A CATS the Musical Fanzine dedicated towards the wonderful cast of characters from CATS and the different interpretations of the characters from different productions! https://namingofcatszine.carrd.co/
My part of the @namingofcatszine! Everyone's work came together absolutely beautifully. It's crazy to get to your own piece to be side by side with so many incredible artists.
my piece for @namingofcatszine! it was an absolute blast to be a part of and i'm so honored to have worked on it with so many wonderful people!
for my piece: i wrote about bomba and electra! in which electra really wants to grow up to be a protector like bomba
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The younger kittens always want to see Bomba land a blow; Electra only ever wants to see how she moves. Because Bomba is a big cat, one of the largest among the four Protectors, Electra has always thought it would be hard for her to make finer, quicker movements, but Bomba’s fighting style is smooth and refined. She typically won, but it was not always without a fight.
Electra pays close attention to the way Bomba stays on her paws, putting her weight on her back end, using her tail for balance when she rears up on her hind paws to bring a forepaw down on Alonzo’s head; and how she slides out of the way when the black-and-white tom lunges for her. She moves with grace and ease, and Electra thinks, every time, that she wants to learn how to move like that when she grows up.
She wants to be a Protector, too. Just like Bomba.
She goes to see Bomba afterward, when the sparring is over. The red molly has just finished shrugging out of her spiked collar and is shaking her fur out, scratching at her neck with one hind paw when Electra pops her head in.
“Bomba?”
“One minute,” Bomba grunts, leaning harder into her hind paw as she scratches. “These collars get so itchy.”
So Electra waits, nervous energy building in her paws, because she’s gotten this far and now realizes she doesn’t exactly know how she’s going to ask Bomba to train her.
Bomba shakes herself out again with a little satisfied huff. “Right,” she says, and invites Electra inside with a wave of her tail. “What can I do for you, love?”
Electra stares at Bomba, her mouth dry, her mind completely blank. She takes a breath. “Ah, well…” she starts and then shuffles her paws in the dirt, searching for the words she wants so she doesn’t look like a complete fool in front of her idol, while Bomba watches and waits patiently. “Ah, I-I saw you skirmishing with the other Protectors this morning, uh, we all did, the uh, the other kittens and I, we, uh, anyway—” She stares at her paws, her pelt burning with embarrassment.
“Electra?” Bomba asks gently. Not pressing, but concerned.
“I want to be like you! I want to learn how to fight like you and the other Protectors, you guys make it look so easy!” Electra pauses, swallows thickly, and continues, “And I wanted to ask…if—if you would train me as a Protector.” She looks up to see Bomba’s eyes widen and her ears prick up. After a moment, the red molly smiles.
“There’s more to being a Protector than fighting, love,” Bomba says, her smile growing wider, and Electra flushes. “But yes, I would be happy to train you.”
Electra perks up, her heart thundering in her chest with anticipation. “Really?”
Bomba nods. “Really. I’ll have to confirm it with Old Deuteronomy,” she says thoughtfully, “But we can still get started. Meet me outside my den tomorrow morning, before dawn.”
“Before dawn?” Electra gasps. “That’s so early!”
“Consider it your first lesson,” Bomba says with a flick of her tail. “Punctuality. A Protector is never late.”
Electra stands, her excitement admittedly dulled by the prospect of being up before the Everlasting Cat closes her eye, but her stomach still turns with giddiness. She shuffles out of the den with a grumble. “Yes, Bomba.”
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Two weeks in, and the early mornings have gotten easier, but the tours of the territory are beginning to dull, and Bomba still hasn’t taught her to fight. There’s more to being a protector than fighting, love, Bomba had repeated, as another day of patrol loomed. Electra trails behind Bomba as they trot along a fence, mindful of where she puts her paws.
“Where are we going today, Bomba?”
Bomba flicks her tail. “Just around,” she answers. “This will be a bit of a different route today. Alonzo usually takes this one, but I’ve volunteered us to take it today.” She pauses mid-stride to look back over her shoulder at Electra. “Every Protector should know each other’s routes,” she says, with an edge of emphasis in her voice, as though she can smell Electra’s disappointment. But Electra nods, because it makes sense. She wouldn’t like to be stuck on the same route every day, either.
This particular route, she finds, takes them past Jellylorum and Jennyanydots’s gardens, and they pause each time to chat with the older mollies for a while, before Jellylorum gives Bomba a farewell lick between the ears and Jenny wipes a speck of dirt from Electra’s muzzle.
“You listen to everything Bomba tells you,” the old Gumbie cat says. “She’s the best teacher you could ask for. Now you two be on your way, you have a lot of ground to cover. And be home before dark!”
Bomba gives the mollies a wave of her tail as she climbs the fence, Electra scrambling up beside her. “We will!” she promises, and they’re off again.
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Her paws thunder on the pavement as she runs. Electra doesn’t know if Bomba is behind her, how close she is, or where she is, or if she’s broken off to lead the dog away. It had been about mid-morning when they’d gone into the alley. There’d been a scent Electra hadn’t recognized, something sharp and pungent, and before she could ask Bomba what it was, a massive black-and-brown dog, with a growl like thunder, had stepped into the alleyway. Electra had stared, bristling, pressed into the pavement, with nothing but Bomba between her and the dog, until Bomba had hissed, “Run.” And she’d taken off.
Now, she all but throws herself over the fence to Jennyanydots and Jellylorum’s garden, yowling for help, because if there’s anyone that can help, it’s going to be them.The two mollies jump up in a flurry of panic and voices, both of them trying to get Electra to answer Where’s Bomba? What happened? Are you okay? But she doesn’t have the breath to answer anything in depth beyond giving them a wheezy explanation, “Dog! We—in the alley—dog—Bomba—”
The mollies bristle, ready to go searching for Bomba, when someone calls Electra’s name from the other side of the fence, and the very sound of it makes her heart leap. Bomba!
Sure enough, Bomba clambers over the fence and deposits herself ungracefully into the garden. She doesn’t look all that worse for wear, no fur sticking out in places it shouldn’t, no missing patches, no cuts that Electra can smell, nothing but relief and fear and she’s alive!
Electra throws herself at Bomba, buries herself in the red molly’s thick fur. “Bomba,” she sobs, “Bomba, Bomba, I thought—”
“It’s okay,” Bomba breathes, even as her racing heartbeat echoes in Electra’s ears. “It's okay, I’m okay. The dog’s human called it off,” she says, her voice soft and far away, the words meant as much for Electra as they are for Jenny and Jellylorum. “Are you okay?” she asks, this time to Electra directly.
Electra pauses to take stock of herself. The adrenaline is wearing off now, leaving her limbs weak and shaky, and making it hard for her to get a firm grasp of Bomba’s fur; her paws are growing sore from the run, but otherwise…she’s okay. She’s alive, she tells Bomba. They’re both alive.
“Okay,” Bomba breathes, holding Electra closer, even as her own legs shake with the effort. “Okay.” She pauses to catch her breath for a moment, then licks Electra on the head and says, “Remember when I told you there’s more to being a Protector than fighting?”
Electra sniffs and nods, pushing her nose deeper into Bomba’s fur. “Mhm.”
“This is what I mean. Sometimes,” she says gently, licking Electra between the ears with heavy, even strokes, “It’s about knowing when to fight, and knowing when to run. Sometimes you have to run. And there’s no shame in that.”
Another sniff, and Electra leans back, just a little, scrunching her muzzle as strands of Bomba’s fur stick to her nose. “Even you run sometimes?”
“Sometimes,” Bomba answers. “Sometimes.” A smile laces her words as she takes a heavy breath and lets out an airy laugh. “And I certainly did today.”
Given the OK to show off the print I drew for @namingofcatszine !
The prints were to be inspired off different non-replicas and I got to draw for Tecklenburg!
It was an absolute honour to partake in this lovely fangroup with so many skilled and talented artists, and it was so amazing to see the whole thing come together! Everyone's pieces were absolutely phenomenal
My Shiki Tugger piece for The Naming of Cats zine! @namingofcatszine
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to participate, I had such a fun time coming up with this piece. The zine and the merchs all came out so well too, I hope everyone who managed to get it likes them as well!
Don't forget to also check the other contributors wonderful work <3
finally time to post my part of @namingofcatszine !
hello, yes, i am in fact the head mod and creator of the project! this was my first time running a zine and i hope i did a decent job 😭🫶🏻 we went through a lot of bumps in the beginning but we managed to pull through! (i still have some more things to do on my part tho 😖)
along with creating the zine, i also got to design the misto keychain.
i worked with so many creative and talented people to make this possible and they gave me their 100%, putting so much effort into making the best art/written pieces ive ever seen!
each page is dedicated to each character, inspired from a different production. its my literal pride and joy, its such a great work of art.
id like to thank every single artist and writer who worked on this with me. it wouldnt have been possible without them. also to my mods: milo, michael, and sweet who helped me manage everyone and to making sure this zine was amazing.
i hope to run something like this again in the future. it was an honor to get to work with so many talented people! 💕
Digital Bundles should have now been sent to you to your email address you used to purchase the zine. Please check any spam inboxes if you cannot find the email.
Baby’s first zine participation!! It was an absolute honour to be invited on as guest artist and been given the chance to work with some of the community’s most talented creatives in the @namingofcatszine ! This was definitely one of if not the most ambitious pieces I’ve ever attempted over the course of a few months in 2023 but I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and create something I can truly be proud of. Thank you so much to all the mods, artists, writers for their incredible efforts and of course the unwavering support of the Cats community for making this happen 🫶 it has been an amazing experience from the beginning until the end 🥹
my @namingofcatszine contributions !!! these stickers were very very cute. i also made emotes for the digital bundles, theyre just little guys :3 (blurry because they had to be the correct size for discord lol)
Apologies for the delay, we were getting some more shipping materials. We will be packing orders this weekend and then sending them throughout next week. Thank you for your patience!
am a bit late posting these but these were my pieces for the @namingofcatszine. everybody did an incredible job and i’m super happy with how everything came out! ❤️❤️
Happy to post my piece for the @namingofcatszine! I had the honor of drawing Macavity >:D (ft. Demeter)
From concept to execution this piece was a real challenge for me but so, so fun! Macavity is such an intriguing, arresting character with so many different interpretations - I primarily drew inspiration from his 2016 Broadway revival design. I really hope I conveyed his mystery >:3
I’m sooo grateful for getting the chance to participate ❤️ This was my first ever zine and I had such a wonderful experience working alongside so many talented artists, writers, and creators. Peach did a fantastic job coordinating, shoutout to them!
(FYI: when I entered the zine I was using drygrasses as my signature but have since started using chopshajen as my primary art handle, which is why I’m posting it here)
andulkaphoto
jacobvanloon
theartofmadeline
jbbartram-illu
janainaart
snowghoul
discoholicmusic
blakekathryn
pixelskylines
