Kat Johnston

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

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on November 21, 2008

in Cartoon, Interesting Links, Owls, Plain Paper and Sketch

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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.

And she wore a fishbowl on her head…

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on November 20, 2008

in Cartoon, Digital, Portraits and Sketch

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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.

The French Ambassador’s Daughter - Pantomime and Pagentry.

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on November 19, 2008

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I should really do this picture over, because I know it can be improved. That said, even in its current state, I have to admit that I love it to bits. I think it has to do with the sense of absurdity, tempered by the fact that having birds in one’s hair was actually the height of fashion at one point. I think there should be a return to the runway for bird-in-hair styles. I think it’s cute.

That said, I’m not sure if the little songbird in his gilded cage, delicately perched on the head of its mistress, would agree. Must get a little bumpy up there, after all. And any extended bird-wearing would have the whole problem of scattered bird-seed and water and other fun things to contend with… after all, can’t let the poor thing starve. A wig does make more sense than real hair when you think about it in those terms.

When you think about some of the other use of animals in fashion though, it isn’t really quite as absurd as it seems on first look. Beetles as jewelry, goldfish in platform shoes (animal rights aside for a moment)… those are the two that I can think off off the top of my head, but I am sure there are others. Not to mention the clothing and accessories made with a plethora of animal bits and pieces. from full foxes as stoles through to bikinis knitted from dog fur… eh, so many things people come up with!

Anyhow… that is the picture for today. Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don’t actually think a cage on one’s head is a suitable place to raise a bird. Going to bed with such a style would be far too difficult (and messy!).

What to do if faced with a Zombie Jeebus.

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on November 18, 2008

in Cartoon, Digital, Humerous, Portraits and Sketch

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Not a ‘new’ picture, but an extension on the one from yesterday. Lets face it, Zombie Jeebus just rocks, so I had to give him a touch of colour to make him seem more alive. Wait… is that right? Something seems wrong with that previous statement. Well, that aside, ya gotta admit, he does look good for a dead man.

So… what should I write to go with this picture? I kinda covered a lot of it yesterday, so today, I’m just going to cover a couple of extra bits and pieces.

First off, the second coming of Christ is not going to be some divine event where a beam of light peeks through the clouds, with the sound of violins and bluebirds chirping in the trees with the Lord our savior descending with arms outstretched. Keep an eye out at zombie flash mobs. Far more likely. Zombie Jeebus likes to be among his own kind - the sorta-not-really undead.

If you have a Zombie Jeebus chasing you, do not pray. I repeat, do not pray! Zombie Jeebus has a direct tap into the devine phone-line, so if you’ve just found an awesome hiding spot, don’t give it away. Pray, and you become a big fat blip on his radar again. Do you really want to be a blip?

Try to remain calm, and don’t get Zombie Jeebus mixed up with other supernatural entities, like vampires. It has not been tested (that I know of), but showing him a crucifix and flinging holy water on a Zombie Jeebus may actually even -increase- his power. Do you really want to risk it?

In the end, you just have to face the fact that its all one big fat conspiracy. There’s a zombie, a ghost, and a voodoo master who makes people outta clay running the show. That’s who we have in the big house upstairs. If horror movies are anything to go by, that’s probably not a good combination.

Ok, that’s all folks!

Zombie Jeebus wants You!

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on November 17, 2008

in Cartoon, Humerous, Plain Paper and Sketch

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Last night, a friend and I were chatting… about morals, and ethics, and all sorts of other exciting things. It made a detour. It became about the sweet zombie Jeebus. I could rewrite this up properly, but I think it might be best actually, to just provide an edited transcript, with names changed to protect the innocent. Oh, the picture was actually drawn on lined paper, the lines have been chopped out, and he’s in a state where I might actually colour him in sometime on the computer. Ok, onto the transcript!

Kat says:

Now that’s swerved away from the whole moral side of things…. I don’t know whether I would jump in front of a bus to save a kiddley wink - I could speculate, but wouldn’t know until it was that split second…
same with the whole running back into a burning building thing… or going ’save yourselves!’ to the plucky companions as I turn to fight off the killer zombie jebuses chasing us..

Kat’s Plucky Companion says:

*laughs* I’m with you on that. Though I think if it came to killer zombie jebuses, I might be on the side of every man for himself, unless I had a sure-thing killer zombie jebus killer weapon…

Kat says:

chainsaw! Or rather, chainsaw, riot-shield, pepper-spray, and delightfully ironic pointed crosses for spearing at a distance… in the side is best for zombie jeebuses I believe.

Kat’s Plucky Companion says:

*gigglesnorts*

Kat says:

Holy water though: not so much of a threat to the zombie jeebus.
could hurl crowns of thorns like little ninja-stars though…

Kat’s Plucky Companion says:

*laughs* Sulfur could be useful too…

(heh, now I have images of throwing crown-of-thorns starfish like ninja-stars!)

Kat says:

ohhhhhhhh… could throw hanks of bread at them while screaming ‘turn that into fish, will you! I perfer toast!

Kat’s Plucky Companion says:

Remember: moats will not work as a defense against killer zombie jebuses…

Kat says:

*snickers* Note: Keep an eye on the corpses. Zombie Jebuses have been known to raise again three days after death… perhaps even the second time around.

Kat’s Plucky Companion says:

heehee… we are so blasphemous!
*giggles delightfully evilly*

Kat says:

Keep in mind also: Jeebus has been known to raise other people from the dead. That means he is a super-zombie, and should be avoided at all costs if you don’t want to become a zombie too. Jesus saves… your corpse for later.

Kat’s Plucky Companion says:

*uproarious laughter*

Kat says:

Zombie Jeebus: a lesson in persistance. Forty days and forty nights is not a good enough lead if he wants the tast of fleshhhhhhh…. oh… and calling his dad soooo doesn’t work to get him in trouble. Damn man thinks he’s a saint.

Kat’s Plucky Companion says:

*giggles* Terrible!!

Kat says:

Don’t let the halo fool you… zombie jebus wants to convert you… to zombieism!

Kat’s Plucky Companion says:

Owey… tummy hurts from laughing…

Kat says:

I can just imagine the theme music… ‘devil inside, devil inside, every single one of us is a devil inside….’ http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=luobOzreRq4
like the fight scene from shaun of the dead in the bar, with queen playing… but instead, its a room full of the zombie jebuses….

Anyhow, the rest just went on from there. I should really refine that down and turn it into something meaningful. There is some great material in there to play with, certainly! I can certainly see it turning into a ‘Guide to combating the Zombie Jeebus’ or ‘10 things to know when facing the re-risen Messiah’… perhaps even ‘What to do if the Lord our Saviour is after your Braaaaaiiiiinnns’. But really… if you do happen to run into the Zombie Jeebus, you should be ok. Zombies aren’t very smart. Besides, when it all comes down to it, he’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!

Just a random sorta flowery thingie

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on November 16, 2008

in Lined Paper and Sketch

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Today’s post is a little later in the afternoon than I usually post… I blame it on the fact that it is a Sunday. Another picture drawn in green biro: its becoming a habit. Its actually because its the only pen on my actual computer desk at the moment, save for my wacom pen… which, while useful, doesn’t actually draw on paper all that well, being as it only works on the wacom tablet.

Anyhow, today’s picture is just a little something whipped up quickly to go up on here - it was inspired by the dress that I’m wearing today. I’m slumming it around the house in something I’d like to refer to as ‘bedsheet couture’. In other words, light, loose, comfortable and severely unflattering. That said, I, my husband and my brother-in-law are the only people who have to see me in it, therefore, I’m all for the comfort over style! I have the air conditioning on, a light breeze wafting through the room, a good book to get back to… life doesn’t really get much better than this.

Hope y’all are having a great weekend too, I have a book to get back to!

Teddy T. Bear is alive and well.

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on November 15, 2008

in Lined Paper and Sketch

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I’m getting the post out of the way early today, so that I can get back on with the rest of my weekend. The little sketch for today is of a little bear… Teddy T. Bear, in fact. Count your blessings - so far as unoriginal names go, it could go further and be ‘Ted E. Bear’, and I agree that just does take it a step too far to the left. Anyhow, I happen to think he’s cute!

No big story today, or even little one… I think it might be good to take a break from the longer posts on the weekend, to keep me properly limber for the weekdays. Either that, or I’m just being lazy. Probably the latter more than the former. On the up-side, it means that you don’t have to read so much if you do happen to read the posts as well as look at the pretty pretty pictures.

Ok, I’m off to lay down for a bit, then get my wacom set up properly on the computer again! I have photoshop brushes to make.

Just a youth… on the precipice.

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on November 14, 2008

in Lined Paper, Portraits and Sketch

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I was doing a little flick through one of my notebooks and came across this youth, sitting there and looking all cute… so he got scanned in for today! For y’all who haven’t been reading for a while, I find it hard to do profile portraits - they’re just not my thing so much. This one, however, I loved at the time and I still love now. He’s just so adorable and… well… I don’t know. Him, I guess! He doesn’t even have a name. Just a random, gangly youth just sitting on that precipice of adolescence, perhaps being faced with a few tough choices he’s never had to face before… but he’ll come out on top. He’s got a kind heart and a good head on his shoulders. I can almost see him as an adventurer, handed an over-sized sword and a quest to go save a princess of some sort… and lord knows it, but he has no idea where to start. He’d probably just start walking in one direction hoping to stumble onto a dragon to slay, while he tries to think of what the heck he’s going to do.

Anyhow… he’s a cutie and he will get the princess in the end. However, I know for a fact that the princess he is going to find is not going to be the common ‘wailing and whining and waiting to be rescued’ kind. I think he’s going to have his work cut out for him when he finds her! I can envisage her jumping out at him and catching him by surprise soon after she’s conked out the dragon in its nest (or lair?). She’ll have him on his back at knife-point, stammering in the dust in a second flat. And that’s just when the adventure begins…

Cotton-buds everywhere, no culprit in sight.

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on November 13, 2008

in Cartoon, Lined Paper, Portraits and Sketch

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I have a feeling a certain little someone (who will remain nameless… *cough cough* Lolita *cough cough*) is responsible for the current state of my bathroom. You see, I went and had a nice little nap, awoke, and during that time, somebody had strewn the entire contents of a packet of 400 cotton-buds from one side of the room to the other. Not one guilty party seemed to want to own up to it though.

Lets just say that this little picture is my way of drawing what that certain someone might look like if they were human and trying on the ‘oh, wait, there are cotton-buds everywhere in the bathroom? I am just as shocked as you are, and further, I cannot believe that you thought that I might be responsible for this absolute travasty!’ type look. Lolita nails the look as a kitten just fine… and she wouldn’t acutally look like that as a human, I think… but it still gets the point across. It really doesn’t matter how incredibly naughty she is - our Lolita gets away with it every time.

The Last Lecture.

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on November 12, 2008

in Interesting Links, Lined Paper, Owls, Personal and Sketch

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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?