jayfrost-designs

[jayfrost-designs]

The StormClan’s Folly preview has been released!

[jayfrost-designs]

Reblogging here since it uses my designs

But when Moonpaw was almost ready for her final dash and pounce, she caught sight of her own reflection in the lapping lake water. She saw her familiar, divided face, and another cat, a stranger, peering over her shoulder, as if it was standing behind her.

Startled, Moonpaw jerked to her paws, letting out an involuntary gasp. The squirrel sat upright in alarm, then raced off to disappear into the undergrowth.

Moonpaw barely noticed it go. Hurriedly, she twisted her neck to look back, but there was no cat behind her.

Did I really see that? she asked herself. I couldn’t have.

But when she looked at her reflection, she still saw the small pale orange tabby cat looking over her shoulder. She met its green gaze. The orange tabby was exactly the same color and pattern as the left side of Moonpaw’s face. Who was it?

Don’t tell any cat, the reflected cat mewed, its voice familiar in her head. This is our secret.

This is another one that's been sitting in my files for a while, but this one has seen so much tweaking and re-shading and fixing colors and textures... I think I finally got it to where I'm actually happy with it, but man was this one frustrating to work on. :P I feel like I'm stagnating in my art a bit, I want to learn to improve but I can't quite figure it out. Ack.

Anyway, I am actually happy with it in the end I think. This is of course the scene from The Elders' Quest quoted above where Moonpaw first sees her sister's spirit in her reflection in the lake. I actually like how the lake water turned out, and I finally got the reflections looking how I wanted.

[jayfrost-designs]

Reblogging here since it uses my designs

Alright so bear with me on this one. XD I actually drew this a while ago, maybe a month or two, and I've been waiting to have more stuff done to post it. Allow me to explain (slightly copying and pasting from when I went on a rant about this on Discord a while ago XD).

So I’ve always seen all these “Squirrelflight is Scourge reincarnated” posts/drawings because of the shared white paw, which never really felt fitting to me as she’s nothing like him, as well as “Hollyleaf is Scourge reincarnated”, which makes a bit more sense because she has his intelligence and she did kill someone, but it still never felt like the right comparison. Then, the other day, it hit me - Hollyleaf isn’t Scourge, Jayfeather is Scourge

I don’t mean literally, he’s a grump but he’s not got any of Scourge’s evil in him, plus he’s already busy being Jay’s Wing’s reincarnation let alone Scourge’s. But there’s a certain core similarity to their stories. Both the smallest of their litter, both considered weak or incapable in some way, which led to resentment and a burning desire to prove themselves. They both have (or at least Jayfeather had in his youth) a fascination with the way they could hold power over others. In the early days of exploring his powers and the prophecy, Jaypaw seemed more interested in testing what his powers could do and ignoring whether he was hurting anyone - spying on dreams from the other medicine cats and then wanting to take advantage of the information he learned there to either strengthen his own Clan or weaken the others.

But ultimately, he has some of the things Scourge lacked - a loving family, supportive siblings, a whole Clan around him who, although sometimes a bit too prone to dismiss his capabilities because of his blindness, do truly care for him. He also has a true goodness in his heart that won out over his youthful fascination with power. He’s everything Scourge didn’t become. So this drawing is less of a "Jayfeather as Scourge's reincarnation and also he's evil AU" and more just an observation of certain similarities, which I believe fit this pair more than some of the other cats Scourge is usually compared to, but ultimately a comparison Jayfeather managed to break free of by following a better path and choosing love for his Clan and his life over bitterness and revenge.

Anyway this might just be the prettiest thing I've ever drawn. XD I wanted to make Scourge look kinda like graffiti on a brick wall come to life, and I think I was decently successful there. I decided to try something new with doing the shading and pattern on Jayfather by sketching out each stripe and doing a sort of sketchy shading, we'll see if I can replicate that in the future but it definitely turned out great here.

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Last but not least (of the ref sheets for tonight anyway), here's Hazelkit. :D

She was a ton of fun to design. I actually mostly drew her while in the Kennedy Center waiting to see Les Mis (I bought my ticket before a certain tangerine took it over, before anyone asks, and I just happened to see it the day after he was there, blech, but at least the show was good).

You can find the reverse side of her design here.

Hazelkit has no physical description given other than her pattern so I came up with my own for her. I kind of went lithe for her, but not as much as Sunkit, with a medium coat. I'll settle more into her build as she gets older.

For her pattern, Hazelkit is described as a tortoiseshell she-cat with white spots. I don't know why, but she just felt like a chocolate tortie to me from the start, so that's what I went with. She has no canon eye color, so I went with hazel eyes to match her name (apparently in cats hazel is a mix of golden/yellow and green).

Overall, I'm really happy with how she turned out.

[jayfrost-designs]

Up next is Oakkit. :D I kinda realized towards the end that her design ended up looking like a lot of the fan designs I see for Sunbeam. Whoops. XD Ah well, I really like how she turned out anyways.

You can see the reverse side of her design here.

Oakkit has no physical description given other than her pattern, so I came up with my own for her. I figured since her color is so similar to her mom, it might be cute if her build was too, so I mad her very poofy like her mom.

For her pattern, Oakkit is described as a pale brown tabby she-cat with white spots. I gave her simillar colors to her mom, with a tabby pattern similar to her uncle Bayshine, and her dad's golden eyes to offset all the visual similarity to her mom, as an inverse of Sunkit. ^^

Overall, I'm really happy with how she turned out.

[jayfrost-designs]

The last of the ref sheets tonight (but not the last of the art) will be the three new MyrtleFlip kits. :D I love the names and descriptions for all three, and I knew designing them was going to be fun. Up first is Sunkit.

Sunkit has no physical description given other than his pattern, so I came up with my own for him. I gave him a lithe build, with a shorter medium coat, though I'll settle more on his build as he gets older.

For his pattern, Sunkit is described as an orange tabby tom. I gave him a similar tabby pattern to his dad. He has no canon eye color, and I felt like using his mom's eyes since he looks so much like his dad in all other aspects, so Sunkit with his sunny orange fur gets some sky-blue eyes to match. ^^

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how he turned out.

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Up next is Sprucepaw! :D I love her name, and her description, and I had a ton of fun drawing her.

Sprucepaw has no physical description given other than her pattern, so I came up with my own for her. I made her lithe and spiky-furred like her dad and grandpa Nettle, and to sort of mimic the sort of spiky tuftiness of a spruce tree. She's got those big spiky ear tufts from that side of the family too.

For her pattern, Sprucepaw is described as a silver tabby-and-white she-cat. I decided to make her a lynx point tabby like her dad, I think it looks really good with her silver tabby colors. She has no canon eye color, so I gave her her mom's dark amber eyes.

Overall, I'm super happy with how she turned out, I think she looks great.

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Now for the ShadowClan apprentices - I love both of their names and descriptions, and I've been looking forward to drawing them for a while. :D Up first is Redpaw.

Redpaw has no phyiscal description given other than his pattern, so I came up with my own for him. He's got a bit of a sturdier build and thick fur from his mom, but I'll settle more on his adult build when I see his warrior name. He's got small ear tufts since both of his patterns have tufted ears.

For his pattern, Redpaw is described as a reddish-brown tom. To distinguish him from the other reddish-brown apprentice in this arc (Robinpaw) and to add some resemblance to his father, I made him a colorpoint. He has no canon eye color, so I gave him his grandpa Nettle's green eyes.

Overall, pretty happy with how he turned out.

[jayfrost-designs]

Up next is Fluffpaw of WindClan! :D What a cutie.

For his physical description, Fluffpaw is described as a fluffy tom. I gave him his dad's sturdier build, and a nice thick, floofy coat. :D I like to think he'll grow up to look a lot like his grandpa Beechfur, with that more RiverClan-y build and thick RiverClan coat, along with both of them being pale brown toms.

For his pattern, Fluffpaw is described as a pale brown tom. I gave him colors similar to his mom, with a colorpoint pattern similar to his dad, and his mom's amber eyes.

Overall, I'm very happy with how he turned out. :D

[jayfrost-designs]

God, I really haven't posted here in a while, have I? ^^ Whoops. Been kinda busy this first half of the year, there was a lot of stuff going on with work getting everything transferred over to the new site, and I got caught up in some video games I was playing, also I made some plushes for the first time in my life which was neat and went surprisingly well. But anyway, I finally got around to finishing enough drawings to justify doing an upload, so here's some new art from me. I swear I'll have all the cats from the TEQ allegiances done before Hidden Moon comes out. Anyway, up first is Silkypaw of WindClan!

For his physical description, Silkypaw is described as a long-haired tom. He's Sedgewhisker's son, so he's a quarter RiverClan, and that seems to have made itself super apparent in her second litter for some reason. XD I love how both of her sons are named after how unusually long-haired they are for WindClan cats. XD I decided to give him his mother's lithe body with long, silky, flowing fur to suit his name.

For his pattern, Silkypaw is described as a gray tom. He has similar colors to his father, but more of a non-tabby version of his mom's pattern (as in, a solid coat with a pale belly rather than his dad's point pattern), which his dad's pale green eyes.

Overall, really happy with how he turned out. :D Always fun to draw the odd fluffy WindClan cat!

[jayfrost-designs]

Here it is, one and all. My 500th Warrior Cats design. :D While all of the designs leading up to this were cats (or at least in the cat family - see the few European Wildcats I designed), I thought it would be unique and kinda funny to have my 500th design be my first non-cat design, and such an important character as Midnight. :D Here's to (maybe, hopefully) 500 designs more to come!

For her physical description, Midnight is described as a huge (but smaller than some of the other badgers encountered, notably a presumably male badger seen at Snakerocks in Midnight), bulky female badger with small, round, beady eyes, broad and heavy shoulders, a wide head, broad, flat, massive, heavy paws, a narrow and pointed muzzle, and thick fur. It was definitely a challenge drawing her lineart, so different from the cats I normally draw, but I'm pretty happy with the end result.

For her pattern, Midnight is described as having black eyes and a broad white stripe running down her face. She's just got a standard European Badger look, but it's such a pretty look. ^^

Overall, I'm really happy with how she turned out.

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Here's my 499th Warrior Cats design, and the second-to-last before I reach 500 designs. For the last few designs leading up to 500, I've been doing cats from each of the important nonClan groups. This is the last cat to draw from an important group, and that group is BloodClan, with Brick as my pick to represent them. :D

You can find the reverse side of his design here.

For his physical description, Brick is described as a tom with a patch of fur missing between his shoulder blades. In Rise of Scouge, he was a skinny (from hunger, not natural build) cat with a bit of scruff on him, so that's what I went for here. He has those sunken in cheekbones and a belly that's not as full as it should be. Along with the big scar between his shoulder blades, I gave him a whole mess of other scars, as rogue life in Twolegplace, then as one of Scourge's guards in BloodClan, was probably one of constant fighting to survive.

For his pattern, Brick is described as a ginger tabby tom with amber eyes. I heavily based his colors and pattern on his depiction in the recent all-color edition of The Rise of Scourge, though with a second belly color.

Overall, pretty happy with how he turned out. :D

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Only three designs (this one included) left to go until I hit 500 Warrior Cats designs, and only two important nonClan groups left to represent! This is Fireface, my pick for WarriorClan. :D Finally, moving away from the boring plain gray cats. XD

Fireface has no physical description given other than his pattern, so I came up with my own for him. I based him on a non-oriental Siamese cat, since he's a kittypet and could well be a purebred or a mix, and as a nod to his colorpoint pattern.

For his pattern, Fireface is described as a ginger tom with unusually red fur around his face and ears. I made him a ginger colorpoint with dark reddish points. He has no canon eye color, so I leaned into the colorpoint Siamese thing and gave him lovely blue eyes. I really like how his colors all look together with his pattern.

Overall, I'm really happy with how he turned out. :D

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Now for another mostly-plain gray cat. XD Hard to keep them looking distinct from each other but I try my best. As stated, for the last few designs leading into 500 designs, I'm designing one cat from each of the importnat nonClan groups, and Rain is my pick for The Kin.

You can find the reverse side of his design here.

For his physical description, Rain is described as a big, long-furred tom with a single eye and a bushy tail, with fur where the eye used to be. He's a big fluffy boy, he could be pretty if not for the cruelty and sneering. He's scarred up to hell due to his aggressive nature and harsh life, first as a rogue then as part of the Kin. Fur has mostly regrown over where his eye was, but there's still scars from the initial blow.

For his pattern, Rain is described as a gray tom with a single green eye, and pale fur covering where his other eye was. I made the fur around his eye paler than the rest of the fur, as fur and hair sometimes grow back over a scar devoid of color and a brighter color like gray or white - it happened to the scars from my dog's ACL surgeries.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how he turned out.

[jayfrost-designs]

Up next for the last few designs leading into 500 designs, it's Feather of Flying Hawk! :D He's my pick to represent the Tribe of Rushing Water - as stated, for these last few designs before 500 I'm drawing one cat from each of the important nonClan groups.

Feather has no physical description given other than his pattern, so I came up with my own for him. I went the slightly lazy, but still fitting given his name and relations, route and used his aunt Feathertail's lineart for him. :P I like the idea of his pattern coming from his mom's side of the family, while his build is eerily reminiscent of his aunt Feathertail. Only a few scars on him, as he's a prey-hunter who likely hasn't been in many fights and has probably only gotten scratched by prey or the odd rogue.

For his pattern, Feather is described as a stone-gray tom. I made him a lighter shade of his dad's darker gray colors. I was going to use his dad's pattern too, when I suddenly remembered there's another gray cat in Feather's family - his uncle Crag/Stoneteller. And why should Stormfur's side of the family be the only one represented in Feather's design? So I went with a pattern more similar to Stoneteller's, with the partly-uncolored muzzle. He has no canon eye color, so I gave him Stoneteller's dark amber eyes.

Overall, I'm really pleased with how he turned out. :D No wonder you liked him so much Flipclaw XD

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Up next for the last few designs leading into 500 designs, it's Fierce of the Guardian Cats! As mentioned, I'm drawing one cat from each of the important nonClan groups, so here's my choice for the Guardian Cats.

You can find the reverse side of her design here. It should, combined with this view of her, give a better overall idea of the look of her one short leg.

For her physical description, Fierce is described as a she-cat with one leg that is shorter than the others. Her one short leg was fun to try and figure out. I've seen a lot of people draw her with her short leg held off the ground, but she's not described holding it up in Tigerheart's Shadow, she's described as leaning when she walks but with all four legs on the ground. I ended up finding an instagram account with videos of a cat with a short front leg, and the cat walked with their front half lowered and the longer leg bent so the shorter leg could touch the ground, so that's the stance I went with here, I think that works as leaning when she walks. Other than the leg, she's a fairly average cat in build and on the smaller side in height.

For her pattern, Fierce is described as a tortoiseshell she-cat with orange fleccks throughout her pelt, a black muzzle, and bright green eyes. I had fun with her tortie pattern and making her predominantly black with those orange flecks, like sparks of fire in the dark.

Overall, I'm really pleased with how she turned out. :D

[jayfrost-designs]

Time for the last ref sheets needed to reach 500 designs I've made for Warrior Cats characters. :D

Just a note, right now I've got family stuff going on, my grandma is in hospice and likely doesn't have long left, I know I'm already normally bad at responding right away, but I'm probably gonna be even slower to respond for a while. This is a hard time.

Now onto a far less likeable family figure XD Sorry, I know Squirrelstar/Moonlight is a popular ship, but Moonlight isn't some admirable girlboss to me, just a really bad mom and dislikable character. :D Tree deserved better.

For her physical description, Moonlight is described as a huge, long-furred, thickly-pelted, well-muscled, broad-shouldered she-cat with wide paws and a bushy tail. I've based her off a Maine Coon, as I think that's what the Sisters are supposed to be. She's got just a few scars because she is still living in the wild and while the Sisters don't seek out conflict, that doesn't mean it doesn't find them sometimes - it's still way less scars than a warrior would have.

For her pattern, Moonlight is described as a gray she-cat. I used the same pattern and colors I gave her in this drawing. She has no canon eye color, so I gave her the same shade of blue eyes as her grandson Rootspring.

Overall, pretty happy with how she turned out. :D The goal with these last few designs leading into 500 is to do a design for a cat from each important nonClan group. Moonlight is the cat I chose to draw from the Sisters.