What's New Pussy Cat?

Have been working on these pussy cats this evening. I think I've found a way of working that a) works, and b) I like.

The thing that was annoying me yesterday was that although I like the quality of the line using the wrong end of the dip-pen, I think it comes across as too clumsy small-scale. Also, I didn't feel the look of the cat was "me". So, following on from that, I spent a while before bed last night having a quick doodle in my sketchbook and came up with a cat that is much more in keeping with my style which I then traced over this using my trusty home-made lightbox, layout paper and dip-pen. I've been trying a couple of ways of colouring him in. This is just filled.....


.......but unlike yesterday's Cat No.3, it doesn't look so effective with an off-centre outline, if you can see:

I think the mis-registered outline works on yesterday's Cat No.3 because the line itself is so simple. There's not the detail in there like today's cat with his stripes and whiskers.
This one with the blue background is slightly off-centre, just enough to give interest, but doesn't go as far as the cat above:


I think he's my favourite. I'll show this and the top one as alternatives, anyway, plus Cat No.3 from yesterday. It's so hard trying to simplify your style enough to suit the media, but no so much that it becomes unrecogniseable. But I'm much happier with this approach, so I'll have a go at some more animals and a few other bits and pieces.

I really feel I should be knuckling down to this and "churning" something out quickly, but there are so many other things I need to be doing as well. Character designs by 17th March, these, plus trying to get the new flat in some kind of order. I managed to splosh a bit of paint on the bathroom walls, plus the door frames around the living room and Jon's room, late this afternoon before the light got too bad to see what I was doing, It's the hall that's bugging me - there's a lot to do, and most of it is unreachable without balancing precariously on a ladder - like over the stairs. Plus the paint itself is taking up so much room in the kitchen. I also feel bad that we haven't been to the allotment for four weeks now. We've been so busy with moving and painting, plus the weather was atrocious last week. Guilt, guilt, guilt. We did plan to go today, but again it was chucking it down. We'll see what tomorrow brings, although part of me wants it to be raining again so I can get on with these digi-coloured pieces! I want to get on with everything, but there's never enough hours in the day! At least I managed to get outside today, despite the rain. I hate being in all day. I only have one pair of everyday shoes without holes in, so the lovely Jon offered to buy me some. In the end I plumped for these from Faith. A bargain at 18 quid:



Illustrated boots. Rock on.