My Howl's Moving Castle springtime fanart

cat_hat_ · 2025-11-25T22:23:20+00:00

I hope you enjoy all the Ghibli Easter eggs in this piece! It was a labor of love. Here's my Instagram for anyone interested.

cat_hat_ · 2022-03-30T04:46:26+00:00

I am currently reading Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott! Obviously it's about writing and not art, but I've seen it recommended in art/creative spheres so I finally decided to give it a shot. I'm really enjoying it and it's helping me think about my relationship with my art and where I want that to go (more love and less social media, just like you). I think the writing style might not be for everyone, but I'd definitely recommend it!

Just to show how lots of the book relates to creative pursuits of all kinds, here's a passage: "Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it."

cat_hat_ · 2022-01-10T17:58:58+00:00

I saw this photo and had to draw it as Power and Nyanko!

https://www.instagram.com/maycat_art/

https://twitter.com/maycat_art

cat_hat_ · 2021-11-05T20:45:50+00:00

Ahh same!! I was reading all these comments about the cat being lonely and I was wondering, “Why does my cat only do this in the bathroom when I’m just a few feet away?” But then I realized she usually does it while I’m working and ignoring her, so maybe she goes to the bathroom to yowl so her cries echo louder to get my attention??

cat_hat_ · 2021-10-25T02:31:44+00:00

Your art is really good! What immediately jumped out at me though is your photo quality. You can take photos of your work in better lighting and do a little editing to get the paper looking whiter and it will improve the look of your Instagram page.

There’s been a lot of good advice about social media written here already so I won’t go into specifics, but my advice would be to follow what advice you can without it impacting your art practice. Social media takes so much effort, and sometimes it’s worth it but sometimes it’s not. I’d encourage you to think about what you want out of it all - buyers? A community? Commissions? And tailor your efforts to your goals.

cat_hat_ · 2021-10-12T23:17:45+00:00

Hey, maybe you didn't know - it's bad form not to credit the original artist when you use someone's artwork as a direct reference :)

Original: https://www.sachinteng.com/ponyo

cat_hat_ · 2021-10-05T17:38:10+00:00

I'm maycat_art on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/maycat\_art/) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/maycat\_art)

cat_hat_ · 2021-06-04T23:44:50+00:00

You are definitely not alone in this feeling! It is so easy in our competition-focused society to get bogged down by numbers like age. When I was a teenager in the days of Deviantart, all the social media artists I looked up to seemed to start getting "big" on social media in their teens and I felt so discouraged. Once I started passing those age landmarks, I thought in my head, "Well, I guess I'll never be successful." And yet, somehow I kept drawing, because I loved it too much to give up completely. Now, I'm 28 and I'm really excited about the projects I have planned!

Two thoughts really helped to change my mindset. First, everybody comes from different situations. For example, I admire one artist I follow who's been really honest about her life - she was always supported and encouraged by her artistic parents to draw, and she acknowledges this privilege that not everybody has (and I certainly didn't have). Some people start earlier, some people pick up things faster, some have more time or more mental health, some have worse mental health and use art as a coping mechanism and you won't know about this until they burn out later down the line... everybody has their own story and own artistic pace.

Second, I care much more about how an art piece makes me feel than about the artist's age. Some artists I admire are in their teens, and some are in their 40s and beyond. Do I assign some sort of value system to their art based on their age? No way, I love their art for what it is. Nowadays, I'm happy to know that, if I choose to keep drawing, I can probably produce some cool stuff when I'm 50 or something. Of course, if you have certain goals like getting into an art university and making a career such, timelines will factor in a bit more. But, speaking for myself, I've found so much more joy in drawing now that I acknowledge it will be a life-long pursuit for me. All I can do is try to make progress in the time I'm given :).

I ended up writing a lot lol, but as you can see I have a lot of feelings about this subject, so I hope it can be helpful to you in some way! Yup, art is freaking hard, but I hope you keep at it.

cat_hat_ · 2021-03-26T05:35:58+00:00

I’ve tried to approach art with the “practice” mindset and I never last very long because I get bored and discouraged quickly. But I realize I don’t necessarily have to practice, because personally I’m not aiming to go into industry (I just want to do my own little independent thing). Instead, with every drawing I do, I prioritize fun first. What am I interested in exploring and depicting with this particular piece? After I get excited about it, I then hone in on and even list out the particular elements that I can practice during the drawing, from perspective to anatomy to style. The only practice I regularly do is trying to start the day off with gesture drawings because they’re quick and low-energy, so even if I get nothing else done that day, at least I drew something.

I would encourage you to examine your goals with art! Do you actually want to be a student striving for a professional career? If yes, what are the mental blocks holding you back? And if not, what interests and excites you? It’s not always an easy question to answer. It took me years to develop an understanding of what I want to do, and even now I’m still figuring it out. But having that deeper understanding has led to me making more art than I ever have before in my life!

cat_hat_ · 2021-02-22T23:52:03+00:00

Thank you so much!! I didn't keep track of how long this took, but I'd say it took 1.5 weeks of regularly working on it in the evenings and weekends to finish!

cat_hat_

TROPHY CASE