Kat Johnston

Tag: fish

  • Sketch: A lucky kitty catfish.

    Kat Johnston Sketch: A lucky kitty catfish… super kawaii!

    Today’s picture was a request! I was toying around with things in Second Life when I decided that I should ask a group I frequent what I should draw today, since I had no preconceived ideas… the response?

    “Koiii!”

    “kawaii!”

    “draw a koi with big eyes and a school girl skirt!”

    “Nuuu it needs to be a cutesy koi… Like one that you’d catch at your store.”

    Soooo, I came up with this little fish.

    The group I was chatting in is called the Lucky Kitty Crew – a group (and associated blog) that called out Midnight Mania boards, Lucky Chair letters, notifies of freebies and so forth. Beyond that, however, it is also just a great place to hang out and have a chat, get some inspiration and generally chill. Therefore… I drew a lucky kitty catfish!

    I hope you enjoy it, kitties!

  • Body Art: Feeling a little koi.

    Kat Johnston Body Art: I’m feeling a little koi today with this sharpie marker tattoo!

    Last night I had someone over wanting an image of a koi, and this is what I came up with! I’m rather happy with the overall result. It would have been somewhat better if my fine black pen didn’t keep conking out on me every 2 seconds as I approached the end of the drawing (which is what accounts for some of the the shoddy outlining on the waters), but still, it isn’t all that bad. I think I might have to introduce a round of something to clear the skin of any residual oiliness before beginning my work next time, for any larger images.

    Some days I wish that sharpies worked a bit more like other media – paint, pencils… even biros. The inability to build up some shading did result in the fish looking as if it is simply ‘sitting’ on top of the water – well… that and my distraction here and there. I did have some tendrils of water snaking across the body, but they kinda got drowned out because I lost my lines when I was going over the top with the darker shades and outlining. But no matter! I shall remember that more for next time.

    The other thing I would love to have is a blending base. At the moment, I have about three shades which work well as a blending base, but all three are in the warmer area of the spectrum. I’m not sure what anyone else would call them, but I am referring to the colours which blend well into the skin while also having the ability to ‘pick up’ the other colours and apply them evenly, with an effective gradient from a strong colour into almost-skin shade. Anyhow, it is something for me to look into. I’ll see what I can find!

  • Sketch: Missy Pen-Pen, and ‘Yay, I got my Parchment… ohhh…’

    Kat Johnston Sketch: My darling miss Pen-Pen with her fishie treats… I love my cats.

    My darling Miss Pen-Pen, how I do so adore her. She’s the little sumo-cat of our household, and isn’t afraid to throw her weight around if needed. She truly is a queen, speaking up when she’s ready for a snuggle and somehow -you- haven’t given her one yet. She does have a tendency to get demanding at times.

    A sumo for a queen… now that is an interesting thought, is it not? Its like the daughter of a 1950s mob boss that everyone compliments and so forth, even though in reality she’s no drop-dead gorgeous bombshell: she’s twice the size of a house and happy for it. So long as the situation didn’t change, she’d never have reason to doubt other than what people have told her either, would she? While not exactly entirely true, you get the picture. My Pen-Pen is a queen and a sumo to boot.

    Onto an entirely unrelated matter… I got my parchment yesterday! I’ve now officially got my little piece of paper saying ‘Look world, this person has actually completed a Masters of Arts and Creative Industries Management, and she’s done it in such a competent manner that we’re willing to say she somehow knows what she’s talking about. Yay her.’

    It’s kinda a funny feeling: I have it done, completed, finito, and there’s nothing left to do. I’m not sure if anyone else feels that the receipt of a piece of paper to say ‘Really, I know what I’m talking about,’ is as anti-climactic as I do… but it does tend to feel that way to me. You finish your course, you wait almost five months, and finally some small woman comes a-knocking at your door and says ‘Sign here please.’ You do as you’re told, you open it, and this piece of paper really isn’t all that more impressive than the last one (I’ve done this three times now).

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to have it – but it’s almost as if finally getting it is mocking in nature. ‘So,’ it says to me, in a wheedley little voice, not unlike that weasel little tell-tale in the school yard most of us have doubtless encountered. ‘So, it’s been almost five months since you have completed me, and what have you done? Hmm?’

    Here am I, wide-eyed, stuttering out an ineffectual response. ‘Well, I, umm, I was waiting on you before, you know, I, um, got started on anything? Or something like that?’

    The parchment snickers knowingly, a gleam to it’s silvered seal as it glints in reflection of the somewhat dim fluorescent bulb. It’s almost an accusation. ‘Ohhh, but you have me now,’ says he, ‘You have no excuse left! What are you going to do, hmm, what are you going to do?’

    With a barely uttered grunt of disgust I glare at my parchment, and fling it in a drawer with the others. That’ll teach it to have a go at me!

  • And she wore a fishbowl on her head…

    A cute little girl with a fish bowl on her head. Fun, huh?

    Yesterday a bird, today a fish… I’m considering something else for tomorrow. A rat? I like rats… perhaps a headdress made entirely of itty bitty flies, all delicately perched on elaborately woven strands of hair twisted and tortured and sprayed into perfect place. Yay for animal couture!

    I don’t actually suggest that anyone try to balance a fishbowl with a hairband – one would have to have absolutely fantastic balance to ensure that the fish were not endangered by the moving. I also think that one would also have to consider that having real sand in the bottom might not be the best idea, with every little partial nod disturbing it… Hell, considering that they don’t even like you tapping on the glass in aquariums, lets just face it: this is not a good idea. That said, it does kinda look cool!

    I had a little time, since this was initially drawn last night, therefore I did a quick little colouring for it, just for kicks. Nothing too fancy, just a few minutes this morning after coming downstairs to see that the lower half of the house had been partially flooded. There’s major storms in Brisbane at the moment and the house we live in doesn’t appear to be entirely water-tight when assulted by pelting after pelting of summer storm rains. That said, however, I would much rather have half a lounge-room of wet carpet over some of the devastation visited on other parts of the city. Hey, gotta see the fun side of it, huh? My carpet currently goes ‘squish’ when you walk from one side of the room to the other.

  • A gleelful grin sprung across his face as he gasped out in surprise, Why Mother, oh I do so say, I can’t believe my eyes!

    Kat Johnston Sketch – There were no fish quite like this fish, for he was unique so far as fishes come. He would grant wishes three, but you must see, if the wishee might wish them undone.

    I think I’m in a couplet-y mood today. It happens once in a while where little snippets and snatches of rhyme without reason leap before my inner eye and tap on the quivering glass of my real ones. They point them to watch a pen, delicately poised over paper, to let them sneak their way into actual sight.

    The picture today was drawn earlier on in the morning, when my sketching of faces was just not behaving. So, time to draw in a looser style and see what happens. A few random lines later, and this little fellow appeared, to be redrawn as you see him here with a tweak and a twitter. I think he is a fish, mayhaps a magic koi (though of a variety I never once have seen). As with all wish-granting entities though, I suggest that your wishes are very carefully worded and thought out in advance. You never know when ‘world peace’ ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

    That is all for today: I know it is a shorter post than usual, but hey, it’s Friday! On the upside, after all the fishy titles… you’ve actually got a post now that actually refers to a fish.