‘ 387 πŸ” 442 πŸ’¬ 29 πŸ“Œ 22

Thank you, I am out of the habit of identifying and want to get back on the wagon in 2026. But am very lazy...

15.02.2026 21:37 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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For #wildflowerhour I have #snowdrops #daisies and, er some other stuff ( #wildflowerid ) around #Carlislecathedral on Friday. Look sorta groundsel-like and a bittercressy wotsit I'll get round to checking at some point.

15.02.2026 20:45 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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#sketching of the #folktrain lot who go between #Newcastle and #BardonMill 3 times a year. And signs of natural now.

15.02.2026 20:39 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Keen to get some #musicrecommendations as it's something in my attention that has lapsed. Am starting with anything @staggerlee68.bsky.social says because he continues to devote so much of his beautifully mindful attention to it.

15.02.2026 16:01 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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More #zine nonsense coming out of a #photocopier
Still love #zines in the end days of my 40s.
This one's about #bands and #battlejacket patches and will probably be free with my #Bradfordgigzine
I have a few patient folk on #patreon too who get one of each.

10.02.2026 20:11 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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This spectacular drift of snowdrops in a strip of woodland in #Clackmannanshire brought welcome sparkle to a dreich winter’s day #wildflowerhour @bsbiscotland.bsky.social

08.02.2026 18:17 πŸ‘ 67 πŸ” 14 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Snippets of #hourlycomicday

08.02.2026 16:40 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Right

05.02.2026 20:49 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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I've made a massive poster. Here are bits of the draft from before I coloured it. A2 size. Can't wait for it to arrive in the post. #livesketching #urbansketching #allenvalleysfolkfestival

05.02.2026 14:09 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Young man sitting in field with plant ID books, recording wild flowers in the sunshine

Young man sitting in field with plant ID books, recording wild flowers in the sunshine

Can you find, identify & record 100 wild plants in 2026?
BSBI is confident that (with our support) yes, you can!
Beginner botanists, will you accept the challenge?
Sign up today for #100Plants2026 challenge:
bsbi.org/take-part/ac...
Check out the webinars & #WildFlowerID help we've prep'd for you!

03.02.2026 14:02 πŸ‘ 121 πŸ” 62 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 10
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I have written the minutes for our #comics collective, the mighty #PaperJamComicsCollective

Members get their copy at this month's meeting,
(6.30 Tilleys on the 2nd Thursday of the month)

02.02.2026 13:30 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Aching twingeing wrists and ankles. Mist permeating the air for 4 days. Neighbour's car battery dead.
Pregnant sheep all soggy and slow in their red and blue blotches of dye. And a cat dashes across the road when I take a nightwalk to the petrol station.
#BardonMill in #January
Nearly #candlemas

30.01.2026 10:18 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Agnes Giberne's The Story of the Sun, Moon, and Stars (1898) transports us to the most remote astral bodies, but also quickens every reader’s lost seven-year-old sensibility that the universe was made to be brought within one’s humble yet unbounded reach: publicdomainreview.org/collection/s...

28.01.2026 15:16 πŸ‘ 80 πŸ” 15 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Pages from my newest zine (not printed yet) about #livesketching in #gigs in Bradford.

22.01.2026 19:59 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

There's a version of 'flowers of the forest' by June Tabor, and it's not the one I grew up on, but it's overwhelming me as I try to work, editing some pictures.

16.01.2026 11:46 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Trying to sort out photos of drawings I've liked. Here's a sample 4.

A #Hexham #urbansketch and a #concertinapad done in the same style. Plus some #traxongpaper #lifedrawing and a #zinefair #minicomic

I aim for more in 2026.

14.01.2026 15:34 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

An ace set.

14.01.2026 15:12 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Three watercolour landscape paintings of snow in the Pennine Hills

Three watercolour landscape paintings of snow in the Pennine Hills

There’s the three. Snow in January on a Calderdale little farm. Lots went wrong but lots went right and I’m happy. That’s all the snow pics now until it returns.

13.01.2026 09:57 πŸ‘ 48 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 0

Never read as much Mark Fisher as I shoulda, and this sounds canny.

14.01.2026 15:07 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Which brings us to the House of Lords Digital Committee, which is looking at the government’s brilliant idea of giving away everyone’s copyright to American artificial intelligence giants, in return for a bag of magic beans that can only be seen by the very wisest ministers. A consultation on this last year found it was supported by just three percent of respondents, which must be some kind of record. That’s even smaller than the number of people who believe that the Loch Ness monster is real, or that Keir Starmer is doing a good job.

On Tuesday, the committee was treated to a joint appearance from Technology Secretary Liz Kendall and Claims-To-Be-Culture-Secretary Lisa Nandy. Two secretaries of state at once! Or one-and-a-half, anyway. β€œI don’t think our secretaries of state need much introduction,” Committee Chair Baroness Keeley said. Other opinions are available. 

They had come, it turned out, not to defend their own proposals, but to bury them. β€œWe are having a genuine reset mom

Which brings us to the House of Lords Digital Committee, which is looking at the government’s brilliant idea of giving away everyone’s copyright to American artificial intelligence giants, in return for a bag of magic beans that can only be seen by the very wisest ministers. A consultation on this last year found it was supported by just three percent of respondents, which must be some kind of record. That’s even smaller than the number of people who believe that the Loch Ness monster is real, or that Keir Starmer is doing a good job. On Tuesday, the committee was treated to a joint appearance from Technology Secretary Liz Kendall and Claims-To-Be-Culture-Secretary Lisa Nandy. Two secretaries of state at once! Or one-and-a-half, anyway. β€œI don’t think our secretaries of state need much introduction,” Committee Chair Baroness Keeley said. Other opinions are available. They had come, it turned out, not to defend their own proposals, but to bury them. β€œWe are having a genuine reset mom

Artificial Unintelligence: the government is in full retreat over copyright, and the attempts to make it look dignified only make it funnier. My SKETCH.
thecritic.co.uk/arti...

13.01.2026 20:34 πŸ‘ 388 πŸ” 149 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 12

Open meetings every month for 8 years. No profit, very little skills progression and we all get on each others' tits in a good way.
Join us in Tilleys, Newcastle, on the 2nd Thurs of the month at 6.30pm.

14.01.2026 15:03 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0