Tag Archives: goat

Halloween Ghouls and More Autumn Cats

Three Ghoulish Halloween ATCs
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

A zombie goat! A Monk Ghoul! And a zombie sheep! Happy Halloween! We had a Halloween Art-a-thon all weekend at illustratedatcs.com. These were some of my favorite cards, currently en route to their new homes.

Also, more cats!

Three Autumn Cat ATCs
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

I do love the cats with the big ears! Particularly the Peterbald  and Oriental Shorthair varieties. (I always want to call them “Asian Shorthair” cats, but I’d be the only one.) From left to right:  Lionel in Hat, Meow Open (or “Housecat”!) and Lydia’s Kitten. The last refers to last year’s Peterbald cat with pumpkins:

Lydia with Pumpkins, 2012
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners white gel pens

Last time nini asked about the horse cards I got in trade for two cat cards. They were both by artist Nadine Thome. Here is her illustratedatcs gallery and Etsy shop! I was also very lucky to trade Lionel in Hat (above) for her Autumn Keeper. (This reminds me that I owe nini a cat!)

Thanks for stopping in! Not as many progress pics this time; I was in a bit of a Halloween frenzy and did not stop for many scans.

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A Story That Was

This is a story I wrote once about two roommates and their cat.  [Technically not a story at all. Would not even qualify as a short short. But that’s ok.] These are the two roommates:

Dean, a steampunk goat and Chaz, a steampunk llama
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ pen and ink, circa approximately October 2011

DEAN:

Dean starting inventing eyepieces in seventh grade. The first had a rudimentary long-focus device which he made in order to better see Eliza, a popular and adorable Nubian, across the playground. Yes, of course they had a playground in seventh grade. These are farmyard type creatures, after all. Need their sunshine. Just like people actually, but that’s another story, isn’t it?

It is many years later now, and in that funny way life has of going in circles, Dean and Eliza are now dating. She doesn’t even remember him from seventh grade. Which he couldn’t be happier about.

Dean is also Chaz’s roommate (Chaz is an inventor and a llama). They have a blue and green cat named Phil who has about as much interest in their inventions as he has in other cats, which is to say, absolutely none.

CHAZ:

Chaz the blue llama is an inventor, first. The bird shaped device he is wearing over one eye is made of leather, brass and various metals. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, he is particularly proud of the tiny wing fashioned from an orange washer. The mechanism, with a cable connected to a power source in his front pocket, has both long-focus and enhanced night vision capabilities.

And this is the cat:

Phil the Cat
2.5″ x 3.5″ Art Card, pen and ink

PHIL:

This is Phil, a serious, colorful cat with one green eye and one golden eye . He lives with a llama (Chaz) and a goat (Dean). Phil is interested in tin foil and the mythology of the cat goddess Bast. Phil’s theory is that Bast was a space traveler whose ship experienced a major electrical malfunction that not only forced her landing in the Nile Valley, but caused her to bestow upon humans the scientific advances that she intended to give to cats.

Phil does not like other cats, believing they squander their superior intellect in the misguided pursuit of the perfect sun spot.

I was going through some older Etsy sales recently (in the case of Dean, above  – October 2012) and ran across my little tale about Dan, the steampunk goat, and Chaz, a steampunk llama. And their cat, Phil. And I realized I had forgotten it. So part of the reason for this post is to remember! But I thought you might like to read it, too.

Thanks for reading this far! You’re the best. ;)

 

Shy Goat and a Little House for Illustration Friday

Shy Goat and Little House, 5″ x 7″ on toned paper
Copics, fine liners and white gel pen.

For the topic “Shy” at Illustration Friday. Initially the goat was going to be peeking out of a barn or from behind a tree or something, but it wasn’t working. Then I decided I would do another little house, but less spooky, because people seem to like the little houses. Now the goat is peeking from the frame of the scene, and I suppose that still works. ;)

It also occurred to me that perhaps once in a while I should cut out the long-winded rambling, so that’s it for today! Thanks for dropping in!

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Goat reference photo. (His name is Gilbert!)

Illustration Friday and a Strange Goat

My first entry for Illustration Friday.  This week’s topic:  FUEL.

My first thought was to do a robot shaking an empty gas or oil can into his mouth (or into a receptacle on his head, or wherever the oil entry point might be).  But I have been on a colorful farm animal kick (most recently steampunk farm animals, several of which you can find in recent posts!), and I have been liking goats. So I thought, what silly thing can I show a goat eating?  Perhaps some long johns or socks. So I had a plan.

As you will see, this plan fell apart during sketching. I did not leave enough room for a recognizable sock at the bottom (not a giant one like I wanted) but I did leave some room at the top.  So clearly the fueling would have to take place above.  I thought about giving him a beer hat contraption (ah, a few weeks late for that topic, I know!), maybe with something silly in it like orange juice. But I didn’t want to cover his face with a straw.  So I decided another creature would be on top of his head, fueling him through a pipe in his head.  I’m not sure why I thought this! Here is the result:

Green Goat Fueling Up

This seems to me prime fodder for a trick I found while browsing last week’s entries: Bella Sinclair’s Doodlespot, in fact, in the following query to her readers, “What do you think is going on here?” So, I would do that, except I am a first timer to IF and I do not know if people will get a chance to visit me, straggler entrant #673 or whatever number it may be.  (But if you do, feel free to let me know what you think is going on in this picture!)

If you have been kind enough to visit and read this far and don’t want to have to come up with a story for the above, this is how I see it:

The pink creature is one of many thousands of similar creatures on a small planet really, really far away.  About four hundred years ago (our time), a garbage scow from earth was picked up by this civilization, and the only item they kept was an old picture album depicting life on a farm. They were completely enchanted by the farm animals, which became very popular subjects for their art.  So popular, in fact, that when the time came to re-design the planet’s power plant, they used goats, chickens, and llamas as decorative statuary to hold the massive tanks and wiring.  In the picture above, one of these enormous goats is getting a shot of oil that will keep him in perfect working order for another seven months or so.

Oh! (Sorry, this is probably too long, lol) I wanted to post the initial sketch and some early coloring (with Copic markers):

Topic Fuel - Initial Sketch

 

Topic Fuel - Color Progress

I used Copic markers and pens for this 6″ x 9″ drawing on 150 lb. smooth drawing paper.  Thank you so, so much for dropping in!

Steampunk ACEO Beasts, Copic Markers

Well, I’m not sick of steampunk yet!  In fact, at the end of this post I’ll post the initial sketch for my next 8 x 10.  But mostly I wanted to post some ACEOs I’ve completed since the steampunk bug hit.  And their intensely engrossing stories, of course (*cough*).

Original ACEO Steampunk Llama

Chaz the blue llama is an inventor, first. The bird shaped device he is wearing over one eye is made of leather, brass and various other metals. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, he is particularly proud of the tiny wing fashioned from an orange washer. The mechanism, with a cable connected to a power source in his front pocket, has both long-focus and enhanced night vision capabilities.

Original ACEO Steampunk Goat

Dean starting inventing eyepieces in seventh grade. The first had a rudimentary long-focus device which he made in order to better see Eliza, a popular and adorable Nubian, across the playground. Yes, of course they had a playground in seventh grade. These are farmyard type creatures, after all. Need their sunshine. Just like people actually, but that’s another story, isn’t it?

It is many years later now, and in that funny way life has of going in circles, Dean and Eliza are now dating. She doesn’t even remember him from seventh grade. Which he couldn’t be happier about.

Dean is also Chaz’s roommate (see above). They have a blue and green cat named Phil who has about as much interest in their inventions as he has in other cats, which is to say, absolutely none.

Phil the Cat, Original ACEO

It may be no surprise to many that I am a dog person, and as such have been somewhat hesitant about drawing cats. Cats have an extremely long history in art (see Bast ).  Anyway, I wouldn’t say Phil has a particularly animated expression.  But sometimes that’s the way it is, with cats.

Original ACEO Steampunk Ferret

The very latest is this fine steampunk ferret. Or possibly a related rodent of indeterminate origin – which is to say – I’m not sure it looks exactly like a ferret (color notwithstanding).  He is a terribly friendly fellow, but I haven’t been able to make heads or tails of his squeaky language.  Anyone speak ferret?

And finally, the next steampunk beast. It was modeled on a donkey but the cheeks kept getting narrower so it may be a horse. With very tall ears.

Steampunk Donkey Horse Sketch

Decided to do goggles (currently quite lopsided).  Continued attempts to make quasi-mechanical seeming devices in the shapes of birds.  Added a pipe.  Not sure about the pipe.  :)  Thank you lovely people for stopping in!

Steampunk Sheep (Might Be a Goat) – Work In Progress

Steampunk Sheep (Or a Goat?) -Not Quite Finished

Straight from the pen that brought you that other steampunk farmyard animal-in-progress type post, comes steampunk sheep! Or he might be a goat.  If he’s a sheep do I need to add horns?  Could he be, like, a dandy who trimmed his horns way back so as not to adversely affect the tilt of his hat? The trouble is, I think, that I wanted to do a steampunk sheep and used a girl sheep photo as a guide. See for yourself:

Is this a Girl Sheep?

Which is fine, I would totally do a female steampunk sheep.  Except I just did a female steampunk llama, so I wanted to do a male steampunk sheep. Anyway, do female sheep tend to look like male goats?  Perhaps this doesn’t matter.  He is certainly at least one of, a sheep and a goat.  Here is what he looked like in the beginning:

Steampunk Sheep (Goat?) Sketch

And then

Steampunk Sheep (Goat?) Initial Ink

And then this monstrosity

Steampunk Sheep Color 1 (Horror)

I mentioned in the steampunk llama post that sometimes the first layer of color looks so bad I consider abandoning the drawing.  Well, I seriously considered abandoning this fellow at this point.  I mean, yikes.  First, the color combination is looking horrible, and second, I turned the brooch-type thingie into a cane, which is an idea I like but one which would have been nice to decide before inking the ear.  But anyway. I didn’t abandon him, but I didn’t have high hopes for him.  And really, is that fair?

I am pleased to report he is looking much better now (in my opinion) (thank you Copic markers!) and if it weren’t for that scanned picture above, I would find it hard to believe the color was as bad as it definitely was.  Not quite done:

Steampunk Sheep Not Quite Done

I have to decide whether to fill most of the cane in, in black, because it’s too busy and not doing the overall drawing any favors in its current state. Might do a background.  (I said that last time but decided against it.) I can picture an old style plane in the background but I don’t know how to draw a plane.  Actually, an airship would be cool.  Not this time, probably.  Might have to branch out into scenery with airships eventually, though.  Now there’s a thought.

Do you have an opinion on this or any remotely related topic?  Do share!