There’s a fun meme going around that involves a simple line drawing of a cat’s head and four paws, captioned “Complete this cat for the laughs.” Well. I like cats, and laughing, so sure!
As a warm-up, I did this silly sketch of two cats dancing.
Then, I decided to play with colours and brushes, so I drew Jacoby in his parka.
Painting fur was fun, so I decided to paint some feathers. I also made the kitty a little happier. Silly, maybe…but any excuse to draw, right?
My friend Pat plays with a colour-by-numbers app called Happy Color and often posts her favourite creations. Last week, she posted this cat painting and asked the hive mind if we thought it was an Abyssinian. Of course, everyone agreed that it definitely was! I may have to try this app out!
Yesterday in one of my Facebook cat groups, someone posted about an app, Cat Scanner, that claims to identify what breed your cat is from a photograph. So of course I had to try it out.
It worked great with the Abyssinians.
It even identified Angel correctly.
And it got Markis pretty well, too.
I was disappointed with how it did with Tessie. I was expecting perhaps a Burmilla…but I guess at least it could tell she’s a tortie?
And then…there was Izaak. Complete and utter fail. I was expecting a Singapura to be a fairly easy ID…at worst, maybe a Burmese or Aby…but a Bengal!? Seriously? Well, you know I clicked that “Am I right?” link to tell them they weren’t. And the explanation was…the app only really works with FIFe-recognised breeds.
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Um….what!? Singas have been recognised in FIFe since 2014…SEVEN YEARS!
Which, naturally, I felt the need to tell them. Haven’t gotten a response yet, but I can’t wait to see what they say.
The meme of the week has been the Texas attorney who accidentally turned on a kitten filter during a Zoom court proceeding. And of course, once it got out, the jokes and memes followed.
Inevitably, that woman showed up to yell at the poor kitten lawyer.
So, yeah. You knew this was going to happen.
The Warriors Cats website has just released a Warriors cats miniature maker, where you can make a Warrior cat in the style of their new new rubber Warriors miniatures.
So of course I had to make Warriors minis of our cats. Although, I did have to modify some in Photoshop; I couldn’t do Angel’s one eye or get Alfred’s colour exactly right using the mini-maker alone.
Dashiell and Lorelai required much less touching up.
My favourite, though, is Izaak. Somehow, the default pose and eyes just suit him!
Well…I woke up this morning full of ambition to work on my Dashiell-xander Hamilton drawing, only to have a Facebook friend post the minifigure she made on Hero Forge.
So, you know I had to make one, too.
Annnnnd…I spent most of my afternoon creating what I would look like as my dream player character. Well, it’s kind of like drawing a cartoon…a 3D cartoon.
Basically, you can create pretty much any character you can imagine (with a few limitations).
Of course I made myself as a humanoid feline (or, if you prefer, a felinoid human) with a cute skirt, lots of jewellery, a pen and an iPhone.
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Yes, that is a PEN, and yes, I know what it kind of looks like. And she has an iPhone because they didn’t have a laptop as an option.
Maple leaves are scattered on the maple-wood flooring, of course.
The interface on the website is super awesome. You can look at your character from virtually any angle. Cool, right?
You can purchase your character 3D-printed in full colour for $44.99, but the colours aren’t quite as vibrant as they are in the creator.
Still…I think it’s pretty cool. I’m getting one!
Remember the artwork I did for a Region 1/Region 9 virtual CFA show? Well, entries are closing today!
I entered Izaak and Lorelai in Championship…even though they aren’t registered in CFA, as long as they are registered in any organisation, they’re eligible to be shown.
I know I use these photos from Örebro a lot, but they are just so wonderful. It’s going to be interesting; whilst Zak is the only Singapura entered (so far), there are three Championship blue Aby girls entered!
Dashiell is entered in Premiership. I wish I had more professional shots of him, but at least we have the photos from the ferry! Although, had I known virtual shows would become a thing, I would have taken his collar off.
Entries were $10 USD each, but the fourth entry was free, so I went ahead and entered Angel as a HHP. The cats will all be examined by CFA judges, just like a real show, and there will be top ten finals. But there is also a Spectators’ Choice element, and people can vote for their favourite cats. To vote for any of our cats, click on their photograph and their gallery page will open in a new window. Votes cost $1 USD each, and you can purchase multiple votes for each at one time, but can only make one transaction per cat per day. Funds raised will go to support both regions. For more information, go to the show’s home page.
I know, I know…I dropped off the face of the world for a week. Part of that was due to me getting a new medication that was kicking my butt until I got used to it. The other part is that last Monday I got this email from Iris:
Your former region (Region 1) and your adopted region (Region 9) are joining forces for a virtual qualifier show for the CFA International Top Cat Challenge, and Sharon asked me to help with promotional copy and/or a theme. What I came up with is really crying out for some kind of sketch that we can use on the flyer and platform. It’s “Paws Across the Sea.” I don’t have any visual ideas other than two paws reaching toward each other with an ocean in between, but I thought maybe you could come up with something better. Please let me know if you’d be willing to work on this. The time frame is short but not an emergency. . . If you could do something by the weekend I think that would work.
My mind instantly went to vintage Disney “It’s a Small World” art. I made a globe/earth that featured the US Northeast and Europe and then made the quick sketch above to map out the international breed representatives. I had many ideas, but finally decided on featuring a Siamese, a Russian Blue, a Maine Coon (Marlin, the NEMO mascot), a Scottish Fold, and a Singapura. I had wanted to include a Japanese Bobtail, but I realised that if you couldn’t see the tail, it might not be clear what breed it was.
I started by making a generic cat sketch. I enlarged it for Marlin, made it smaller for the Singapura, and stretched it out for the Siamese.
I made sketches for all five breeds, and combined them on one layer.
Then I did the ink outline in Procreate.
I did the undercolour layer beneath the ink layer in Procreate as well. Colouring tortoiseshell-and-white cats is difficult, but fun!
My best fur brushes are in Photoshop, so I moved to that to work on the texture layer.
Here are all three layers combined.
Then I add the whiskers, eyeshine and shadow, and voilá: a graphic for an international virtual cat show!
A slight postscript: I couldn’t fit an Abyssinian into the graphic…but who’s that holding the Siamese’s other paw?
There’s a meme going around involving the above image created by Darien McSweeney. Apparently, it started in 2018, and seems to have been resurrected. So of course I had to do it for our lot. And it was harder than you’d think, for the most part.
Angel, despite still being a bit skittish, is mostly happy to be petted anywhere…except her mouth. Because of her past history with Feline Oral Resorptive Lesions and bad teeth, even though the pain is gone, she still doesn’t like to have her muzzle touched.
Izaak is pretty easy-going, but he does not like it when I try to wipe his eyes!
Lorelai is equally compliant, but she hates to have her claws trimmed.
Dashiell, on the other hand, loves to have his paws played with. Not a big fan of having his ears touched, though.
And then there’s Alfred.
Today was the New England Meow Unit‘s Virtual Cat Show. I entered everyone, including Alfred, Angel (as a Household Pet), and Logan (in the Rainbow Bridge class). Because it was the Nemo show, of course there was a costume contest, and I entered a few different outfits…and finally won with our Marilyn Monroe and JakeFK costumes. Okay, it was Third Place, but still.
Meg and Drooley got 4th Place as the Unknown Comic and his cat!
Jacoby placed 7th in the Rainbow Bridge class.
And now for the actual judging classes. Izaak was 15th Best Cat in Championship in Teresa Sweeney’s “ring.” You know, this is actually my first CFA final with a Championship cat! All my other show cats were Premiers.
Speaking of Premiers…Dashiell did the best of everyone, placing 6th Best in Premiership in Allan Raymond’s ring.
You can see all the finals on Nemo’s YouTube channel. Each one is pretty long, so clear yourself some time (or fast forward through it, that works too). Oh, and it’s pretty cool that my artwork is all over this show, too.
Last night, Björn sent me a cartoon depicting the backstory of the woman yelling at the cat.
Well…okay, he knows what I like.
You’ve probably heard about the new Snapchat filter that gives your pets Disney eyes. I actually downloaded the Snapchat app so I could try it…but I couldn’t get it to work on any of the cats. So, I did the next best thing: Photoshop the eyes on. Above we have Lorelai and Izaak. I like this one.
Alfred also looks about right…plotting, as always.
I spent the most time on Dashiell’s eyes, but I couldn’t get the left eye to not look kind of goofy. I like the right eye, though.
I found a closed eye that was perfect for Angel.
Now, I said I couldn’t get the filter to work on the living cats…but, rather hilariously, it did work on Flat Jacoby!
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.
You know, say what you will about the internet and Facebook in particular, but sometimes it can be a very silly and hilarious place. Remember Jacoby’s manbun? The other day I found a Facebook group called This Cat is PHOTOSHOPPED.
Well, of course I had to join! By way of introduction, I posted the close-up photo of Jacoby with his manbun.
And it BLEW UP. I posted it on Wednesday, and as of this evening, my post has had 1,568 reactions and 98 comments. Wow.
Some of the comments on my post were awesomely hilarious:
“Khajiit has wares, if you have coin.”
“This cat has a 100% chance of stealing your girlfriend”
“This Cat is STEVEN SEAGAL”
“That’s one sexy cat! 🔥🐈
I am a little concerned about the fact that I think a cat is sexy though…”
“Jason Momoa in cat form?” “Jason MeowMeowa”
“He looks like he became a millionaire from Bitcoin but has since spent most of it on cocaine.”
And then, people started commenting with Photoshops they’d done including Jake and his Manbun.
Miroslav created a dating profile for Jake, with the caption “Unpopular opinion, Jacoby.” Someone else responded, “Nah, he vapes catnip in enclosed public spaces”
Micaela included Jake in a collage of celebrity manbuns.
Abigail had Smudge the cat confront Jake. Someone commented on her work, “I’m just here, trying to enjoy my salad, and I’m getting upstaged.”
Angela envisioned him as part of the cast of 90210.
But perhaps my favourite was the first photo comment, which started with Jessica asking me, “Can I use this photo for my religion? (ask me what my religion is). When I said, “Ohhhkay…what is your religion?, she responded with this:
I’m interested.
So, you may have noticed there’s a new social media challenge meme going around. Of course I had to do it…and of course, I had to do it with Jacoby. So…here you go: Jake’s profile photos on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Tinder.
This week I discovered an interesting Giant Military Cats. As you might guess, it features giant cats Photoshopped into military settings.
Well. Challenge accepted! And I knew just the photos I wanted to use. So…
…here you go, Giant Military Lorelai.
So, on our way to see Frozen 2 downtown, I couldn’t help but notice a power box decorated with the very lovely Castle Cats.
I had no idea what they were or what they referred to, and come to find out that they’re part of a video game designed by PocApp Studios, based right here in Skövde!
How cool is that? I am not much of a gamer, but I may have to check out this game!
There’s a meme going around with three cats at different levels, with the highest level cat being designated “Boss Chonk.” Well, we’re going to a cat show this weekend, and I bathed Izaak and Lorelai. I also bathed Alfred, to help get him used to bathing (something I should have started doing when he was younger). Whilst bathing these three, this meme inexplicably came to mind.
So…I made a thing.
The other day, watching TV, a commercial for small loans came on, featuring “typical Swedes.” The man in the advert is meant to be Lars Johansson (the Swedish version of “Joe Average”), complete with manbun. I laughed and said, “Jeez…And of course he has a manbun! Manbuns are so 2016!”
Which reminded me of the time I Photoshopped a manbun on Jacoby. I’m still pretty proud of this one.
Sad news. Tardar Sauce, known worldwide as Grumpy Cat and possibly the most famous cat on the planet, died on Tuesday from complications from a urinary tract infection. She was seven years old.
She was an inspiration to all cats who wanted to become a meme, and if it wasn’t for her, Boston may never have had Strollercat. I was pleasantly surprised by her Lifetime show, Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever and I love the Grumpy Cat Weather App. I can’t believe she died so young.
I drew her, once, in a cartoon about the “Aby smile.” She was surprisingly difficult ti draw!
May StarClan light your path, and you find good hunting, swift running, and shelter when you sleep, Tardar.
The Daily Abyssinian...and Singapura 