Tag: dangerous cute

I also did a holiday pic for Dangerous Cute today… and it is REALLY cute, I think. Can’t wait to post it T~T 

Why cats?

Cats are not my favorite animal. HOWEVER, they translate REALLY WELL into comic form because they are easy to draw, easily recognizable, and very easy to emote with because their entire body is made of a liquid-rubber substance. With fur.

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They are also very entertaining to watch and get to know… Cats can act as cool and calm as they want, but they are such slaves to instinct and they need people way more than they pretend to. Really, they’re a great analog for human life and relationships, which is perfect for a comic about my very human life portrayed by anthropomorphic animals. 

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Exaggerating expressions and reactions is helpful for cartoon art; it’s more believable than the very subtle expressions that real people generally use in normal situations. But since drawings are symbols, the opportunity to really sell the emotion is there. Cats alternate between the extremes naturally already, so why not?! 

Plus fuzzy things are great. 

why the scar on gabkitty’s cheek?

THIS… is actually asked a lot. It’s not a scar, it’s just a marking that would not normally occur in actual animals. At least, not asymmetrically like that. 

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It IS a reference, though, as most of the designs in Dangerous Cute are… and no, it’s not the Nike swoosh, it’s actually the scar on Ashitaka’s cheek from Princess Mononoke. Ashitaka is one of my favorite characters of all time… I wish I was as badass and as good a person as he is. 

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This is also not the first time that I’ve used that scar as a symbol in character design, either… Back when I roleplayed on Pokemorph MUSH all the time, I had a character named Laura who was a reverse-morph Sandshrew, and had a similar scar. 

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She was fun to play and had, of course, a super angsty backstory… I’ve since recycled her for use (as her original human self) in other stories; notably as one of Bunny’s cabin mates in my current novel, The Champions of Summer. She also shows up as a minor character in the garbage aLDfM project. She does not, incidentally, reflect the ideals and personality of Ashitaka. Alas! 

So there you go!