Archive for the 'Owls' Category

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The Orly Owl done another way.

Published on November 23, 2008 in Cartoon, Interesting Links, Owls, Plain Paper and Sketch. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .
The 'O rly' owl is generally such a happy, peppy fellow... lets see what the other 'O rly' looks like.

The ‘O rly’ owl is a cute little fellow. He’s a snowy white owl sporting the simple little litters ‘O RLY?’ beneath him. For those who have never seen or heard about him, check out the wiki. Now I for one like the phrase, but to me, one side of it only has been covered – the incredulous ‘oh really?’ as opposed to the other that I rather like. The one dripping with barely contained sarcasm after being told either something you already know (that they know you know), or perhaps just after you’ve been told such a tall tale that it barely belies belief for a moment, let alone serious consideration. Well… those are a couple of em, anyway. I’m sure it works in many more situations too.

Thus, I present to you, my own little ‘O rly’ owl. The owl who says ‘meh’ soon afterwards. Not the incredulous, perhaps shocked or surprised type, but the rather more realistic and perhaps a touch disenchanted type. The type that has a wry upwards curl to the edges of their beak (since we are, after all, talking about owls right now). The kind that can deliver such a line with the appearance of dead-pan seriousness, even if their words might have an inflection of amusement.

That is Archibald, the alternative ‘O Rly’ owl.

Oh, by the way, on an entirely unrelated but still rather interesting note, take a peek at this great article about emerging trends in logo design. Its interesting even if you’re not a design person, promise!

Who has two shiny eyes, a hooked little beak, and an obesity problem?

Published on November 21, 2008 in Cartoon, Interesting Links, Owls, Plain Paper and Sketch. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .
He's Deiter, Deiter, Deiter the pudgy owl, he's Deiter, Deiter, listen to him hoot and howl!

Deiter the pudgy owl! Come on, you have to admit, even with a little extra around the edges, Deiter is a very handsome young gentleman. Well, that is my view in any case!

We’re returning to my owl addiction for a day or two perhaps – and you can certainly blame Lins for bringing it on. She gave me a link to this site that featured mad scientist alphabet blocks (which I would dearly like a set of, by the way). If you will notice, in the upper left hand corner is the Inhabitots logo – owls! Both the alphabet blocks and the cute little owls were just too much to ignore, so the pen drew Deiter of its own accord when I sat down to make something just now.

On another little note, our carpet is almost dry from its dousing in water from the rains the other night.. luckily it seems as if no more got in with last night’s downpour, which included hail too this time. Apparently greater storms are brewing for Saturday though… wish us luck.

The Last Lecture.

Published on November 12, 2008 in Interesting Links, Lined Paper, Owls, Personal and Sketch. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .
Just another little owl who sits upon my page.

This drawing was done last night, while chatting to a friend of mine. She has a certain love of owls, so this is just what sprung to mind as I was sitting there with a notebook and the pen of the day… still the green one, as you can see, because it was close to hand and thankfully, still working.

I’m going to share with you what I have been doing for the morning thus far. I’ve been sitting back and watching the Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Its worth every single minute and yes, I did tear up. I’m a wuss. I know that he is one of those people that would have affected so many lives in so many ways… even if he himself didn’t even know it. He acknowledged himself some of the people who really had that great influence on him too.

I wonder sometimes whether some of the people I have known and have affected me in such a way even know about it. I can thank, for example, one particular teacher for giving me the drive and belief in myself enough to go to university, rather than take the other options that had been laid before me. Honestly, it even affected my decision to take it further, to do my Masters. Lord knows if I will ever go on to do a PhD, but if I do, I will still acknowledge that that particular person is partly to thank for that. I doubt that they even realize it.

Its a funny thing, isn’t it? We all make our little marks on the world and sometimes don’t even have a clue. I know that I can recount things that made a big difference in my life that to others isn’t even a part of their own memory any more because it lacked the importance to be retained.

Its just odd, I guess, the importance we place on some things that is insignificant, really, to another; the poem you showed your 6th grade teacher, who turned around and said ‘keep going’, even though they didn’t have to, or that friend you’d capture lizards and frogs with and then learned more about with. Did you know that the real name for the cane-toad is ‘bufo marinus‘? Even just single, blessed moments, like ripples in a pool (to use that tired old metaphor), I can name dozens that wouldn’t even start to be remembered by other people, but were significant to me.

Funny, huh?

The Unwise Owl: Escaped once more to grace my page.

Published on October 1, 2008 in Cartoon, Owls, Plain Paper and Sketch. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

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?

Some may remember a previous post I did a little while back: The Unwise Owl, complete with a little story to tell his tale. A friend of mine liked the image rather much and I needed to draw something more substantial than a two minute sketch last night, so I took pen to paper in one of my sketchbooks; an ‘actual’ sketchbook, mind you, not a spiral-bound cheapie. It comes after this page in the same book, in case you were curious. I decided to give the unwise owl a second chance to redeem himself.

If you click on the picture for today, it should link to a rather larger picture (800px wide rather than 500) because I just wasn’t happy leaving it so small. Generally it links to a 600px wide picture, so slightly larger, but I love the detailing in this one just so much that I had to share it properly. Lins and I have been talking about Atelodemiourgiopapyrophobia (a fear or phobia of messing up a perfectly nice piece of paper) a fair amount recently, as you can probably tell from my posting, since it has been mentioning it so often. So this seemed appropriate.

A book unwritten remains unread. An artwork which stays in the imagination is only ever partially realized. It takes writing it down or roughing it out for things to truly take form. I can start drawing what is in my mind, but it isn’t until it gets to paper, canvas or whatever other medium I am using for it to really come to life. We all have a vision of perfection in our minds when it comes to what we do, but when it gets to the point of actually being realized, I think it is possible to stun even ourselves.

I am with this image: I was a little concerned that I couldn’t do something to accentuate the owl properly whilst merging into another level of delicacy with the branches there, but to me, it works. The little books are flapping and floating, they’ve taken flight around him; perhaps he sits in awe of them. I don’t know why he isn’t flying with them… perhaps he is scared? Perhaps if he leaps from his branch he won’t float, but will fall? Who is to know. Perhaps I will write another ‘Unwise Owl’ story to accompany this picture later.

I did slip up majorly once, although it probably doesn’t seem major to anyone else but me. As I drew my pen away from the page, I slipped and accidentally drew a line in the bottom right of the page. I turned it into the pen of the artist – what better way to transform those mistakes than to make them a part of the image? That’s all for today, hope you like it!

Trick or treat?

Published on September 23, 2008 in Owls, Plain Paper, Ratties and Sketch. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Kat Johnston sketch - just something rough to consider the season we're coming into... yay for pumpkins! Eeeevil pumpkins.

This is just a quick little sketch thrown up because I can’t -not- put up a sketch of my own today… even if it is rather late in the evening for another post. Rather halloween inspired, I suppose!

You know… I’ve never tried pumpkin pie. Perhaps it is because I do generally have a bit of an aversion to pumpkins – they are certainly not my favourite food in the world. I rather enjoy a good home-made pumpkin soup, but pumpkin itself, not so much. Especially since it doesn’t like me. That’s right, pumpkin does not like me. One attacked me when I was innocently going about my business, so I’ll just assume that they all aren’t all that partial to me.

I was just casually walking up the back steps of my little home one fine day, when one lunged at me and tried to eat my foot. It got away with nearly breaking a toe, but luckily nothing too serious. I can’t say I don’t blame them for not liking me though… I wouldn’t particularly like being blended up and served with a nice crusty bread-roll either.

A note for anyone visiting when I’m out of the house: please leave gifts of pumpkins where I can see them without having to look down. Even better? Bake them into a pie for me so that I can give it a go.