Golf with Cats, Pt. 1: Out of Body on the Golf Course

I can't pinpoint when Emily and I first spoke about the project, but I remember showing up for her lunch-and-learn presentation at church for her autobiographical novel about the process of adopting her son. At the time I was making graphics, flyers, and covers for her, toying with images and editing, and she appreciated my willingness to participate. The golf book was an idea she and Matt had been toying with. I was preoccupied with her other requests, but assured her I was interested in the opportunity.

(you should check it out on amazon < click it)

Am I too robotic for this kind of sentimental recall?

I had no business accepting this job. Evident by the process. I guess I should clarify: I'm not ACTUALLY an illustrator or character artist. I'm just a creatively inclined jack of all trades that believes they can, when detached from reality. I've tried to be honest about that at all times, and still I feel like an imposter some days.

Before I ever actually met with Matt on a golf course, I had been doodling cats and trying different things out to get an idea of what type of character they had in mind. When we finally met out on the course to establish the ideas of the book, I felt as if I were completely out of body, unaware in a way of the weight of the assignment and that it was happening in the present. I was awkward and dissociative. That said, being able to explain my shortcomings doesn't serve anyone.

I rode with Emily, so I never had an opportunity to catch myself up to where we were. We spoke about our lives and politics a little on the way back. Once we made it to her home, we hugged and said our goodbyes, and I drove home thinking about what comes next.

When I arrived, I immediately sat at my computer with a new canvas open and just sort of stared for a while. At this point we had an idea, we had a setting, and a goal, but we didn't have any characters fully formed.

It was a process to get to the Coach Cat we see today. A lot of iterating, erasing, deleting, rebuilding. Once we found our cat's colors and overall demeanor, it became about finding his proportions. He was humanlike at first, but it felt out of place and not particularly appealing to kids. I had tried to interrogate a style from them in small passing remarks, but ultimately brought the idea of a chibified cat and crew to them as a compromise. My unusual style can't ruin chibi cute, can it? (It can.) But through trial and error, we landed on the gingerly ginger friend we have now, and it worked.

(be fearful of what could have been!!!)

Once we had Cat in our sights and knew what he would look like, it freed my time up to focus on building the setting. We knew Coach Cat's sidekick was Pizza. Pizza saw very few changes throughout this process, and was one of my few but major contributions to the development of the story elements.

I'm quite proud that I proposed the sentient pizza slice as a character.

Having the two main characters locked in gave my creativity a chance to focus on the world they inhabit and the possible friends they'd meet on their fantasy golf course.

Next: Golf with Cats, Pt. 2: Doing It Live in Green Purgatory →