Sketching from my new little book “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” by T. S. Eliot, illustrated by Edward Gorey.
I used to watch a show on Public Television that was called Mystery Theatre and the introduction to the show used animated illustrations by Edward Gorey. I’ll never forget his style and I really liked that intro, I found a clip of it on YouTube, click here to go to it. And there’s a second one with a few different scenes, click here to see those. It really brings back memories! So when I saw this book for sale on Abebooks I just had to get it, not just for the illustrations but I was curious to read the poems by T. S. Eliot.
I did a whole page of cats based on the illustrations in the book.
I had fun sketching the cats from this book because they’re whimsical and all done in ink. The difficult thing is I did the sketches in the car while Gary was driving, do you know how curvy (and bumpy) the roads are here?! It was hard to draw! So it was when I got home that I went over the pencil drawings with permanent ink pen.
What a great expression! Cat #1 after Gorey.
Above is the first cat I did after Gorey. Though the cats were pretty simple I did learn some things by studying Gorey’s illustrations. I really like the way the pattern on his back looks and the close ink lines to shade him. The eyes I did on the cats are a little bit different, you can’t help adding your own take on things.
Cat #2, pretty simple, love those eyes and whiskers!
Cat #2 was a simple black one, I liked the whiskers and eyes and how he looked on that curved ball. In the book he was actually on top of a pillar with a ball shape on it, it’s right on the cover. I changed it to simplify and draw all the cat, I also gave him eyes that I wanted!
Rah Rah, shish boom bah!
Cat # 3 looks like he’s at a sports event, clutching a hamburger! This one was loosely based from another cat on the cover holding a flag, I made him lighter and changed his face a bit.
Cat #4 is wearing spats, what a dapper fellow!
This is Cat #4, “Bustopher Jones”, the cat about town. He was cool, I liked that he had spats on his feet! But I had to laugh, when I looked back in the book just now to get his name, I realized I forgot his tail in my drawing! haha
Cat #5, I love his mid air jump and expression.
Cat #5, what a face! I love his spots and the expression on his face. Gorey sure liked to give his cats long whiskers too!
Cat #6, another jumping cat!
Cat # 6 is another jumping cat, or maybe he’s flying? I like how the spots were made with small ink strokes.
Bustopher Jones returns.
Cat # 7 our friend “Bustopher Jones” has returned. I really liked this one and the poem wasn’t bad either. I didn’t love all the poems in the book, but I still haven’t read the whole thing either.
Cat # 8 is a sleepy old cat called “Old Deuteronomy”.
Cat #8 is “Old Deuteronomy”, I liked his sleepy expression and fading stripes, also the way Gorey simplified him with no back legs and great position of the front legs.
Now we’re onto ‘my’ cats, inspired by Gorey.
Then another day I did some sketches inspired by Gorey’s drawings but I tried to change them up a bit with poses, expressions, markings and shorter whiskers! See my individual cats below.
Cat #1, our for a stroll with a walking stick.
For cat #1 I used that fur pattern I liked here and had fun with the expression on his face. Is he saying hello to a friend or is something coming and he’s putting his paw up to say stop?
Cat # 2 sitting easy on a satin pillow.
Cat #2, there’s a lot I like about this one. I like his eyes, the shape alone gives him a kind sort of look, and wide eyed. Then there’s those graphic spots and before I knew it I drew a pillow and a mouse for him! But he doesn’t look like he’ll eat the mouse.
Cat #3 is a pretty cat with longer fur.
Cat 3# ended up a white cat, with a bit more furry looking coat. I added a ball of yarn to give it something to play with.
Cat #4 is fun, either dancing or maybe ice skating?
And Cat #4 was fun to draw, making up that pose. It looks like he’s ice skating or maybe dancing? A few light spots here and there and some cheek puffs for good measure.
Cat #5 is like the other laying down cat by Gorey.
Cat #5 is like the other laying down cat by Gorey but I changed the position of the feet and added back legs. I like his little surprised expression.
Cat #6 is a typical old style black cat.
Cat #6 is a typical old style black cat like you’d see in Halloween illustrations. Usually when the back is arched the cat is shown as scary, but mine is just stretching, I can almost feel him pushing his shoulders up into that ‘cat’ stretch and stretching his claws out as they do. I was very careful to leave a white line for the mouth when I drew the black ink on his face, and his eyes have that friendly shape too.
Cat #7 is plump and wearing a tie!
Cat #7, I like this one! He’s plump and has huge eyes. I also tried to not fill him in totally with ink so there was a bit of texture on him. A little shadow helps to show off his white toes too.
That’s it for all the cats! Please tell me what you think of the sketches and what you thought of how I made up my own. I really had fun doing these, they were pretty easy for me so it was relaxing if anything. Hope you enjoyed them!
You can also find me on Instagram as “mary_mcandrew_artist” and my facebook art page is “Mary McAndrew Painting and Illustration”, I post random things I’m working on and sometimes views outside.
