It Eventually Gets A Haircut Too.

Had the lineart for this sitting in my iPad for several months and decided to just bite the bullet and complete it last week. Here be my current versions of Ahadi and Uru with their currently three kids, Mufasa, Taka, and Jamaa. (I’m on the fence about giving them more kids.) Given that he’s just a scruffier Mufasa, I decided to make Simba’s uncle from An Unusual Choir biologically related to him through Mufasa.

I’m also really in love with the idea of Ahadi having a bi-colored mane where at least one of the colors doesn’t match those of his sons. As for where Mufasa gets his red mane from, well Taka/Scar’s and Uru’s mane/tail tufts are actually an extremely dark and saturated red, so I figured Ahadi’s much lighter mane would give Mufasa his red one. Or maybe it’s a recessive trait on Uru’s side of the family. In some scans of The Brightest Star, Mohatu’s mane is reddish.

The green eyes and brown nose are definitely recessive traits from Uru.

The owner/manager of the thrift store Octávio and Camry work at. I wanted to design a character who spent their adolescence and young adulthood in the early goth scene and never left it behind. Well at least the fashion and music; they’ve mellowed out a bit in the new millennium.

[Image Description: A sketch of an anthropomorphic cat standing up. The character has a striped brown and white face, white feet and hands, and a bushy dark brown tail. She is wearing a plaid green button-up shirt and loose jeans. End of Description]

Another anthro feline I drew up on a whim. Her physical traits I determined by randomization. She’s supposed to be a longhaired seal mink and white tabby with a less than plausible eye color. As with my last cat character, I don’t have many ideas for her yet.

I highly doubt that I'm going to be or have been impersonated, but just in case, I am not taking commissions at the moment.

Scammer Targeting Tumblr Artists

The title says it all really. So if nothing else, please share and reblog this post to raise awareness for those that might be caught out - both artists and followers. For a TL:DR, please look at the bottom of the post

What is happening?

Right now, there is at least one person actively impersonating multiple artists across tumblr in an effort to scam their followers into paying for fake ‘cheap commissions’. The scammer will clone a tumblr, usually using a slight change to the url/account name to look like the real deal. They will then message people directly through Tumblr with messages along the lines of “Hey, i’m doing cheap commissions right now. DM me to get one”. Naturally, this is ends up just being a way to take their money without giving anything back in return.

Who does this affect?

Everyone. Simple as that. As long as the scammer in question works unopposed, they are free to spread their influence and continue to scam more people. Even if you haven’t been targeted yet, it does not mean you are safe or immune. Several artists have already fallen victim to this scammer, and I encourage any artists that have to reblog this post with the details of their affected account(s) and the ones the scammer has set up.

How can we stop this?

Tumblr, like many other social media platforms, seems to care very little about ‘minor’ occurences like this one, and despite reaching out directly to them over a week ago through multiple avenues of contact - they have refused to comment on the situation, provide a recommended response for users, or take action on behalf of those already affected. Despite this, there are still tools at our disposal that we can use to make this scam more difficult, and to increase its visibility to those within Tumblr staff that are required by policy to take action. Tumblr has the following to say on the topic of impersonation: Confusion or Impersonation. Don’t do things that would cause confusion between you or your blog and a person or company, like registering a deliberately confusing URL. Don’t impersonate anyone. While you’re free to ridicule, parody, or marvel at the alien beauty of Benedict Cumberbatch, you can’t pretend to actually be Benedict Cumberbatch. They then provide a link to this online form that you can fill out if you suspect someone’s identity is being confused. Unfortunately, this can only be filled out if you are the victim of impersonation. In other words, only the artists can fill this out legitimately. So, what about the followers and users of tumblr whom aren’t being impersonated? Our most valuable tool in this online platform is the platform itself. It enables us to spread our word near-virally across all the many sub-communities on Tumblr with remarkable efficiency for a user-driven system. We can take advantage of that effect to increase awareness of the situation. Even if you - the one reading this right now - aren’t an artist or don’t know an artist, the act of reblogging this post or sharing it directly with friends improves it’s ‘ranking’ in popularity increasing its chances to be seen by more people. We don’t need everyone on Tumblr to see the post for it to be effective, just like we don’t need the entirety of the human population of the world to be immune to a disease for that disease to be rendered ineffective or eradicated. If enough people are aware, the likelihood of pulling off a successful scam increases dramatically reducing efficiency to a point that it no longer becomes profitable to continue.

Why should I care?

It disheartens me to say this, but of the many artists I contacted directly over the past week to warn about this issue many of them refused to listen or dodged the responsibility with lines like;

“I’m not being impersonated, so it doesn’t affect me”

“I’m just one person. I can’t make an impact”

“I need to take care of my community. Other people can look after theirs”

This is honestly disappointing that so many artists or art-rebloggers care so little as to intentionally wave the responsibility of keeping their followers and fellow artists safe from this, that they cannot spare 10 seconds of their time to share an informative post. I’m not here to bash artists, but it is time that everyone takes responsibility for their own communities, and of those around them. Artists: You have a responsibility to ensure that your followers and fans aren’t being abused by someone who may impersonate you. If they succeed, your reputation will be damaged, and your followers will resent you. Your followers are also almost guaranteed to be following other artists meaning your efforts can spread beyond your own circle of influence, so don’t be naive when you think you have little effect. Followers: You have just as much responsibility to be aware of those that might try to scam you or your fellow followers. Don’t just sit in silence when you see something wrong: Ignoring the issue only makes it more resilient to our efforts to stop it. You are the vocal majority if you just use your voices to be heard!

TL:DR

A scammer is impersonating artists and scamming money from their followers under the guise of ‘cheap commissions’. If we ignore the issue, it will get worse. Every single person that reads this can afford to spend just 10 seconds to reblog and share this post. Those 10 seconds can save others from being scammed for hundreds of dollars. Reblog & Share

Had this old drawing of Matonne sitting on my tablet for some bigger project, but decided to scale it back to a more proper ref sheet.

[[Image Description: The image is the reference sheet of a furry brown humanoid character. This character has the head of a rabbit, the tail of a lion, and the legs of a horse. They are shown in four different outfits.

The info on the sheet is: Name: Matonne Pronouns: She/Her and He/Him Birth Year: 1998 Orientation: Bisexual Gender: Female-Male Genderfluid Likes: Hot dogs, cupcakes, ducks, and books DIYed about half her wardrobe Works as a drag king and freelance fashion model Cannot stand the smell of flowers Loves comics and animation End of Description]]

[Image Description: Drawing of a sitting cat with curly, grey fur. Above the cat is a drawing of their face from the front. Below the cat is the word “Graystripe”. End of Description.]

Took me a while to fully figure out Graystripe’s design. Originally, I was going to give the rex coat to Firestar’s family, but then in terms of personality, I feel curly fur better fits the comedian of the OG apprentices.

[Image Description: A drawing of a golden lioness laying down on a rock with a peach lion cub laying near her front legs. End of Description]

I’ve been watching a lot of Drawfee and The Lion Guard lately, so I was inspired to experiment with brushes by drawing Malka and his mother, who I’ve named Tafuta. The background I am not proud of, but the main drawing I quite like.

Suburban Wyvern Wrangling

An intro I wrote over a year ago for a story I’ll likely never get around to continuing, at least not for a long while. I’m still pretty proud of this though so, thought I might as well post it. (And yes, I know the title sucks.)

Chasing after a dragon in the edge of town was the last thing Latisha wanted to be doing at 9pm.

She could be resting at home, watching some adorable parrot videos on her phone, but no, she just had to get a call from her boss telling her how there had been sightings of a cat-sized, lizard bat soaring over Minchester Park. She could be driving to her job’s local office to drop off the creature, but no, it just had to be a skittish wild dragon, rather than a more approachable domesticated one. She could be tackling the reptile to the ground right now, but no, it just had to be a British wyvern, one of the swiftest species out there. How in the world did a British wyvern even get to central Indiana? At least it was a dwarf species. But then again, if it were any larger, then a fully-equipped cryptid-catching team would have been called in to capture the beast instead of a single woman in an old hoodie.

Well, fuck then.

But Tish didn’t have time to dwell on that any further. She had to focus on catching up to the beast while maneuvering between lamp posts and flowering trees. She swerved around a picnic table, not taking her eyes off the dragon for even a second. This creature was fast, remaining a few strides ahead of her, and it didn’t show any signs that it would be landing soon. Tish silently pleaded that it would at least descend a bit just to give her neck a break from craning upwards.

The powers that be must have heard her pleas and decided to troll her, because the dragon ended up soaring past the entry arch of the park and straight into someone’s neighboring yard. It wasn’t just any yard though. It was one of those thousand square foot yards with a mansion-esque house in the middle of it.

“Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!” Tish groaned as she skidded to a halt. There was no way she could trespass on such lavish private property and get away with it. Even though it may have been nighttime in a part of town where most residents would be in bed by now, she still imagined the homeowners wouldn’t take kindly to finding a black woman in dusty attire sneaking through their property in search of an animal that, as far as they knew, was as fictional as magic wands.

Maybe the residents were hidumans and not visumans, and she could explain the situation to them. Oh, who was she kidding, the nearest hidumans who could afford to live in an apartment-complex-sized house most likely lived in Chicago, not in the suburbs of central Indiana. Tish knew that if the dragon remained over there much longer, there was going to be some sort of a ruckus tonight, no matter what action she chose to take.

Tish darted back and forth along the edge of the park, mirroring the dragon as it zigzagged over the lawn. Pushing back a few stray curls from her face, she took a quick glance at the digital watch on her wrist. It was 9:06. If she didn’t capture this dragon soon, she may end up having to just leave it behind. British wyverns were passive enough that she didn’t mind leaving it be, where it would at worst only spook a few people. What Tish didn’t want was a stern reprimand from her boss and $300 less in her paycheck for all her trouble. Considering how low the dragon was flying now, she may end up having to do so.

Much to her luck, surprise, and relief, the dragon ended up swooping out of the property, gliding towards the adjacent sidewalk. Tish immediately sprinted onto the walkway. The wyvern began slowing down as it continued to descend, allowing Tish to close the distance between her and the beast. A few moments later, it finally landed in a field of tall grasses bordering the sidewalk.

As soon as the creature had set foot on land, Tish crouched low to the ground. Her steps were now soft and slow as she snuck up on the dragon. The wyvern folded up its wings and sat down to rest, unaware that its pursuer was still nearby. Latisha crept ever closer to it, pausing for a moment after each step. She could not afford for it to go flying off again, not when it was only a few feet in front of her now.

When she had reached the edge of the sidewalk, Tish leaped onto the creature, pinning it down by the back with her hands. The dragon frantically flapped its wings and flailed its tail, letting out a shrill, falcon-like cry. Tish kept her head raised. Though dragons may not have been able to actually breathe fire, their strong tail whips sure felt as fiery as any blaze.

She turned her left arm onto the entirety of the dragon’s back, freeing up her right hand. Fumbling through the top pocket of her cargo shorts, she retrieved a small plastic packet. Tish secured one side of the packet firmly between her teeth, keeping her grip on it with her hand. With both her head and her hand, she yanked both sides of the plastic, tearing it in two. She quickly pulled out the sticky, white pad inside, letting the plastic casing fall to the ground.

As quickly and gently as she could with it struggling, Tish turned the dragon on its side, exposing its underbelly. She placed the pad on this softer region of its body and pressed down to ensure it remained secure. After a few seconds, the dragon’s movements steadily slowed and its cry became softer. Its entire body gradually became more limp, until it fell asleep. The only sounds and movements it made were those of its breathing.

The woman took a sigh of relief. Retying the headwrap holding up her hair, she took the moment to enjoy having finally caught the elusive creature.

She then turned around the baby sling she had wrapped around her body so that the carrying part of it rested just below her breasts. Supporting the dragon by its head and back, she lifted it up and snuggly cradled it into the sling. Ideally, Tish would have brought the containment box with her, but after the first few times she’d done so, she quickly learned that trying to wrangle in cryptids with a giant box in her hands only made the chase and capture more difficult.

Tish checked over the dragon to make sure that it was tightly tucked in and that its nose wasn’t obscured before getting back on her feet. She checked her watch once again: 9:15.

Looks like I’m going to have to run back to the car as well. Wait?

Where did I park again?

'Donuts — Blue Background' Contrast Tank by Kat A.

• Also buy this artwork on apparel, phone cases, home decor, and more.

[Image Description: Photo of a person from the waist up. The person is looking at the viewer and smiling. They are wearing a pale blue tank top with a pattern of donuts in various colors on it. End of Image Description.]

A little something I’ve been working on for the past 2 weeks. Since I love fashion and patterns made up of “unconventional” components, thought I’d try my hand at making something like that. It’s nothing spectacular, and I don’t expect much to become of it, but it was nice to try out.

Weirdly Specific Artist Ask Game

Didn't see a lot of artist ask games, wanted to make a silly one.

(I wrote this while sick out of my mind last year and it's been collecting dust in my drafts, I might as well let it run free) 1. Art programs you have but don't use

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even)

3. What ideas come from when you were little

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

9. What are your file name conventions

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what

12. Easiest part of body to draw

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing

14. Any favorite motifs

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth)

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.)

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any

23. Do you use different layer modes

24. Do your references include stock images

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated