Them Cats

I am but a humble Star Wars Tooka enthusiast whose true love was found in the grasslands of Lothal. Gotta love them cats!

[daidrm]

The Tooka Batch

I was extremely inspired by @letshareapapou creative Tooka designs and made some screenshot redraws.

If you wish too see the full cast line up

Bonus Screenshot Redraw:

I hope you enjoy this too @pinetree-tbb

[pinetree-thetooka]

Tookas!

Tookas everywhere!!!

I love it!

[carbon-corrie]

I just needed to let you know how much joy Rat brings me 😄 I'm currently dealing with some serious health issues and every time he pops up he makes me actually smile, so thank you! 💕

Aww! I’m so sorry to hear you’re having some health issues! I hope it all resolves quickly and painlessly.

I don’t have much energy at the moment thanks to some mystery virus, but this ask gave me the idea to slap together a little ID card for Rat! The Corries take his position in the Guard VERY seriously! 🥰🤣

Thank you for the kind words, and I hope you feel better soon! ❤️

@loth-cat-nation the return of the king!!

[loth-cat-nation]

My boi!!! Where've ya been? Good to see you sir 🫡

[loth-cat-nation]

The results of the hat poll were in a few weeks ago... and I finally got Pork to cooperate..

I convinced him to dress up in time for May 4th, so you're welcome! (Also there are hotdogs crammed in his holster for after the photoshoot. He cannot be trusted with a weapon. And hotdogs are the only bargaining chips I possess.)

[pinetree-thetooka]

[aceraylo]

Commander Fox is doing fine, why do you ask?

Inspired by Tooka's Adopt the Coruscant Guard by AndrogyneBard on Ao3

[daidrm]

Cigarette Stub - Behind The Scenes BONUS ART-COLLECTION 1

ACT 1 OVERVIEW

WOW. I have just made a total of 143 pages of story content over the course of 5-6 months. Can you believe it? It's been quite the educational journey. If you're interested, stay tuned. [If you'd rather see more art instead, scroll straight down to access them. Whichever works!]

STAYING MOTIVATED ---------------------------

This is my second attempt at creating a comic series to practice my skills. The first attempt was a Trigun comic that, over the same amount of time, produced only a total of 18-19 complete pages.

What went wrong with the first fancomic?

A combination of factors contributed to my slowness, including my inexperience in making comics, perfectionism, and overcomplication of the drawing process. I was constantly re-editing and fixing my lines, unsatisfied with how the characters or the environment appeared. Nonetheless, I was committed to making more pages until I realized that my story wasn't perfect either. That shot down my motivation, and I dropped the story entirely.

Approaching The Bad Batch fancomic

The objective of this comic is for me to COMPLETE something. I purposely threw myself into this story with a general schematic of the central story beats, themes, and characters without a fleshed-out plan or structure (you will see my approach later in this blog). Cigarette Stub was designed to get me comfortable with imperfections in the story and acknowledge how not to throw away a massive project because of some minor dissatisfaction. I want to feel the satisfaction of successfully completing a story that's been stuck in my head, rather than wallow in my own perfectionist paralysis, anxious about whether it's 'good enough'. There's a video that inspired me to take this approach when making this comic- have it here. Thank you, Italian man, on the internet.

Without the unrealistically high expectations set for myself, I found that I was a lot faster and more experimental with my work. I gave up on developing a fleshed-out sketch layer and jumped straight to line art to cut down my drawing time to 2-4 hours per page (excluding text addition).

Finding Motivating Factors

The central motivators for me to make this comic include fighting existential dread, testing/expanding my skills as a creator, and drawing not-so-subtle-as-I-think gay shit.

[I'd also like to clarify that despite my personal bias to shipping Crosshair with Kolto, this story is not a romance genre; it's a tragedy. I don't know how to write romance. I'll explore more of this in a later BTS.] What keeps me consistent is thinking about how cool this-specific-scene-trademark is going to be when I draw it, or how I'm going to visually explore this character's set of emotions and philosophy. It's a challenge, and I love putting my skills to the test, analyzing where I've gone wrong and how I can improve next. All of which can only be done by producing more chapters. The downside is when I lose myself and become obsessive in trying to get the chapter done, burning myself out. I find myself getting depressed and losing the will to continue working. The best response, for me personally (different responses may be required for different people), is to work on something else that's still adjacent to the story. To keep my mind refreshed, I drop working on comics to draw more concept art, or even go on a walk, thinking about how I should compose future scenes outside of the chapter I'm working on. Spontaneity and divergent thinking help combat the tunnel vision, the grind that is constant line-art and coloring, for me at least.

LAYING OUT THE STORY ---------------------------

Act 1 is predominantly a setup for the base of the story. The objective of it was to introduce each of the characters and (most) of their emotional stances, dynamics, and ideologies. When approaching this Act, I wrote a series of questions I had that I wanted to explore.

Afterwards, I wrote the central story beats I wanted to have that would help either set up, explore, or progress the plot to ask the central questions I had for the story. When I started this comic, the general structure was all I had. I didn't know what words the characters were going to say or the hyper-specific actions they would make to reach the beats I had plotted out. For each chapter, I would look at the part of the structure I'm in and write dialogue that would help provide more foundation for whatever part of the story I'm exploring. When writing each of the chapters, I had to ask myself:

- "What weight does this have in the story?" - "What knowledge does the reader gain from this chapter that they wouldn't already know?" - "If I removed this chapter or scene, would it impact the narrative of the story in any way?"

I'm still not the best at this. This is where I would benefit from outside criticism from a reader's perspective. I can't assume the reader will absorb every single thing I'm trying to portray and might see the story as too slow or too fast. Interpretations can be completely different from reader to reader as well.

(If you have any, feel free to leave an anonymous/personal criticism on how to improve!)

It's strange think how out of the loop I am as an author from everyone else's perception of my story, despite it being my story. Their perception of your story is entirely different from your own, and it's your responsibility as a writer to make sure that the reader (by the end of the story) is at the same level of understanding of context as you. (Of course, storytelling objectives can differ from writer to writer; this is just my own personally set goal.)

WRAPPING UP ACT 1 ---------------------------

This was surprisingly the hardest thing for me to do. I revised the final conversation Kolto and Crosshair had multiple times. The objective of Act 1 is to set the stage for Acts 2 & 3, so it needed to state the thesis of Cigarette stub.

Theses: - Clones are used and easily replaced by the empire. - The difficulty that comes with leaving the battlefield when you're designed as a soldier.

I'll go into more depth in analyzing what parts of my story reinforce this thesis once the rest of the Acts come out. I'm excited!

OUT OF LEFT FOV TAKEAWAYS ------------------------

Color

In previous colored versions, the lights in the background were orange and blue, organized to mirror Kolto and Crosshairs dynamic. Complementary but at the ends of the spectrum. As cool as it would be in concept, the fight scene would've made Kolto appear less threatening (because Orange = joy, warmth, goofy-haha in color symbolism).

I needed Crosshair to hold his perception of Kolto as a threatening figure because he still hasn't completely separated his perception of Kolto from the other commanding officers and higher-ups, including Vice Admiral Rampart. I also thought it would make sense to carry on the blue and red motif from the 32 Rotations chapters, as red was "The other" and Blue was "The Subject". I also intended the 32 rotations text to mirror Kolto and Crosshairs predicament for the story, but I think I overbrained myself to the point of a headache.

"Drugs might fry your brain. Writing consistent story/dialogue parallels and symbol motifs? It'll brain your fry crispy." - Daidrm

The lights themselves also played a role, especially in Crosshair's perception of who has control/advantage over the situation.

Definitely the proudest thing I did, and the thing that cost me MULTIPLE REVISIONS. JUST FOR THESE LIGHTS. I surprise myself sometimes. I thought the giant freaky psychedelic ring of the CF-99 faces would be hard... no. It's these lights.

A funny challenge for me when applying this blue-red dynamicism was to avoid making the bisexual flag. Nothing wrong with the bisexuals, it's just that the incorrectly applied gradient looks like a bisexual awakening for Crosshair instead of a psychological snap caused by trauma. It made me laugh a lot when I first noticed.

A bonus thing I wanted to share was the complete lack of creativity for this panel at the start. I had to write some internal monologue to help feed my brain some ideas, and I finally got an idea of how to portray it.

This is something I do frequently whenever I'm struggling to think of cool ideas in visualization. For the silent scenes, I need inner monologues to help me visually portray what the characters are thinking. Here are some more examples from this chapter.

ENDING NOTE ------------------------

Thank you, everyone, for sticking around and reading my comics. It's so awesome to see your amazing support of the story (and Kolto!). It gives me great joy. See you guys in Act 2!

BONUS ART-COLLECTION 2

Kolto Sketches

Crolto Sketchs

SNEAK PEAK: Act 2 Scrapped Concepts [Kolto's Home Planet]

[loth-cat-nation]

It seems like every artist I love is doing Tookas now! This is the happiest time of my life 🥹🥲 I love them ❤️

[worm-strung-string]

Imagine, if you will: Hunter as one of those fancy long haired tookas

He needs to be brushed at least twice a day or he will throw A Fit

Condensed mass of fluff

[pinetree-thetooka]

Alright, so!

I noticed a lot of people put #loth cat in the tags when reblogging my Tooka art, so I came to the conclusion that a lot of you guys apparently don’t know the difference between a Tooka and a Loth Cat

So in this post I will pull on my Tech Goggles and tell you all about the differences between the two cats!

"Cats in Star Wars, why not?"

―Dave Filoni

Beginning with the Tooka the General Species

The Tooka is a feline species found all across the galaxy.

Tookas come in a variety of colours - blue, purple, yellow and more -

Tookas were beloved by many species, who domesticated and kept them as pets, but they were also seen as a plague on many planets, roaming the streets and taking them over.

The creatures were so commonplace that they were the inspiration for stuffed dolls and artwork. And I chose the Tooka for my Mascot.

Omega’s Hay Lula Tooka Doll:

- Tookas were named after Dave Filoni's deceased cat Tuuk.

Now we get to the Loth-Cat the Subspecies

Like the name suggests Loth-Cats are native to the Planet Lothal, often found in the grassy plains of that Outer Rim planet praying mostly on Loth-Rats, although they would also feast on insects and birds.

Their fur is distinctively speckled with yellow/brown colour schemes for better camouflage in Lothal’s wilderness.

It is difficult to domesticate a Loth-Cat but when accomplished they can be taught to hunt and retrieve for their owners.

Loth Cats in Rebels

The white Loth-cat served as a guide for Ezra Bridger. It had a special connection to the Force and was able to manifest in Ezra's Force visions.

Loth Cat in The Mandalorian

So with all that in mind you just have to remember:

Every Loth Cat is a Tooka,

but not every Tooka is a Loth Cat.

My Tooka is a Tooka, not a Loth-Cat xD

Thank you all for reading! I hope this was informative for you <333

[loth-cat-nation]

This is wonderful 🥰

I feel like my handle is not aptly chosen... I love Tookas just as much as Loth cats. Bye, gotta go update my bio 😅

[letshareapapou]

I might have misinterpreted your "fluffy prompt" as I originally planned on asking you to draw the fluffiest and roundest Tech Tooka ever. But now I'm here- doubling down and requesting this despite the misinterpretation. No pressure on you to follow through!

[pinetree-thetooka]

Tooka likes Tooka Tech's floofyness!!!

So do I!!!💚

[pinetree-thetooka]

@letshareapapou

I had the urge to draw a fluffy Tech myself so here he is!

This was my hyperfixation for the last half hour xD

[loth-cat-nation]

He's so plomp.

[worm-strung-string]

I’ve added some new stickers to the bubble including these 501st kitties

[loth-cat-nation]

Bebs.

[pinetree-thetooka]

[loth-cat-nation]

The sad little face 🥺

[pinetree-thetooka]

( thx again @daidrm and @inkscapepony-art <3 )

@lonewolflupe, how relatable? xDP

[loth-cat-nation]

Relatable 100%

That's the face I make too.

[pinetree-thetooka]

sometimes you just wanna-

[loth-cat-nation]

Yes. Me today.

[worm-strung-string]

Hi!

I just saw your Tooka!BadBatch fan art and… IT IS SO CUTE! I followed you after I saw all your art of the Tookafetts and Tookatroopers. (It is so kriffing cute). (If you take requests) I was wondering if you could draw the Tookabatch when they first met Echo? (That scene in TCWS7 after Echo was rescued from Skako Minor. Rex and Anakin where there too) If not it’s ok!

again, EPIC AND EXTREMELY CUTE ART!!!

The Tooka equivalent, he went to the vet

Naked chicken echo

[loth-cat-nation]

Awwwwwe I'm melting. I love them so much 🥰

[carbon-corrie]

What is Rat up to this fine Christmas Life Day season?

HAPPY Christmas LIFE DAY!!! Rat is currently waiting in a WIP with his big sister Grizzer, but having a good time! (I meant to finish this before Christmas, but time has really gotten away from me. Hopefully the whole thing will be finished before New Year’s! 😭)

[loth-cat-nation]

Ahhhh my boi! This is already so great, excited to see the rest of the piece! Look at him in his lil sweater 🥰

Also love Grizzer sporting the lights 😂 Looks like someone got into the decorations... 👀

[loth-cat-nation]

Don't Miss Out on the Christmas Sale!

While I recognize this is not Loth Cat content... I must put a shameless plug out there for my little froggy side gig. (The cats would approve, I am certain.)

For the first time ever I have Christmas patterns! And a Christmas sale that runs until the end of December. Check out my Etsy shop to see the patterns and participate in this unprecedented sale!

Sincerely, LothCatNation

[worm-strung-string]

If you want prompts may I suggest tooka fives and tooka echo causing Trouble

Echo is banned from trying to waterboard his brother in the spink

[loth-cat-nation]

Oh no poor baby 🥺