Of course: Chaos Cat
“The holes in the armor should have fluff coming through them.”
Tues, Nov 19, 2024
First, an enormous thank you to all (all 12 of you heroes - as of this writing the actual number!) who have so far subscribed to my substack. An equally big thanks to the select of the elite of the few of the not many who have upgraded to paid subscriptions, even though it’s a mystery - to all of us - what you will get!
Mom, thank you, but I told you to cancel your paid subscription, you don’t need to, you’re my mom.
For anyone (other than mom) on that barbed wire fence thinking:
“Hmm…do I subscribe to David’s substack, or do I not, and abandon the last shreds of mirth that knit together my art-starved soul? What I really crave to launch me over to the green* pastures of Substack subscription is crossover animal art / fantasy wargaming content…”
*($$$)
…this is for you.
“You should draw this battle!” - said my friend mid-WH40k game, Chaos and Ultramarine plastic miniatures littering the custom game-table before us, all beautifully hand-painted. I grabbed a purple/pink ArtX Flagstaff Thermoptic Color-Change pencil and began, as it had been my goal for the evening to drink and do nothing while my friends played Warhammer draw the battle, but something was amiss. I sketched some loose outlines, lost interest. My friend’s innocuous gray cat, Odi, seemed about as interested as I was in the outcome of the drawing.
Looking at Odi’s magnificently apathetic expression, his wide yellow and black eyes nestled in smoke gray fur, I had a new drawing mission. Of course: Chaos Cat.
I love things that are stupid. The issue with a straight drawing of the game was, it just wasn’t… stupid enough.
I also love hardcore representational drawing, straining at what I’m seeing with my full attention, trying to take reality as I observe it and deliver as much of that reality as I can with a pencil to paper. There’s plenty of that on my website, if you’re into that sort of thing. Here’s an example from Sunday, a current best-effort to draw the figure over a three hour pose at Gage Academy’s Open Studios.
“The holes in the armor should have fluff coming through them”, my friend added, and so they do.
Other easter eggs in Chaos Cat:
The cat himself, Odi, isn’t very chaotic, as cats go, but you have to imagine that most Chaos Space Cats started out as regular Space Cats, before they were corrupted in their dedication to the Ruinous Powers.
His breastplate has a cat skull and little kitty paws clutching a fish skeleton.
He has a teeny tiny cute respirator, and you can still see his cute little mouth through it.
This breed of cat is known for their distinctive “M” pattern on their foreheads.
Odi really looks like this - his portrait was drawn mostly from life.
