Thanks to the internet, cats have ruled the world wide web. Among extreme cat lovers, Saturdays have now become ‘Caturdays.’
Here’s my Caturday sketch, featuring none other than Squeaky Squeakums. She’s the star of my new upcoming mini-comic, which should be released soon. The idea for this character came from doing the Inktober 2018 challenge. Here she’s serving tea to a certain creature.
Squeaky Squeakums serving some tea. Drawn by Michele Witchipoo. Nov. 2018.
I’m having a lot of fun drawing these two new characters. More characters will reveal themselves soon. Happy Caturday!
Will be releasing a new mini-comic very soon, on WitchesBrewPress. Okay, that’s my own ‘imprint.’ This mini-comic, featuring Squeaky Squeakums will be in print and available at the next comic con. Ordering information will be posted when the comic is available.
Looks like I’m not going to make the entire Inktober 2018 challenge. I was trying to finish up my latest comic, plus life got in the way. It happens. Something came out of these Inktober sketches. My cat Squeaky, became my muse. So I put Psycho Bunny aside and did a brand new story based on her. The idea came organically thanks to these Inktober prompts, in which Squeaky became my art model .
The new comic was supposed to debut at IncrediCon, which happened this past Sunday. The artwork itself is completed. It’ll be ready for the next comic con.
Anyway. Here’s Squeaky doing her usual thing. Demanding food as the clock is ticking. After all, Squeaky must eat! Here’s Inktober sketch number 14, prompt ‘clocks.’ The latest Psycho Bunny sketch of the week will be posted very soon.
Inktober 2018, prompt # 14: Clocks. Squeaky Squeakums demanding her food. Drawn by Michele Witchipoo Oct. 2018.
Squeaky Squeakums, my female tuxedo cat has become my Inktober muse. Despite her quirky habit of stealing my art pens.
It must be some kind of hunting instinct. Many times she’s proudly meow as she carries one of my drawing pens in her mouth. Then as she claims herself victorious, she drops the pen on the floor. She’s also hid my pens inside slippers. It’s both annoying and cute. Annoying because it’s usually one of my good pens she swipes. Cute because I haven’t seen any other cat do this, and besides. Who can get mad at that face?
Continuing with the theme of Inktober 2018 prompts six, seven and eight is prompt number nine – precious. As always, Squeaky Squeakums is being precious. Even while she’s hording my precious art pens.
Way behind in my Inktober sketches. Yet I might’ve found a muse with my tuxedo cat Squeaky Squeakums. This bi-color female has already been the subject of Inktober 2019 prompts number six and seven. Squeaky is the star yet again with Inktober 2018 prompt number eight – star.
Inktober 2018 prompt number eight – star. Starring non other than Squeaky Squeakums. Sketch by Michele Witchipoo. Pen, ink, marker. Oct. 2018.
Stay tuned to see if I can pump out more Inktober work.
Life outside the internet got busy again. Which means I’m behind in my Inktober 2018 sketches. Many people are up to day 14. I’m only up to day 7. Eh, what can you do.
Continuing from the theme between the Inktober 2018 prompts, and with my own cat Squeaky Squeakums, Inktober sketch number seven picks up where Inktober number six left off.
In other words, Squeaky ate the whole chicken.
The cat in a gluttonous state, overate. She’s now in a food coma, completely exhausted.
The little demon hiding in the woods snickers.
Here’s Inktober 2018 prompt # 7: exhausted.
Inktober 2018 prompt 7: exhausted. Sketch by Michele Witchipoo Oct. 2018. Pen and ink.
Stay tuned. There will be more forthcoming Inktober 2018 sketches, and the weekly Psycho Bunny post.
Still trying to catch up on the Inktober 2018 sketches. Revisiting a subject I’ve drawn before – Squeaky Squeakums.
Squeaky is a female tuxedo cat I adopted in 2009. She came from a household that basically had too many cats. The other cats would gang up on her. Poor Squeaky had to hide. In the meantime the other cats would steal her food, prevent her from using the litterbox, etc. By the time she was rescued, Squeaky was skin and bones. Both her fur and eyes were dull. Such a sad cat. She didn’t even have a proper name. As it turned out, Squeaky also needed major cat dental surgery – which her previous humans failed to inform us about. That wasn’t cool. After her dental operation though, Squeaky was a brand new cat. Now she’s quite vocal, friendly, and extremely loyal. She’s intelligent as well. Despite being a pen thief.
One thing she never did get over though, was lack of food. Squeaky has something known as “food panic.” She’ll eye your dinner like prey as you vainly try to eat your meal in peace. Therefore Squeaky must eat!
Squeaky Loves To Eat! Pencil sketch from 2011. Drawn by Michele Witchipoo
As I’m doing these Inktober sketches, it was time for prompt number six; drooling. So here’s an updated version. Titled ‘Squeaky’s Torment.’ It’s tormenting especially for her. For the time being, we had to ban Squeaky from human food scraps, as they’re not good for her overall health.
Inktober Oct 2018 sketch. Prompt: Drooling. Drawn by Michele Witchipoo.
“I stayed at home on the Fourth of July
And I pulled the shades so I didn’t have to see the sky
And I decided to have a Bed In
But I forgot to invite anybody”
– “Fouth of July”, a song from the 1990 album “This Is Our Music” by Galaxie 500.
Those following lyrics that I just quoted…that’s exactly what I did today. I stayed at home for the Fourth of July. Not complaining though, ’cause I was working on some forthcoming stories. One is for the next season of Shitty Mickey, the webcomic I’m doing with writer extraordinaire John Reed. The other story is for a future comicbook anthology.
Lady Gaga on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, July 2010.
I only stepped outside once today from my apartment. Got my usual iced coffee and the latest issue of Rolling Stone, which I haven’t read in a hot minute. On the cover was Lady Gaga adorned in riffle gun glory. Ted Nugget would be jealous. The current cover price for Rolling Stone circa 2010 is $5.99. Made me wax nostalgic for the days when comics were $1.oo, and music magazines were $2.00 -$3.00 a pop. Not gonna lie; during my ‘tween’ years I wasted my allowance way more on music magazines than on comics. You see, I went from Harvey comic titles straight into Rock and 80s New Wave. Later on I became a serious comic fan thanks to Love and Rockets.
Safe to say that if I was a teen today, I would probably skip publications like Rolling Stone and go straight for graphic novels. For starters, most new music is utter crap. Knowing me, I would probably be the only kid in junior high who would know, for example, who The Gossip is. That’s exactly what my tastes would most likely gyrate to. Like back then, I was the only kid into bands like (early) The B-52s, Devo, Bow Wow Wow, etc. And I watched reruns of Doctor Who, when Tom Baker was king. So most likely, if I was a kid now, I would probably go online and order graphic novels from Amazon. I mean…$5.99 for Rolling Stone? And where’s my hommie, Hunter S. Thompson? No thanks.
Anyway, a few hours later, the boyfriend starts digging through his Captain America back issue slash. For the occasion, he showed this particular one:
Captain America 1976. Marvel Treasury Edition. Artwork by Jack Kirby.
Wow, this took me back. For those who don’t know, the Marvel Treasury Editions were oversized comics popular in the 1970s. Usually it had the legendary characters like The Hulk, Conan, Thor, as well as the lesser known ones like The Defenders and Luke Cage. DC had oversized comics too, but for today we’ll focus on the Marvel stuff. Oh, and btw, you know you were made in the 1970s when you landed your very own Marvel Treasury Edition. The infamous rock band Kiss had their very own edition. So if you translate this into today’s terms, no doubt Lady Gaga would have one to call her own.
The films of the days got their own Marvel Treasury adaptations as well. I can fondly recall getting my Star Wars copy, thanks to mom. Strange, I have no idea whatever happened to that issue. Actually, I can’t really recall whether I had issue one or issue two, but I did own a Star Wars edition.
Star Wars Issue One. Marvel Treasury Edition.
You learn something new everyday. I just found out that Stanely Kubrick’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey” also reached Treasury status. Bet you it must be really trippy.
2001: A Space Odyssey. Marvel Treasury Edition. Artwork by Jack Kirby.
Years later as an adult, I got a Treasury edition of Howard The Duck. Picked this one up last year at the Boston Comic Con.
Howard The Duck, Marvel Treasury Edition.
Back to the Captain American issue. The artwork was done by the man himself, Jack Kirby. Check out the back cover featuring Uncle Sam (which Cap affectionately just calls ‘Sam’) and a funky inside splash page. The back cover is particularly fetching since Jack Kirby was a veteran of World War II.
Captain America Back Cover, Marvel Treasury Edition. Art by Jack Kirby. 1976Funky splash page. Captain America, Marvel Treasury Edition. Art by Jack Kirby. 1976.
Sorry about not being able to fit the full size of these Marvel Editions onto my scanner. These Marvel Treasuries are of course, oversized. Then again, its “fitting” to say that nothing’s more American than being ‘oversized.’ The only difference between these and let’s say a McDonald’s ‘Supersize’ meal is that these comics were much more healthier. Plus comics last longer. You never have to worry about sequential art infecting your colon while leaving behind unwanted calories. So there.
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