Category Archives: cat

Illustration Friday: Routine

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The Morning Routine

This week’s Illustration Friday topic is something I’m having trouble relating to lately, because mine is totally shot. I would have spent more time on the drawing but I really needed to get back to this part of my routine: my exercise routine.  No, I’m not trying to kick the TV in… this morning it was my Kathy Smith Kickboxing video, one of my faves. So just a quick scribble for this week, scanned right out of the sketchbook (tho I did take the time for a quick pencil under-drawing before the inks!) Click the image to enlarge it.

I started exercising relatively recently and it still amazes me how much better it makes me feel sometimes. And yet it’s the first thing to drop off my schedule when things get busy…

Illustration Friday: Enough

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Feast

… or really, more than enough! My rather liberal interpretation of this week’s Illustration Friday topic is one from my archives, but I’ve never used it for anything. The project it was drawn for mutated into a different format before I finished this particular drawing. One of these days I will have to scan it and finish it nicely, because I’ve always liked it, but at the moment I just have this rather poorly-shot photo to share. (click to enlarge!)
This piece is trickier than usual to scan, partly because of its size (16×20) and partly because it’s drawn on clayboard instead of paper. Although the texture is a dream to draw on with crowquills, and highlights can be scratched out like scratchboard, I can’t use my light table to trace onto it like I can with sheets of bristol — had to break out the carbon paper! And because it’s inflexible it doesn’t scan as easily on my home scanner. Also, it’s far more expensive than the bristol, but probably worth it for a very special project.

Illustration Friday: Fierce

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The Fierce One

Our little cat used to pounce the big cat all the time. It really confused him, he wasn’t sure what to make of this little monster almost half his size. These days it’s just as likely that he deliberately sits right in front of her twitching his tail like a lure to provoke a wrestling match which he is sure to win. I get far too much entertainment in the morning watching them face off like a pair of wrestlers, paws outstretched, each waiting for the other to make the first move. (Hint, it’s usually the little one!)

This is a super-quick scribble for this week’s Illustration Friday topic. I’m not very happy with it and wish I had something better to post right now (one of those times when I totally failed to capture the pencil sketch in the inks and need to redraw it) but there’s no time: I’m getting ready to go to ICON5 tomorrow! It was very last-minute, so I couldn’t get away from work in time for today’s sketchcrawl, but I’m really looking forward to it. I’ll have some better sketches to post when I get back!

Illustration Friday: Hoard

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The Hoard

Ever since we got our second cat, it seems like she always is the one to end up with all the toys… Just another quicky for this week’s Illustration Friday topic, click to enlarge.

The original drawing is fairly small, about 3-by-4 inches. Oddly, I was doodling my sketches when I realized I was drawing a “horde” instead of a “hoard” and I had to go back and check my e-mail to see which was right. But it gave me an idea for another drawing, which is part of the purpose, right?

Illustration Friday: Worry

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Excerpt from Feline Dreams - Detail

So, I feel a little bit cheesy about being absent for a month and then uploading another archive piece for this week’s Illustration Friday topic… and yet, that’s what I’m doing! This is just one panel from a short, 7-page story I wrote and illustrated a few years ago titled Feline Dreams. The drawing was particularly rushed in this panel but it definitely embodies “worry” to me — when I was drawing it I was really worried about finishing in time!

Here’s the full page this scene is from, click ’em to see ’em larger:

Excerpt from Feline Dreams

This is one of the series where I really hope my source files are hidden in my CD archives, because they didn’t make the move between my old computer and my current one… As part of my much-needed website redesign I’m planning on making space for this and a couple other more narrative projects I’d done about that time.

As for my long absence, let’s just say that two out-of-state conferences PLUS my big vacation for the summer PLUS coming down with a severe case of the traveler’s plague during the little time I was home this past month pretty much made posting impossible for me. Starting this week I’m getting back into my routine – new artwork next week if it kills me!

Illustration Friday: Pet Peeve

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Pet Peeve
(click to enlarge)

Just a rather hurried sketch for this week’s Illustration Friday topic. One of my current pet peeves actually involves my pets: we simply cannot keep fresh flowers in the house, for they will be eaten. If this bouquet had any freesia in it my cat  already ate it, that’s his favorite. But it turns out he likes tulips just fine. And the other one would have fished out all the baby’s breath to play with; she doesn’t eat flowers but she likes to chew on crunchy things. They will actually show some restraint as long as someone’s in the same room, but as soon as your back is turned….

Alas, all of the living plants are already taking up the few sunny cat-resistant shelves so bouquets tend to end up in weird, high-up nooks and on top of bookshelves.

This was a very quick drawing, but I think it only really shows in the cat’s face (which I’m not that happy with). Flowers and background stuff can be rushed but faces… that’s usually asking for trouble.

PS for anyone curious about last week’s drawing, the zoo now has a bouncing baby boy elephant, 290 pounds, born just a few days after I posted about it!