The other day in This Cat is PHOTOSHOPPED, someone posted this picture of Froot Loop and asked if anyone could give him a throne to sit on.
I could not resist. It’s silly, and it’s not really one of my best…but it made me laugh so I thought I would share it.
A couple of weeks ago, I happened to see Men in Black: International on television. At the very beginning of the film, we see a cute little blue Terrantian in the lead character’s childhood bedroom. Molly helps the little guy escape from the Men in Black and as he leaves, he says something to her.
He was a stocky little guy with big, round eyes…so of course I had to draw Izaak as him.
I did most of the work on this in Procreate; just the background, signature and lighting effects were done in Photoshop. Playing with feathers was a lot of fun. Here’s the time-lapse of the drawing process for those who are interested (click on the image to watch in another tab on Flickr).
One of the bright spots of quarantining has been Disney+. I’ve been watching all sorts of movies and shorts, one of which was Tangled: The Series. It’s set between the events of the original Tangled movie and the short Tangled Ever After. I had no idea this series existed, and binge-watched it over the last few weeks. I was intrigued with the art style in the series. And then, I saw the episode The Way of the Willow…featuring an odd little creature called Üumlaut. Well…when I saw Üumlaut and her rattle, I knew what had to be done. So here is Üumzak.
And, because I know some of you like to watch the process, here’s the Procreate video (click on the image to view it in Flickr). The only things I did in Photoshop were straightening the Üumzak and creating the shadow on the rattle. This was actually more of a challenge than it looks; borderless characters are harder to do than you’d think, and I learned how to do a couple of new things in Photoshop. Still, I think I captured the style of the series pretty well.
It’s finished! I finally finished Dashiell Hamilton! It was a real process, too. But as I mentioned last week, I got a new Paperlike screen protector for my iPad, and it makes drawing on the screen so much more natural and organic. In fact, I did most of this in Procreate. Only the last few bits were done in Photoshop.
And the very first bit. I started with a photo of the suit and a photo of Dash in Photoshop. Then I went to Procreate and did the sketches.
Getting the suit just right was my biggest challenge. It took five layers to make it look the way I wanted it to. I did two base colour layers in Procreate, and a low-opacity layer of the actual suit (done in Photoshop) to add the sheen and texture. Then the ink layer was moved above the colour layers. Finally, I discovered a lace brush in Procreate, which was perfect for his sleeves and cravat.
Dash himself was a little easier, because…well, I’ve done more ruddy Abyssinians than I’ve done 18th century emerald-green silk suits. All layers except the top fur texture layer were done on the iPad.
Put all the layers together, along with the whiskers and a little shadow, and put him onstage…and, finally, history has its eyes on Dash!
And, just because I can, I saved the video of the whole Procreate process for anyone who’s interested. Click on the above image to watch the magic happen in Flickr.
I finally got the ink layer done on my Dashiell Hamilton drawing.
But, since I wanted a thin ink line, it’s not very visible, so in Photoshop, I added a stroke to the lines to make it more visible. Now it’s time for colours and textures!
Today’s post is very much a rough work in progress, because I only thought of it yesterday. Because, yesterday, I finally watched Hamilton on Disney+. And it was amazing. One thing that particularly caught my eye was one of the outfits Hamilton (Lin-Manuel Miranda) wears. It’s a stunning emerald green silk suit.
That green…is perfectly suited to be worn by either Jacoby or Dashiell, so I chose Dash. I did both the first and second sketches today, and whilst I am still working out the shapes and proportions and still have a lot more to do with this…I like the direction it’s going.
I took these last autumn after a trip to the vet with Dashiell.
In the courtyard outside Commerce (our downtown mall), there was a giant Adirondack chair.
It appeared randomly last summer, and then disappeared, never to be seen again.
When I put Dash on it, it reminded me of Edith Ann on Laugh-In…and that’s the truth.
Today I challenged myself to put Izaak behind Ron Swanson’s round desk.
It’s based on this screenshot. I had to use three different photos of Zak to get the right body (I didn’t have one single photo of him that looked right), and I just don’t know if I like it. I may go back and rework it some more.
This is the scene where Ron has to sit behind his round desk.
I’ve been rewatching Parks and Recreation, and I have remarked before that Izaak often reminds me of Ron Swanson. I had an idea this morning, and well…here it is.
This is the set of scenes of Ron going “off the grid” that lead up to my little project.
As I’ve mentioned before, people keep telling me that Izaak looks like Ron Swanson, a character on the TV show Parks and Recreation Last night, Zak was looking especially Swansonesque and I manage to capture it. Today, I posted these two photos of Zak in the Facebook group This Cat Is NICK OFFERMAN (yes, there is a Facebook dedicated to cats who look like the actor who plays Ron Swanson).
I posted them with the caption “Izaak would like to enjoy his chicken neck now and in solitude, please and thank you.” It’s fun to see people enjoying my silly cat.
As I mentioned last month, members of the Facebook group This IS an airport, please announce your departure: aeroplane ear posting said that Izaak was Ron Swanson as a cat. So…
I made two versions: one with Ron’s signature mustache and one without. I can’t decide which one I like better…Which do you prefer?
Lately, I have been showing Björn one of my all-time favourite television shows: Get Smart. This series debuted the year we were born and it’s been one of my favourite shows since junior high (They showed it on independent channels after school).
Lorelai enjoys watching with us….but she can be a little annoying.
Barbra Feldon and 99 were such a HUGE influence on me when I was young (Brunette! Short hair! Flat shoes!)…I’d name a girlcat after 99, if 99 had an actual name (and no, her her name is not Susan.
My birthday was a month ago, but my big gift from Björn arrived today: a Baby Yoda doll!
Izaak (rather amusingly) was quite interested in the little green doll.
The Baby Yoda doll also makes sounds.
Lorelai did not like the sounds!
I have a little Lego-compatible Baby Yoda in his Sphere, so…yeah.
He (or she) has a cup of bone broth and a Sorgan frog.
The detail on this doll is spectacular. Hard to believe it’s meant for children over three.
Rory still doesn’t trust it, though.
I love it, though. Thank you, Björn!
When the cats go outside, the Abyssinians bolt out the door and run as fast and as far as they can.
But not Izaak. Zak…well, the best way to describe it is, Zak marches out the door and onto the grass.
He also loves to hunt when he’s outside. Wonder what he sees?
Oh! A honey bee! Zak, please leave that little guy alone…we need all the bees we can get!
That’s not to say that Zak doesn’t run. He does.
He’s usually chasing one of the other cats, but oh, he runs.
He’s such a sturdy little man. As I mentioned before, someone compared him to Ron Swanson…and apart from the lack of mustache, it’s an apt comparison.
I mean, look at him.
Finally, I have this photo. In my opinion, this is Zak’s first iconic photo. Jacoby had a few: Sitting on the carousel, posing in his hat and boots, and the one of him wearing his parka in the snow, among others
The other day, Titti sent us an Easter drawing Emma made. Little creatures in Easter eggs: a lion, an elephant, and…
…Baby Yoda! This kid is going to grow up to be awesome!
Continuing last week’s Photoshop Friday, I did some more Photoshop challenges on the Facebook group This Cat is PHOTOSHOPPED. I also posted the meme about the green screen dress Queen Elizabeth wore when she gave her COVID-19 speech last Sunday.
And, of course, I had to give Her Majesty a Three Jake Moon shirt.
When I saw this photo of Mya the Sphynx, I had only one thought and one thought only. Isn’t she precious?
Jezebel’s original photo had her on her scratching post. I thought she needed a real tree.
THIS is one of my favourites from this week. When I saw this chonky girl, my brain instantly went to…well, Manchester Township, New Jersey. One member said that it should be a poster. It’s always interesting to work in greyscale.
Athletic Yoda reminded me of a trapeze artist.
This face! I had to do this.
This cat’s name is Chandler, so I had to do this…
I didn’t think that sofa looked “Central Perk” enough, so I used this one instead. Much better!
Then Björn made a comment…eh, it was inevitable.
Harley and Powder’s human wanted them ‘Shopped onto a rock album. Hey, no problem.
I had saved this photo of the bear and was waiting for a cat to fill it. I thought it was Mia…but I wasn’t so sure after I finished it. But her human loved it, so that’s good enough for me.
Peso is a semi-celebrity in the group – I mean, look at those eyes! Behold, the majestic Peso Owl in flight.
Willie’s human wanted him Photoshopped riding something “bad ass”…well, what’s more bad ass than Joust? This was a lot of fun…I learned how to pixilate photos with this one. It’s always nice when one of these challenges teaches me a new trick.
Then, someone in the comments posted a photo of Putin, shirtless, riding a horse, and said, “Someone please put him on the horse with Putin!” Challenge accepted.
Gilligan reminded me of an ancient Egyptian cat, so I put him in the temple at Abydos. Not super happy with how it turned out…but Gillgan’s human loved it. Again, that’s kind of the point.
This is Colonel Gentleman. His original photo looked like he was sitting behind a desk, so… Fun fact: the base I used was a photo of Socks sitting behind Bill Clinton’s Resolute Desk.
Another person posted her adorable foster kittens Meeps, Sully and Toque….it was the obvious choice. I wish Toque’s photo had been larger, though.
Another obvious choice. I had fun with the bubbles.
Daniel had to have his back leg shaved for an operation, and his owner wanted us to cover it up. I used a photo of a peacock I took at Borås Djurpark last summer, and used feather brushes to fill in spots.
This is today’s project. Bailey’s human wanted him to turn his blep against evil. This was the most evil I could think of.
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Well, either that, or this. Potato, potahto.
As you remember from last week’s post, I started working on a drawing of Izaak as Toothless the Night Fury from the How to Train Your Dragon films. The first step was the second, clean ink layer. I did something a little different than I usually do, though; I only used black for the outline on his eyes and his tail attachment. On the rest of his outline, I used dark brown, and on his collar, I used blues and silvers. And I finally worked out how the eyedropper tool works in Procreate! You’ll notice I didn’t outline the bones on the wings. I actually did, but then copied them to their own layer. I had an idea.
I did the undercolouring in two layers: one of the basic shades, and another on top of that with the eyes and collar colour and the wings and prosthetic tail. I found a marvellous texture brush in Procreate that was perfect for the wings and the tail attachment.
Here are the two undercolour layers combined…and then with the ink layer.
Then I worked on the wing details. These are the outlines from the inking…with some transparency, layer enhancements, and…finally, a use for the plastic wrap filter!
Then I switched to the background. I found a blank background from the movie art and deleted the bits in the scene I didn’t want. Then I added a paint layer to adapt the scene to what I wanted.
Then I combined those and ran a few filters.
But…when I switched from Procreate to Photoshop and put “Zakless” on the background, I discovered there was a transparency problem.
You can’t always see the gaps in colour when you’re working in Procreate on a white background. But I came up with an easy fix.
I made a quick solid, opaque figure on a separate layer between the background and the colour layers. This would actually turn out to save me time later on.
Problem solved! Now it’s time for the collar and fur texture.
I did the collar first. I actually used a photo of Alfred’s collar and changed the hue and lightness to get Zak’s blues and lightened the opacity to get the braid pattern. This is on a layer between the second ink and the undercolour. I could have done a similar thing with his tags…but I liked the way I drew them.
Next, the fur texture. You’ve all seen my fur brushes, and I didn’t do anything new or unusual…except this: I found a wicked cool scale brush along with my feather and fur brushes. Never needed to use a scale brush before, and I really like the effect.
Here’s the finished Zakless, including whiskers and eyeshine.
And here he is with the background.
Add his shadow (made using a copy of the opaque layer I had already made, just black, distorted, translucent and blurred)…and voilà! Here is the finished Zakless!
Or is it? After I thought I’d finished him, I got a brainwave on how to improve the eyeshine…with the plastic wrap filter!
I think it looks more realistic. I also added a tiny drop shadow to the collar. It’s barely noticeable, but it adds a bit of depth, which I like. Yes…I think he’s finished now.
I am kind of loving how the language of the internet is evolving. From L33t speak in the 1990’s to LOL cat speak, it’s really been a lot of fun to watch develop.
And now we have the newest internet dialect: DoggoLingo. Just as LOL cat speak was applied to dogs, DoggoLingo is being co-opted by kitties. It’s a world of heckin good bois, chonks, bleps and peets, and, of course, smol bols
Lorelai and Dashiell, especially, love to sleep curled up into the smallest balls they can. Rory making herself a tiny ball isn’t that hard; she’s a small cat, weighing only 2.6kg (just under 6lbs).
But Dash, who is almost as big as Alfred (who is 4.6kg, just over 10lbs), can make himself into a pretty smol bol.
I don’t know what he does with those gangly legs of his…but it’s impressive.
Freddy and Izaak tend to do a double bol. I am not sure if Freddy has much say in the matter.
Then we have the pretty poses. They have nothing to do with the language stuff above.
They’re just pretty.
Zak manages to make some pretty poses himself.
For about five seconds. Then he goes and ruins it. Way to go, Zak.
Yeah? Well…what you think is a moo point. You know, like a cow’s opinion. It doesn’t matter. It’s moo.
Last week, I posted Izaak as Olaf the snowman from the Frozen movies. But there are some new characters in Frozen 2, and I had two cats who hadn’t been cast yet. Lorelai and Alfred are perfect as the Northuldrian brother and sister Honeymaren and Ryder. As always, I started with a sketch in Procreate.
Then I did a preliminary ink outline. I had a LOT of fun with this, because, unlike Zakolaf, I got to draw clothing, too. The Northuldra were based on the Sami people of Northern Scandinavia, and I have long had an interest in them from my SCA days (in fact, that was one of the reasons Björn and I became penpals). Drawing their clothing, and especially the knives (I have a collection of Puukkot, the traditional Finnish utility knife), was awesome.
And then, the clean ink layer. More fun refining the clothing.
Switching to the laptop and Photoshop, I did a flat colour layer.
This was done underneath the clean ink layer.
Then the ticking, and texture on the clothing. This took a long time, because I needed to experiment with fabric textures. For some parts, such as the trim on the neck and shoulders, and the puukkot, I found photos of actual Samí trim and knives, and overlaid and blended them into my drawing.
You can see how the puukkot are slightly photographic.
Then I switched to the background. As with Zakolaf and the Zakdalorian, I took a generic Frozen 2 background and painted over it.
As always, on a separate layer, I added the whiskers and eyeshine.
And then, their shadows and the obiquitous leaf swirl.
And here’s the final version. As with Zakolaf, I find it a bit dark…but the Enchanted Forest was shrouded in fog and mist, so it’s kind of supposed to be dark.
You may remember, six years ago, I made this wonderful cartoon with Jacoby, Angel, Kylie and Tessie as Kristoff, Anna, Elsa and Sven the reindeer from Frozen.
Well, of course, Frozen 2 came out last November, which made me revisit my original cartoon. Of course, Kylie and Tessie still live in Boston, and Dashiell can take Jake’s place as Kristoff…but it occurred to me that I now have the perfect cat to play Olaf! Izaak! Of course, Olaf should be a Singapura! I started with a sketch and then a rough ink on my iPad in ProCreate.
Then I did a clean ink outline.
Switching to the laptop and Photoshop, I did a flat colour layer.
On a separate layer, I added the whiskers and eyeshine.
Then I switched to the background. I took a generic Frozen 2 background (there are plenty of wallpapers available online) and painted over it, the same way I created the background of the Zakdalorian.
Then I added a swirl of windblown leaves, to give it the feel of the film.
Then I painted the ticking and Zak’s other markings with my fur brushes.
Finally, I gave Zakolaf a little shadow, to ground him in the scene. I wish this was a little brighter, but that’s just the way this scene is; it’s not as bright as the snow scenes, because it’s autumn. Can’t do much about that.
Oh, and don’t worry…I have characters for Lorelai and Alfred to play. Stay tuned…
The Daily Abyssinian...and Singapura 