HOME | DD

Description
This artwork is now available as a free Coloring Page !

We have another seasonal kitty to add to the RedBubble shop

I admittedly just really wanted to make a cute Christmas kitty design, and a kitten poking his head out of a gift box was the first idea that came to mind, so I ran with it.

Unfortunately, I did make the mistake here that I've made a couple of times before of making my sketch so that I couldn't transfer the sketch directly on to the paper I wanted to do the final on. So I had to make an unpolished version of the lines on a separate piece of paper and then use that to make the lines for the final. I don't like having to do that, but it worked out well enough.

I knew right away that I wanted the box to be red and green, but I hadn't yet decided on the cat color. So I went forward and selected my colors for that and colored that part in. And I know the coloring/shading on the big part of the box isn't super smooth; I knew going in that it would be tricky to get that area to blend smoothly before I started, so I made my peace with that knowledge before I got started. And in a way, I don't really mind it that much since it kinda just looks like the texture of the box.

This was also my first time drawing and shading a present bow like this and that turned out much better than I expected.

By that point, I had been leaning towards gray for the kitty. I just wasn't sure if I wanted to make him a solid gray or a gray-tabby, as most gray kitties I've encountered in my life tend to have a tabby print more often than not. But I also knew the tabby print would be harder to capture correctly, as is was when did the orange tabby for Pumpkitten Spice Latte .

After a few test colorings of various tabby techniques (much like I did also for the orange tabby) I tentatively decided to make the kitty solid gray, with the knowledge that if I changed my mind it wouldn't be too hard to add tabby stripes on top.

And sure enough, after much struggle to get the shading with just the gray (no stripes) that's exactly what I wanted to do.

Just in case though, I scanned it in without the stripes first. Because if I have learned nothing else from my two tabby attempts and the many practice pieces I've done between them, it's that it's almost impossible to make the stripes the same way twice, and there's no guarantee they're going to turn out right, even after multiple tries.

Fortunately, I'd say these stripes turned out pretty good. Evidently, they turned out well enough that I'm comfortable with and posting the version with stripes.

I am also happy to report that the Winsor and Newton brush markers didn't appear to smudge this Micron ink at any point during this process; I used only their grays for the kitty working around the thick line art. I was a little concerned about that after how much they smudged my cobalt Copic Multiliner the first time I tested them out . I'm beginning to wonder if it was something about the multiliner ink in particular that caused that? I'm not sure.

Either way, he turned out really cute and I'm quite happy with him.

And a plus is that this design can easily be re-worked (digitally or traditionally) with different colors to make different kitties for different occasions since it's as simple as it is. I haven't decided when and if I'm actually going to do that, but it's nice to have the option! (Purrhaps if I have the time I might make it into a coloring page too; it's simple and cute so it'd probably be fun as one, right?)

Until then, I do have one other Christmas kitty design sketched out that I plan on taking to completion, and a couple of other unrelated ideas in the works, so stayed tuned.

Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings

Where to find me & my artwork:
My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

Description
This artwork is now available as a free Coloring Page !

We have another seasonal kitty to add to the RedBubble shop

I admittedly just really wanted to make a cute Christmas kitty design, and a kitten poking his head out of a gift box was the first idea that came to mind, so I ran with it.

Unfortunately, I did make the mistake here that I've made a couple of times before of making my sketch so that I couldn't transfer the sketch directly on to the paper I wanted to do the final on. So I had to make an unpolished version of the lines on a separate piece of paper and then use that to make the lines for the final. I don't like having to do that, but it worked out well enough.

I knew right away that I wanted the box to be red and green, but I hadn't yet decided on the cat color. So I went forward and selected my colors for that and colored that part in. And I know the coloring/shading on the big part of the box isn't super smooth; I knew going in that it would be tricky to get that area to blend smoothly before I started, so I made my peace with that knowledge before I got started. And in a way, I don't really mind it that much since it kinda just looks like the texture of the box.

This was also my first time drawing and shading a present bow like this and that turned out much better than I expected.

By that point, I had been leaning towards gray for the kitty. I just wasn't sure if I wanted to make him a solid gray or a gray-tabby, as most gray kitties I've encountered in my life tend to have a tabby print more often than not. But I also knew the tabby print would be harder to capture correctly, as is was when did the orange tabby for Pumpkitten Spice Latte .

After a few test colorings of various tabby techniques (much like I did also for the orange tabby) I tentatively decided to make the kitty solid gray, with the knowledge that if I changed my mind it wouldn't be too hard to add tabby stripes on top.

And sure enough, after much struggle to get the shading with just the gray (no stripes) that's exactly what I wanted to do.

Just in case though, I scanned it in without the stripes first. Because if I have learned nothing else from my two tabby attempts and the many practice pieces I've done between them, it's that it's almost impossible to make the stripes the same way twice, and there's no guarantee they're going to turn out right, even after multiple tries.

Fortunately, I'd say these stripes turned out pretty good. Evidently, they turned out well enough that I'm comfortable with and posting the version with stripes.

I am also happy to report that the Winsor and Newton brush markers didn't appear to smudge this Micron ink at any point during this process; I used only their grays for the kitty working around the thick line art. I was a little concerned about that after how much they smudged my cobalt Copic Multiliner the first time I tested them out . I'm beginning to wonder if it was something about the multiliner ink in particular that caused that? I'm not sure.

Either way, he turned out really cute and I'm quite happy with him.

And a plus is that this design can easily be re-worked (digitally or traditionally) with different colors to make different kitties for different occasions since it's as simple as it is. I haven't decided when and if I'm actually going to do that, but it's nice to have the option! (Purrhaps if I have the time I might make it into a coloring page too; it's simple and cute so it'd probably be fun as one, right?)

Until then, I do have one other Christmas kitty design sketched out that I plan on taking to completion, and a couple of other unrelated ideas in the works, so stayed tuned.

Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings

Where to find me & my artwork:
My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram