Aby-a-Day – 27 Augusti: And yet, more fun with This Cat is PHOTOSHOPPED (Photoshop Friday) UNDER BACKGROUND CHECK CODE IS §

I’ve been doing more “Photoshop challenges” in the Facebook group This Cat is PHOTOSHOPPED lately. This one is actually a two-fer.

This person’s cat looked like he was melting; I was stunned nobody else had done it before I did.

I also made this cat into a Slinky.

Shelby’s human wanted Shelby in a Shelby Cobra for her boyfriend, so I did this. Bonus points: Her boyfriend’s favourite colour is blue.

Ruthie was strutting, so I made her strut with Leo.

When I saw this bonnet-wearing cat, the first thing I thought of was Little House on the Prairie.

But then I thought of that one episode of Friends…

Leo was born to fly, so I gave him wings.

And finally, this lucky kitty had a unicorn cat tree. What else could I have done with that?

Aby-a-Day – 17 Augusti: Dashiell as the Serlot (Cartoon Tuesday

When Emma was visiting, we watched Raya and the Last Dragon again, and this time I was reminded of the Serlots from the region of Fang. Their name is apparently a portmanteau of “Serval” and “Ocelot,” but they look more like Caracals. Watching the movie for the third time, I thought that Dashiell would make an excellent Serlot.

So I started with the sketch and the ink layers.

Then I needed a break from detail work, so I switched to creating the background. I played around with different textures to create the landscape.

After the background, I went back to the undercolour later, which I also did a bit differently than the way I usually do it; I used fur brushes rather than airbrushes.

I didn’t spend as much time on the fur layer as usual, probably because of my using fur brushes for the undercolour.

And here’s the finished Dasherlot. It’s different from some of my other works, but I kind of like it.

As usual, here’s the Procreate video in Flickr. It’s a little different from the other videos, because I exported it after two different drawing sessions and then edited it back together, but you get the idea.

Aby-a-Day – 13 Augusti: I joined the Navy to see the world, but what did I see? I saw the sea (Photoshop Friday)

When Emma was here, we rented a car and took a trip around Skaraborg, the area between the two lakes in Västra Gotaland. One town we visited was Hjo, a little lakeside town that is over 600 years old.

As we were walking around the harbour, we noticed a sailboat with a red flag on it. Curious, we took a closer look, and realised that the boat was from Singapore! so of course I had to put Izaak on board.

Aby-a-Day – 10 Augusti: Marlin on the cover of the NEMO show catalogue (Cartoon Tuesday)

Iris sent the cover of the show catalogue to all of us members today, and I thought you would like to see how my BBQ Marlin drawing ended uo being used. I don’t know if it will be printed in colour or greyscale, though…Probably greyscale. But I can still wish for colour.

Aby-a-Day – 6 Augusti: This Tessie is PHOTOSHOPPED (Photoshop Friday)

As you saw on Wednesday, Tessie died on Sunday, two days before her 18th birthday. She has had a few health problems in recent years…in 2011-12 she had a prolapsed rectum, in the summer of 2015 (when Björn came to visit me, in fact), she had a health scare and she was hospitalised at Angell for a week and almost died. Then in 2018, her eyesight declined as well as her blood pressure. Oct 2018 was the first real sign of decline: going blind, with arthritis and a sway back. More arthritis in 2019 and a urinary tract infection earlier this year.

So, on Monday, I mad the above post in the Facebook group “This Cat is PHOTOSHOPPED,” because Mondays are themed “In Meöwmorium.”

Helen Yang, a group admin, put Tessie in a few ‘shops she routinely makes for cats who have died. These include Tessie in the “It’s time to go” meme…

…Tessie at the end of the Rainbow Bridge…

…And Tessie in Cat Heaven, which I especially love because Tessie loved her boxes.

Boxes were a popular theme; Robin Adams put Tessie in Box Heaven…

…and next to a giant teddy bear in a box.

But my favourite is this one, by Angela Pulzone. I suspect it’s Procreate, not Photoshop…but I just love it. It has an…I don’t know, an energy about it that I really like.

Aby-a-Day – 3 Agusti: Alfred as Pepita the Alebrije from Coco (Cartoon Tuesday)

After the other movie-inspired artworks I did, I got to thinking about Pepita, the flying jaguar Alebrije in the Pixar movie Coco.

I could see Pepita as Alfred, so I went with it. I took a different approach with the one; instead of just black line, I used the colours of Pepita to create the outline.

Then, as usual, I did the under colour. But instead of using the smooth airbrush to do the colour, I used an oil-painting brush which gave a very different effect..

Then I did a fur and feather layer. It really made a difference!

This is the combined fur and feather layer.

Then I started working on the background.

This is the final, combined image of Freddy as Pepita. Not only am I pretty proud of this artwork, but I TOTALLY LOVE the lighting on it. And OMG, getting to play with colour was amazing!

Here’s the Procreate video of my drawing process; click on the image to watch it in a new window in Flickr.

Aby-a-Day – 23 Juli: Still even more fun with PHOTOSHOPPED cats (Photoshop Friday)

I have been having more fun in the Facebook group This Cat is PHOTOSHOPPED. This cat, Oreo*s, human wanted Oreo in a scary situation, I can’t think of anything scarier than this.

Poor Oreo is SHOOK.

This cat’s name is Blaarg, but I channeled his inner Karen.

Arnie was shocked by what he saw on the laptop; I just gave him something to REALLY be stunned about.

These two were either yelling or singing. I chose singing. Too bad these cats’ human is a Yankee fan (sorry, not sorry).

Then we have Atilla as Tim the Enchanter from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. So, here we are.

Finally, these cats’ human wanted then in a more interesting bed…what’s more interesting than Monica’s race car bed?

Aby-a-Day – 20 Juli: Another NEMO project (Cartoon Tuesday)

Yesterday, Iris asked me for a Marlin drawing for the cover of the catalog for our show next year. I didn’t want to do yet another version of Marlin grilling; I wanted to do something new.

I thought about it a little bit, and, because the big theme this year is the outdoor barbecue dinner on Saturday night. So, I got the idea to do a sort of 1950’s-style guy eating at a table laden with barbecued meat, holding up a knife and fork with a napkin ties around his neck-

This is Marlin with the table of meat I found; it’s from an early 60’s Andy Griffith’s BBQ Sauce ad. I modified it in Photoshop and I may do more with it. Marlin’s feet won’t be in the final drawing; it will cut off at the bottom edge of the table, but I wanted to draw a complete Marlin in case I want to use some of the layers in another project later on. I also have a really fun idea of something to put on the bib. Stay tuned.

Here’s the video of my preliminary sketches in Procreate; click on the image to watch it in a new tab on Flickr.

Aby-a-Day – 18 Juli: My sweet summer child (Swedish Singapura Sunday)

You may recall, I have been working on a Four Seasons of Izaak project and a couple of weeks ago I took some Summer photos.

I wasn’t completely happy with them compared to the Winter and Spring photos.

Also, the tree looks more “summery” now than it did last month because now, the cherries are ripening.

So, when we went outside yesterday, I put Zak up in his tree and took some more photos.

Just like last time, he climbed up the branch, used it like a scratching post, and tried to eat the lichen.

Zak is pretty good at moving around up in the branches.

I think he really enjoys his tree time.

In the end, this shot is the one I’ll use as Summer in the project. And, like the Spring photo, I may have touched it up a teensy bit in Photoshop…but only three layers, no big deal.

Aby-a-Day – 16 Juli: Yet more fun with PHOTOSHOPPED cats (Photoshop Friday)

Time for more of my Photoshopped cats. Above is Rocky, and I thought he looked a bit like a seal.

One look at Dwight, and Björn suggested I do this.

Bella was wearing goggles, and her human wanted her to look like Amelia Earhart. All righty then.

I don’t remember this guy’s name, but the first thing I thought of was the “I am king of the world!” scene from Titanic.

Some suggested that Batty should be running from Indiana Jones’ boulder. Happy to oblige.

Later on, I had another idea…please, think of the kittens!

Noodle like to sit like this, apparently. I thought he looked like a prince in need of a kiss.

Rosie is missing an eye, like Angel. So I gave her one of Angel’s googly eyes.

Fridays are “Free for all” species posting, and someone posted a nest of barn swallows. I immediately thought of this. Hey, I already had the “MINE?” speech bubbles!

This cat had a flour tortilla on her head. I could not resist.

Gilbert was leaning on a mirrored sliding closet door…so we have Octopussy!

And finally, another seal, this time with Sugar doin a heckin sploot. I like this one better than the first one.

Aby-a-Day – 13 Juli: Izaak as Baby Tuk Tuk (Cartoon Tuesday)

Two weeks ago, I posted my drawing of Lorelai as Sisu the last dragon. Well, there’s another creature, sort of an armadillio/pillbug/hedgehog mashup called Tuk Tuk. And in one of the early scenes where he’s a baby, he reacts to a cat in a way that really reminded me of Izaak. this is the first sketch; I liked it so much I was almost going to keep it as the outline, and skip the inking stage.

But I did the ink anyway, just to see how it looked. As it happens, it came out even better than the sketch did!

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Next, I filled in the base colours, underneath the ink.

Which looks like this when finished.

Then, over the ink, I did the shell and fur textures. This is just the textures…

…this is with ink…

…and finally, with the undercolour.

Add some whiskers and eyeshine, and we’re ready to go into Photoshop.

I added the hand and the background there, along with a bit more eye details. But there was one more thing I wanted to do.

Finally, I added some lighting effects. I really like the way this one turned out!

And here’s a video of the Procreate process, which you can watch in Flickr. There are a LOT of layers on this one – fifteen in total!

Aby-a-Day – 9 Juli: More fun with This Cat is PHOTOSHOPPED (Photoshop Friday)

I have been having fun in the Facebook group “This Cat is PHOTOSHOPPED” lately. These are older ones I did; this kitten was on a scratching post, so I put him somewhere more exciting. Namely, the top of the Pru during the World Series.

This beautiful black smoke needed a stage.

This cat’s name is Sushi, so…yeah. Blah blah low-hanging-fishcakes blah.

Zion was posing in a box. I don’t know why, exactly, but it seemed like he needed to be inside Herbie on the beach. I have more that I have done for that group; come back next Friday for more!

Aby-a-Day – 6 Juli: Marlin redux (Cartoon Tuesday)

NEMO is having a cat show next month, and Iris asked me for an outline of our mascot Marlin. Well…there were a few problems with that. Back in 2013 when I originally drew Marlin, I did it old school: ink on paper, scan, and fill in Photoshop using the paint bucket tool. Eight years ago, it was fine…but I can do better now. Also, back then, I didn’t put outlines and colours on separate layers, so I literally didn’t have the outline handy.

I put the old logo into Procreate and redrew Marlin. I wanted to keep him as close to the original as possible, because he’s our brand, so I didn’t change anything. I just refined him.

Then, also in Procreate, I did all the colours except the base cream coat.

Then I shifted back to Photoshop. Sometimes, the old tools are the best tools. I duplicated the outline and filled it all with cream using my trusty paint bucket tool.

Here are both colour layers together. Keeping with preserving the original, all the colours are eyedroppered from the 2013 drawing.

And this is the result, a shiny new NEMO logo for the Roaring Twenties!

Aby-a-Day – 1 Juli: Sum-Sum-Summertime (Thursday Things)

So, you may recall that I took some lovely photos of Izaak and his tree in winter and spring. Well, the other day when we all went outside, I thought the tree was ready for the summer photo, so I put Zak in his tree.

At first, he thought about jumping down.

But then, Zak climbed even higher into the tree!

And…used the branch as a scratching post.

Juuuusssst before trying to eat the lichen on the tree. Cat won’t eat dry or wet cat food, but lichen he eats?

Eventually, Zak decided to come back down, and the photo session was over.

This one shot, though, is the one I think I’m going to use in the Four Seasons project.

Aby-a-Day – 29 Juni: Rory and the Last Dragon (Cartoon Tuesday)

We finally got to see Raya and the Last Dragon on Disney+, and I was absolutely mesmerised by the dragon Sisu, voiced by Awkwafina. She reminded me so much of Lorelai that I had to draw her as the dragon. Here is my first sketch.

Followed up by the ink outline.

I did colour layers both underneath and over the ink outline, and then covered up some of the black lines with matching colours.

This is the finished Procreate drawing, sans background, before shifting to Photoshop.

Add a background and some outer glow on some of the layers…and here is the finished piece.

As always, here’s the video of the Procreate drawing process. Click on the image to watch the video in Flickr.

Aby-a-Day – 25 Juni: Another Singapura family portrait (Photoshop Friday)

Ever since I did a family portrait of Izaak and his brothers Paulo and Keiko, I have wanted to do another one of the three.

I really wanted to do an old-timey Victorian-era type portrait, but I couldn’t find any backgrounds I liked…until I found this old photo of the Brooklyn Bridge when it was new.

I added some texture and lighting effects…

…merged the layers, added a little more texture, and here we are: the brothers in Brooklyn.

Aby-a-Day – 11 Juni: Happy 14th Birthday, Angel!

Even though we’re pretty sure what day is Angel’s real birthday, we celebrate it on 11 June.

Even though she’s done this since her second birthday in 2009, the candles still make her a little nervous.

A fear she gets over with pretty quickly when food is involved. I had to blow those candles out pretty quickly to avoid singed whiskers…or worse.

Once the candles were out, though…she didn’t hesitate to dig into her “cake.” I can’t believe she’s 14 years old.

Aby-a-Day – 4 Juni: Paulo and some ‘Shop requests (Photoshop Friday)

Our friend Kinsey posted this photo to the “This Cat is PHOTOSHOPPED” facebook group and asked to have Paulo wearing a mask.

Welp. That was easy. Then I had an idea.

LOL why not, right?

But then I got the idea to put my Singapura mask on Paulo.

Pretty cute, eh? Then…Kinsey asked for Paulo to be dressed up in a tux for prom.

Considering I already have the perfect cat-sized tuxedo bib and tie, top hat, and cuffs with cufflinks…not a hard ask.

The shadows are already perfect, too. This was fun.

Aby-a-Day – 28 Maj: Family portrait (Photoshop Friday)

Our friend Kinsey shared some professional photos that were taken of Izaak’s brothers, Paulo and Keiko. I instantly knew what had to be done.

A family portrait, of course! Since all three boys came from Poland, I chose a Polish flag as my background.

Then I decided to set the scene…literally.

Finally, every portrait needs a frame, right? Can you tell who is who?

Aby-a-Day – 21 Maj: Putting more spring into spring (Photoshop Friday)

Remember back in January when I took I took those awesome winter photos of Izaak? Well, I was inspired when we were outside the other day; it was such a gorgeous, perfect spring day that I got an idea to put Zak in his tree and take some spring photos, and then take some more in the height of summer and autumn and make a four seasons thing.

Just one problem. On that outing, I was using my long lens, and the blossoms and sky were washed out and not nearly as bright as they actually were. I knew it when I took the photos. After I looked at them, I told Zak, “No worries. We can fix that in post.”

Because this is how the sky and blossoms really looked. But it’s a super-easy fix. Just cut out the washed out sky…

…add in the good background…

…brighten it up a bit, add a little blur, and…perfect! Stay tuned for summer!