Kat Johnston

Tag: Interesting Links

  • Sketch: My heart belongs to Old Spice Guy.

    Kat Johnston Sketch: My heart belongs to Old Spice Guy.

    Ok, I’ll admit it… I still think that it is beyond awesome that my tweet got picked to get a personalized response by the Old Spice Guy on youtube. From the surely thousands of questions that would have been propelled towards the Old Spice team, it feels really great to be one of the ordinary people who got a personal reply. This was my tweet:

    “@OldSpice If Old Spice was originally for the ladies (as Wiki states), are you certain these new scents are quite manly enough?”

    I was informed that Old Spice was originally for the ladies (this is the wiki article I was referring to), but its many very manly side-effects made it more suitable for the menfolk. He even did air-quotes around the ‘as Wiki states’ bit!

    That video has now racked up over 76,000 views. How awesome is that?

    Annnnnyhow, onto other things!

    For those of you who would have picked up the Hootie Set last weekend at Sanu in Second Life, you might recognize the picture today! It is a similar blue heart, and a bit of a sneak peek at a new little product which will be out soon. I’ve been so flat-out with things lately that I haven’t had time to finish them up yet though, so it might take a few days before they’re out. Right this second I am so flat out with real life thingies and the Blur exhibition in Second Life that I just haven’t had time to finalize them yet. Doh!

    That’s all for now, in any case. The Blur exhibition opens up tomorrow, and once I am finished with everything for that, I will be sure to post pictures of my contributions. I’m really exciting to be taking part in it!

  • Artist Feature and Sketch: A tragic clown.

    Kat Johnston Sketch: A proud and tragic clown, looking down with an imperial air.

    The last couple of images I’ve uploaded have been rather… um… sketchy! So time for something a touch more precise.

    I tend to go through different moods – fairly unscribbled here, lots of scribbles there… since I don’t tend to ‘pre-sketch’ for these sketches (ie, do something erasable underneath first before going over the top in pen) scribbles sort of lend themselves to the medium. Even in slightly more ‘precise’ work I tend to work over an area with short, sharp strokes rather than long and flowing ones.

    I know this isn’t a way I always used to sketch. I’m fairly sure that I used to favour more long, sweeping strokes – one stroke to create a line from start to finish. Perhaps it is the tendency of biros to cut out part way through whatever you’re doing (something which is tragically a major annoyance with cheaper brands or pens you have used faithfully for the extent of their life) or the gradual build-up of a line achieved when using a short-stroke style that has caused me to prefer one style of sketching over the other.

    Whatever the reason… It works for me!

    Now for something I’m going to try and do more often: linking to other brilliant artists whose work I admire and adore.

    Artist Feature: Radio Signals.

    I had the pleasure of first ‘meeting’ Miss Radio Signals when the sim my mainstore was located on in Second Life was no longer suitable. One of my customers told her about me, we met up, had a chat, worked out a few things and BAM! Just like that I had found a new home. I’ve never looked back!

    Her store, called Scribble, presents a blend of beautiful products, but beyond her work in Second Life, she is also a talented pop-surreal artist with a great knack for the digital medium. With delicate tones and a style which is all at once both precise and seemingly organic, it is simply stunning. Yeah… I’m a total fan-girl!

    Here’s a couple of my favourites, which can be found for purchase at her Etsy store:Actaeon and Eulogy, though of course more can be found at her website, including wonderful progress shots and a look into the process behind the artworks.

  • Sanu: Hair… its a Second Life addiction.

    Sanu Stuff: Hair is wonderful stuff… especially in Second Life, where you don’t actually have to style it yourself. Unless you are crazy like me, that is.

    Hair. We all seem obsessed with it, whether in the ‘real’ world, or the next. I love my real hair, even if it is a right pain at times. It’s been about as many colours in this world as it has in the second, from green to blue to pink with purple leopard spots and everywhere inbetween.

    There are some things I said I wouldn’t make in Second Life, but slowly the list has been getting shorter. I said I wouldn’t do big builds, yet I’ve done castles. I said no shoes, yet I’ve now released one pair and have another sitting in my inventory waiting for me to do signage for it. I even said no hair. Yet here we are.

    I’ve finally tackled the beast that is hair and this is the result. An elegant knot low on the neck, it’s certainly an elaborate style: I don’t seem to be capable of doing things by halves in cases like these. With the endless possibilities that are available in Second Life, how can I not play with all the things I can do with it? It is a fantasy world, after all!

    Unlike my jewelry, which I have sworn will not be named after people, I’m changing that for hair. This one has been named after a good friend of mine who has been supporting my store since almost day one. Abra Exonar was the first person I’d known to have blogged my jewelry back when I had my first seasonal dollarbie in October of last year… back when I had about half a dozen products and that was it. The store has come such a long way since then!

    In case you were curious, Abra has her own blog too, so if you are into Second Life fashion, I suggest you check it out.

  • Sketch: The lady Lilianne

    Kat Johnston Art: The lady Lilianne.

    I don’t know quite what to say about her. I was sitting, watching some tv and browsing through some sites this morning, at an hour ere dawn… I am still recovering from my cold, and am having horrid bouts of coughing that cannot be quelled without waking – thus my sleep has been somewhat erratic. So I sat, listening to the show playing beside me, with a pen in my hand, sketching away… I knew I wanted to draw a face, and I knew the lips that I wanted… that was about it.

    Unfortunately, I didn’t quite make it right on the lips – due to the unforgiving nature of a ballpoint pen, my initial mistaken angle could not be reversed on the lower lip… ah well. I think the eyes make up for it. It could use some more working, but I decided to halt at that point… my hubby wanted snuggles!

    Now, on an entirely unrelated matter. I love browsing the web for art, to inspire me and make me go ‘uhh… wow! I wish I could do that’. I thought I’d share one of those links with you today. CG Society recently had their ‘Steampunk Myths and Legends‘ challenge and my lord… the entries are stunning. Forget about just going to the winner’s page… click that link above and check them all out. I wish I had half the talent some of those people possess.

  • Sketch: See? Sketching -is- good for you!

    Kat Johnston: Random sketching -is- good for you. I told you so. You didn’t believe me, but its true!

    Aha! Many seem to look at me dubiously when I proclaim that I am better focused in classes due to my sketching, seeing it instead as a certain sign of my unattentiveness. However, as I have surely mentioned before (though I won’t dig out the post now, seeing as it is after midnight), I think that sketching actually helps me focus better. Its a zen-like thing – you sketch, letting your mind wander a little in one place, while the rest of it works at absorbing whatever it is you are meant to be absorbing on that particular day.

    My hubby called shennanigans. He thought that it was just a lot of hokey, and that I was pulling his leg. Well, this morning he sent me a link to this little article which proclaims the same. Yay! Now I apparently have science to back up my wonderful theories. I’m glad someone got around to trying to prove it. I wonder if I inspired them?

    So, in honor of this particular article, I dredged up one of the pages of one of my writing books, which I’ve dragged along to a lecture or two. This is a class… though I am entirely unable to recall which one. It was a while ago, after all. It features my gorgeous hung bunny, which I think hasn’t been properly introduced here in its original form until now. Yes, there’s the bunny in the moon (featuring the same bunny), but this was the way he was originally imagined, though not the first sketch of him, I assure you. My hung bunny rocks.

    Alrighty ya’ll, I think I’d best get to bed before I stay up all night! Throw some congrats my way… I got an interview! Yayyyy!