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A Doodle A Day…

Deep in the Forest

Keeps the dentist away? LOL No, that’s not how it goes. No, this post isn’t for one doodle, it’s for a lot of doodles! I’ve been dealing with a broken tooth causing severe nerve pain over the right side of my face, and a lack of my normal 8×10 wood panels to paint on. So what’s an artist to do? Doodle. Familiarizing myself more with my iPad and Adobe Fresco, and just having fun-while also trying not to think about the pain. I finally found a dentist, about 40 minutes away, that takes Delta Dental. So, that’s something, but I don’t see them until the 18th, and since I’m a new patient they probably won’t even do anything that day. But hey, this whole experience has ramped up my creative process, so that is something!

Mushhead

So I keep doodling. I have a surplus of 9×12 wood panels, thanks to repeatedly being sent the wrong size (Arteza please, I love your product so much, but I need those 8×10’s!) but 9×12’s sell slower probably because of the price, but 9×12 uses more paint. They also take 6 scans because though my scanner bed is 9×12, it doesn’t scan the whole glass, so I have to move the painting around to get all the sides, and then photomerge them all in Photoshop. It’s just extra work I’d rather not have to deal with, you know? I’m thankful I made the decision to buy an iPad during times like this, and grateful for Adobe and the ease of using their products like Fresco. I taught myself how to use Photoshop over 20 years ago, so jumping into the Fresco app was super easy.

DJ Meows-A-Lot II

So doodle I do. I am currently addicted to looking at “What day is today” to see what holidays are happening/coming up. It is a nice bit of inspiration for what to paint, since somehow I found myself painting very seasonally, very holiday-oriented themes. Could I paint Halloween every day, all day, every year? Probably, but I think I might lose some people if I did. Honestly I think I’d get bored on the same thing repeatedly.

Attempted Murder

One thing I’m trying is text on designs for t-shirts. It is NOT my forte. Like, at all. I don’t get along with fonts or text. I have access to a library of fonts, thanks to Adobe subs, but I just don’t have the eye for it. I’m not sure if it’s because personally I would never wear a shirt with text on it, or a t-shirt other than to sleep in. I don’t like the look, and maybe that’s partially why I am not great at it? I was watching this video Teepublic suggested not too long ago by a designer Michael Essek, and his thing is text, funny text on art tees. Yeah I learned nothing from it, but I really wanted to.

Not Today

When I make little doodles for a day, like National Lazy Day, I give up with fonts and just write it with my janky lefthanded handwriting. ha! Though, to be fair I did use the same font I used for the crows on this one saying, “Not Today.” I hate it. I don’t know if other people like it, or if they’ll buy it, or if it would just be better without the text. What do you think? I super appreciate any feedback, btw. I think that’s all the doodles I’ll share today, will make another post tomorrow with more that I’ve recently worked on. Don’t forget, click the photos to go the my Teepublic shop if you’re interested in a print or shirt with my art! Thanks <3

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Happy National Cat Day! (and other illustrations!)

Make sure you follow me on Instagram @kilkennycat_art to get first peek at animated digital illustrations I make!

Good Morning!
You know it’s coming…
Autumn bicycle ride.
Autumn kitty in a pumpkin.
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Cat Rainbows and Fireflies!

Hello! Sorry I have been absent as of late, lots of stuff going on, so I’ll try to be better about updating the blog again. I’ve done a couple more digital art pieces for my Society6 and RedBubble Shops. Society6 is getting most of my attention so everything will go up there first, and eventually RedBubble will be updated.

First up are some happy cat rainbows! I saw them specifically for many items on the printing sites, which is why I haven’t painted them with actual paint (acrylics,) which was honestly the whole point of me getting an iPad. Sometimes I have ideas that work best in my mind as digital art, and I can better work with it for placing on all the different items available at Society6. I have painted over a thousand paintings, but you don’t see half of them in the print shops for that reason. They just don’t work or fit right. Anyway, Cat Rainbows! I couldn’t decide which color combo I liked the most, and I got a lot of different likes from others, so I put all 5 up. I stopped myself from doing more color combos…for now. You can find links to specific rainbows by clicking the corresponding rainbow sets shown: Rainbow 1, Rainbow 2, Rainbow 3, Rainbow 4, Rainbow 5.

Since it’s summer and summer in Pennsylvania means fireflies, I decided it was time to do some fireflies and kitties! I will paint something similar to this, or at least I hope to soon! These two black kitties were just surrounded by the lovely fireflies coming out for the season!

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Happy Caturday! Black Cat and Spotted Chicken

Β© Ryan Conners

My newest painting for today! Digital week is over so I thought I’d start back painting with a funky chicken and cat. If you’ve followed my blog for some time, you know I used to have backyard chickens. They were wonderful. Not only because of the fresh eggs, but we raised them from chicks and they were the sweetest and funniest creatures. Puddy cat loved to hang out in the yard while we tended to the chickens.

On a different note, today is also World Goth Day. It’s a running joke in my close circle of friends and family that I’m goth, only because we’ve all been asked so many times by random people if I’m goth. I’m not. Also, I re-did the first version of my Black Cat Lady digital art piece, took away the blue hair, kept the orangey background from the second version, and put the black button up blouse back on her. So that version is also available in my Society6 Shop now. I figured she’s kind of apropos for today. =)

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Happy Feline Friday! New Art: Black Cat Lady

Β© Ryan Conners

I’m pretty sure I thought the same thing last Friday but, how is it Friday again?! This week has flown by. I think this is going to conclude my “digital art only” week because I’m not sure I can go a Caturday without painting with acrylics. I have had a lot of fun getting more used to creating art on the iPad vs traditional painting. This is how I started, teaching myself Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightwave 3D, and 3D Studio Max during my down time working as in IT in the Navy. Of course I’ll still create digital art in my down time from painting, but I won’t focus a whole week on it…I don’t think. Well, we’ll see. I hope you have enjoyed my pieces this week! I had a lot of fun making them. As always, all the new digital art pieces are available on a variety of items in my Society6 Shop!

Ok before I end this post, I have a request. I started this more as a self-portrait with my typical attire and might have made my hair a little more blue than black-but that was totally to separate it from the cats and top. Anyway, I thought it was too much, and I needed to brighten it up, hence the orange. My Mom insists she likes the original darker version, what say you? Leave me a comment below with which you like more! Also I didn’t add a background to the first one since I changed it completely.Β 

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Mid Century TV Cat

I’m going to blame this idea on all of the Urbex channels I watch on Youtube. It’s amazing and sad how many ‘time capsules’ are left to rot. Houses left fully furnished, as though the owners just walked out. Most of the time I don’t hear the back story on the homes, either Urbexers don’t want to share for safety of the property reasons, or they just don’t know. Either way, the amount of neat old televisions left behind left an imprint on me…”Put a cat on it!” Today’s illustration then happened.

Deciding if I liked the light cast or not.

As a side note, I love to live vicariously through these urban and abandoned explorers. I once drove about 3 hours north to Dansville, NY to go explore an abandoned site, but upon arrival noticed all the sheriff’s notices to keep out. I called the sheriff and asked for permission to photograph and he was super nice, said he would if it was theirs, but it was privately owned. I’d make a terrible explorer. The second I see “no trespassing” I leave. hehe. I’ll link below the Jackson Sanatorium that I went to explore. Sadly I only got a few photos from a distance.

Jackson Sanatorium
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New Digital Art: The Yogurt Thief

Willow, actual yogurt thief.

My cats don’t eat ‘people’ food, and even though I paint a lot of cats drinking coffee, tea, boba, etc., that’s more about me and my obsession with coffee. I can sit down and enjoy a meal without kitties staring me down, willing me to feed them what delicious food is in front of me…unless it’s yogurt. Yogurt or skyr. My cats (specifically Willow) go nuts over these things and I’m not 100% sure why. If yogurt is left unattended for a even a second, Willow is there stealing a lick. So that is the inspiration for the latest piece of digital art I created for this week. The Yogurt Thief.Β 

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Monday & Tuesday New Digital Illustrations

One of my favorite photos of my Puddy cat before he passed was “Sleeping Puddy, Paper Cranes.” I have painted versions of it a couple times and decided to do a digital version. This time it’s Wally Bear going on an adventure!

I drew out these cafetiΓ¨re images on the iPad last year and never did anything with them, so I decided to add more colors for a print. As a coffee-lover, I’d actually hang this in my own kitchen. =)

Of course, I can’t not do a cat with coffee, so here’s a ginger kitty drawn after my Rosebud, with some glasses and coffee!

I have a few other illustrations in the works for this week of “not painting” with traditional paints. It’s actually been rather difficult because I have ideas for paintings, but for now those just get scribbled into a sketchbook for later. Are there any themes you’d like to see me draw for this digital week? Let me know in the comments below!

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Sunday Illustrations

All shelves are now full of paintings. This photo is from December…

Looking at my cabinet that holds my 8″x10″ and 9″ x 12″ paintings, it’s filled up pretty well! So because there are so many paintings, I’m going to take today and probably next week and work on illustrations on the iPad. Here are two that I just finished: A Halloween colored pattern with lots of kitties and one spooky little ghost that snuck in, and my favorite subject Tuxie Cat with Coffee. =)