Monthly Archive for June, 2009

A few of my favourites… but certainly not all.

So it just so happens that I had an interview today, and because I was rushing out the door, I didn’t have the chance to grab any images of some of my more decent drawings or paintings. As a result, I gave a link to this site. Sooo, to make it easier to navigate through the loads and loads of pictures here (because I haven’t got the gallery section up and running again), I’m going to put just a few of my favourite images up in this post, ranging from a few paintings to some of my sketches. So… here we go!

Kat Johnston Art: A little further progressed... and still untitled.

My most recent completed painting, this one just blows me away… I love it to utter bits. Originally, it was meant to be completed in colour, however when the black and white was mostly completed, I realized that it was just not destined for that. This painting was completed in gouache on canvas, and finished with a semi-gloss varnish. The piece is called ‘Escape of the Nubian Contessa’.

'Rat King' 3

A painting still in progress, this one is ‘The Rat King’, though it is quite possible that the name will change by the time it is actually completed. Again, gouache on canvas, as yet unfinished. My apologies for the quality of this image – I should really retake this photo.

'Miniatures'

Some miniatures, measuring no more than a couple of inches by a couple of inches. Surprisingly enough, despite the tiny size of these, they remain something that I utterly adore to this day.

Ok, now onto a few drawings…

Kat Johnston art - looking at a blank page is hard. Its so full of potential, and -you- have the potential to screw it up. But as the saying goes: nothing ventured, nothing gained.

This one has a bit of a story. It is entitled “Atelodemiourgiopapyrophobia” which is a word a friend and I coined meaning ‘the fear of imperfect creative activity on paper’… in other words, staring at a blank, beautiful, fresh sketchbook and going ‘oh god, I really, really don’t want to ruin it’. Not so surprisingly, I suppose, it is drawn inside a sketchbook… and a nice one at that. Completed in plain, ole-fashioned biro.

Kat Johnston Art - A book unwritten remains unread. It takes a pen to paper and a risk of failure to make those words take wing. How's that for a bit of philosophical mumbo-jumbo for you? The unwise owl gets a little sense, perhaps?

Another from the same sketchbook, even. This is an image of ‘The Unwise Owl’, which means a fair amount to me, but perhaps not to others. Suffice to say, the Unwise Owl believes he is wise, yet does not realize until it is too late that this may not be so. He was the basis of a little childrens’ story I wrote.

Kat Johnston Sketch - this is maggie... I was testing out a new pen.

“Maggie’ is the name of this lovely lady. ThisĀ  picture was just drawn quickly, to test out a new and wonderful ink pen, however the results went above and beyond what I could have wished for. Working with different mediums is just so incredibly fulfilling – I can take a break from one, switch to another, and when I come back to the first I have a whole new take on how I can work with it, too.

Ok… that should do! At least for now. Unfortunately, posting a picture of every favourite image I have here would take a long time, and just be silly. Clicking on the tag ‘favourite’ for this post, however, will bring up a wider list of the sketches posted here that I love the most. Hopefully I’ll get the job (cross fingers, everybody), and if I have to resort to offering bribery with baked goods, I’m willing to do it. Everyone likes cake, don’t they?

Regular programming resumes tomorrow… in the meantime, I’m going to try and dig out some of the pictures of jewellery I’ve made, which are buried somewhere on this computer… if I can find them, I’ll throw up a few pictures of those as well.

Sketch: Something -not- on a person for once!

Kat Johnston - a quick line drawing... he's adorable!

It actually feels as if I haven’t done a plain ole sketch on paper in quite a while… though that honestly isn’t true. I think it just feels that way because the last few posts I’ve done to the blog here have been done with images of body-art with sharpies rather than… well… plain ole sketches on paper.

Well, here is a quick sketch done today, and I can’t say that I wasn’t somewhat inspired by a earlier incarnation of Sven from Questionable Content. What can I say? He was absolutely adorable with the longer hair and the rounder nose, not that he looks any worse now… just different. I’ve been trolling through the archives from the very first of this webcomic, and if you’re not yet come across it, now is just about the right time to go take a peek. My apologies to Jeph (creator of QC) if my ‘sorta inspired by Sven’ is too similar in some respects! Just let me know if you’d like me to take it down (if you ever see this) and I would be happy to oblige.

So anyhow, that’s about it for today. Another day forward in another thrilling week, which will most likely be peppered with calls back and forth between builders and real-estate agents and the thrilling (yet somewhat disturbing) sound of me yelling at nothing in particular because yelling at something causes more trouble than it should. More tomorrow!

Body Art: seems I’m drawing a lot of dragons lately…

Kat Johnston body art: Yay! Another dragon... and this time he's green. Phew!

Another day, another dragon, on another person’s arm. It seems that dragons are well requested within my little circle of friends… that said, this dragon wasn’t actually ‘requested’ so much as ‘drawn because I knew that it would tickle this person’s fancy’. The background then came later, once I’d had a bit of a break. By the time it was done, at least she’d started actually sitting (or laying, rather) still.

Sorry that there was no posting over the weekend – it’s been a bit busy, of late, so doing posts for here wasn’t exactly top top priority. No matter though – I’m back at it today. And that is what matters, when all is said and done!

So, anyhow, not much actual news to add here. There’s nothing especially interesting or fascinating going on in the world of Kat, just the regular ole day to day stuff that requires doing. Speaking of which… time to get back to work. Talk later, everybody!

Body Art: A clockwork orange… dragon?

Kat Johnston Body Art: A clockwork orange dragon... his name is Clarence!

I have been having so much fun doing these ‘faux-tattoos’ recently. I’ve decided that coloured sharpie markers are the bomb. This one was done last night on a friend I had over for dinner. We had tasty, hearty stew with mashed potatoes. Isn’t that just the best type of meal for these cool winter nights?

Anyhow, I asked her what she would like drawn on her, and her answer was a clockwork flower dragon. While I could have gone the way of creating one composed entirely of mechanical parts, I just didn’t feel quite like that… so we met half-way! Oh, and when deciding on a name, I picked Clarence. It’s such a gentlemanly name for a dragon such as this, don’t you think? Given a bit more time, I probably would have added just a tiny touch of colour around the outline to make it ‘pop’ from the skin a touch more, or a little more detail… but since it was already pushing 11, I just had to get done. I am very, very happy with the results.

I think I’m really starting to get the hang of working with these markers on people – I’m getting decently gradated shading, and becoming more confident with my lines, though some people really should stop moving when I draw on them… yes, I’m looking at you, miss! And now I’ve started formulating another awesome idea, for my next venture into the joys of drawing on people with markers. It contains a lot of blue, something a little abstract, and no dragons this time methinks… any volunteers?

Oh, and please forgive the somewhat shabby masking around her figure (I can do better, I’m just lazy today) – I just wanted to darken the background, since that particular picture was taken in front of the bed here in our computer room. As cute as the bed may be, it did kinda draw away from the focus!

Sketch: Emma and Archibald.

Kat Johnston Sketch: It's my little girl and Archibald. Archibald is a rooster.

I actually did name my little girl, a little while ago… her name is Emma. The rooster on her head, in this sketch, is called Archibald. They have much fun together. Some of which I might show at another time. In this pic, it looks as if Emma has shot and stuffed him to make him into a raccoon hat… but… um… made with a rooster instead. “Davy Crockett be damned!” says she. What disregard to tradition she has.

I’m actually keeping this post short today. So goodnight!