Cats of June 2019

[Sophie Lawson]

Oh my! I think I may have to do this ... I've been wanting to draw some cat characters for a few months, but I've been scared really and don't know where to start as I'm just starting out on drawing my own characters, but challenges like this push you to face your fears, sounds like a fun challenge.

What made you start it? Did you turn any of your cats into full on original characters?

[Joen Söderholm]

@Sophie-Lawson Would be awesome if you did! I did start this for that exact reason - to face my fears and push myself to do something new. I had started to feel that my art was going stale and thought some kind of drawing challenge might make things better. But no existing challenge really interested me at the time, and I wanted to start with something I knew I'm pretty good at drawing.

In the end, it worked out well and gave me lots of new ideas and opportunities to try different styles. So it's great for discovering new ways to draw and design your characters!

None of the cats have really turned into full original characters (yet). Even though several of them got names and basic personalities - like the Catatollah of Rock n Rollah with its rainbow mohawk and Ciaran the russian blue drinking white russian.

[Sophie Lawson]

@Joen-Söderholm you know, I was walking to work today and came up with an idea. As my abilities in character creation is still super limited, I'm going to collect 30 images of cats from cartoons, anime and videogames and master study them for this challenge. I'm going to use it as an excuse to practice my inking skills too

This sounds like a really fun, relaxing challenge, because when I've drawn animals in the past, I've always enjoyed it as you can be a lot more free than with humans.

I'm excited for this one Joen. All your cats together look so cool too, it looks like you were having fun with them

[Joen Söderholm]

@Sophie-Lawson That's a great idea! Looking forward to see what you'll come up with. I looked a lot on different sources and styles while drawing these cats, even though only a few are direct studies or fan art. So I think it's a great way to go about it.

For me, checking out different styles and trying to draw in them really was a great way to develop my own style. You'll start to find different things that you enjoy and that works for you from them and can kind of piece them together to something that is more "yours". (Oh, actually, I just realized that's almost directly quoting something @Lee-White said in one of the 3 point-podcast episodes :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_cold_sweat: )

I really wanted this to be more fun and relaxing, without too much pressure. Both for me and for whoever wanted to have a go at it in their own way. I think the worst thing is if the challenge feels so daunting you're just relieved when you're through it.

[Sophie Lawson]

@Joen-Söderholm said in Cats of June 2019:

I really wanted this to be more fun and relaxing, without too much pressure. Both for me and for whoever wanted to have a go at it in their own way. I think the worst thing is if the challenge feels so daunting you're just relieved when you're through it.

You know, last year was my first Inktober, and by the end of that I was both wanting it to carry on, and glad it was over lol

[Joen Söderholm]

@Sophie-Lawson Haha, I did feel the exact same thing last year because I got a bit too ambitious with my cats after all :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_cold_sweat:

[mag]

I love this idea! And I love cats too, see you on #catsofjune

[Joen Söderholm]

@mag awesome I'm looking forward to this more and more

[Paint Doodles]

I love this idea!

[Joen Söderholm]

And so the month of cats begins! I won't spam this thread with all the cats I'll draw. But here's the first one. Don't forget that you can follow tags like #catsofjune on instagram to see what both I and others are drawing.

[nadyart]

@Joen-Söderholm That’s such a nice challenge you invented. It will be nice to compare your new cats with last years cats

[Joen Söderholm]

Thanks a lot @nadyart ! Yeah, it will be interesting to see what has changed since last year! Not to mention just having a collection of 60 cat drawings by the end of the month :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_smiling_eyes:

[Joen Söderholm]

9 cats done and 21 to go!

[ShannonBiondi]

@Joen-Söderholm So cute!!! My adorable cat, Casper, passed away a few months ago. Your 7th kitty made me think of him Casper was abandoned by the neighbours (they just moved one day and left him outside). A month or so after they left, I made myself dinner and while I was getting my vegetables from the stove, he came in through my window and stole my chicken fillet!!! He even turned at the window with the fillet in his mouth to give me a cheeky look! He adopted me that day. I had him for just three years before he got very sick and died after a couple of months of going to the vet's almost every day. But he was the best buddy ever. He was the most grateful cat in the world. And he followed me everywhere! He even slept right outside my bedroom door.

[Eli]

@ShannonBiondi I am so sorry for your loss. It is SO heartbreaking to lose our beloved animals. Casper sounds amazing and I LOVE his origin story--I can just picture in my mind him turning at the window like that.

[Joen Söderholm]

So sorry to hear that @ShannonBiondi but still glad I could contribute to bringing back that memory I do still miss the cats I grew up with, Simba and Zorro. Simba was like a grumpy old man from an early age while Zorro was as dumb as a bag of hammers (but in a very charming way). Ran into walls, ate worms, stuff like that.

[ShannonBiondi]

@Eli and @Joen-Söderholm Thanks guys That's him there. Little potatoe.

[Eli]

@ShannonBiondi Beautiful boy!!

[Kat]

@ShannonBiondi so cute, I love the smudge on the bottom of his nose!

[MissMushy]

@ShannonBiondi such a sweet boy. So sorry for your loss.