💽 Cats' Jukebox

@catatante

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💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Jul 5

Something possessed me to help and the only other option I found was [non-free] 3D assets of one! I'm always looking for an excuse to find new sites to bookmark for research, haha, 💛. Damn I just thought of Clip Studio assets, this was literally free for a limited time too nooo... but screenshot, 🙂.

A screenshot of a 3D modelled jabot with ruffly collar and a woven, opened-up front, showing side, 3/8, and 3/4 view. 3D model retrieved from the Clip Studio Assets store [Content ID: 2283530].

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Jun 23

Slight addendum (sorry to intrude!): if you click on any of the icons on the mini toolbar (outside of the magnet), they become permanently active and turn a grey color; then you can click and drag anywhere in the viewport to manipulate the camera and/or object. Clicking it again turns off the tool!

Close-up screenshot of a selected default masc model in Clip Studio Paint. The first icon [camera tilt] is selected, which is visualized as a dark grey-blue (compared to the lighter blue of the other camera and object manipulation icons).

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Jun 23

Hopefully OP doesn't mind the quote-repost, this silly graphic's been sitting on my hard drive for months: an alt text tier list with a bit of snark. (It's #art adjacent so it can have that tag. Remember that you can write alt text in your native language! Screen readers can translate it for you.)

Graphic labelled "Alt Text Tier List".
[Snarky] descriptions for FF to D snipped due to character limit.
FF: No Alt Text Whatsoever (or Using It Improperly).
F: Alt Text Under 25 Characters (or 5 Words).
D: Using a Subject's Name (without Describing Them).
C: Simple Details (Subject, Position, Expression).
Welcome to the bare minimum! This amount of alt text will suffice for a majority of screen reader users: who the subject (or subjects) is, what they're doing, and how they're expressed. "A fluffy black dog running in a yard" is good alt text! "My Demon OC Sirius sitting seductively in a suit" is also good alt text! It can be improved, but alt text is an art form too. Relevance to the body text can improve the alt text of your image: "look who's having fun" and describing the subject who is (or isn't) having fun is enjoyable!
B: In-Depth Visual Description.
This is my favorite part of alt text: describing the image how you see it. Different people interpret images in different ways, and details matter! Let's go backwards: what's the black dog's name and/or breed, and are they chasing anything? How about Sirius: what are their pronouns, their features and/or color language, their way of dress? People who use screen readers love knowing these details! (If you have multiple images of the same subject, you don't have to re-describe them— just refer to the previous image!)
A: Telling A Story Through Text (Which Is Image-Relevant).
I know that the character limit of certain sites is low (many AT Protocol social media sites cap it at 2k, Tumblr caps it at 4k, etc etc.), but pushing your alt text to its limits is always so enjoyable. What's the mood of the image? What are the subtle hints of body language, if any? If your fluffy black dog is gallavanting joyously in the yard, with their ears flopping in the air, tongue out and drooling, and their body in mid-hover, I'm going to know that you love your subject. An attention to detail just might make someone's day.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Apr 5

She would have went to school for astronomy, but her family was poor, and of her own volition decided to marry into a rich family [Umetarō's] so hers can prosper. It's possible that she might have caused Nami [Xiānlì's eldest, he/they] to prefer star-gazing like her; have another #writing #wip, lol.

Another snippet from the same work-in-progress in the last post, only further into the future. Na-rae decided to go star-gazing to look for her late parent in the stars, bringing her husband, his second spouse Xiānlì, and their children with her. When she stops, she asks them to follow her; the rest of the passage is as follows:

I nod, grabbing Ichigo-kun and Kiri-chan, as Xiānlì-san grabs Nami-chan. We follow her out of the watchtower, down those flights of stairs, and walk out to the nearby clearing.

The children are quick to look upwards, to say their little sounds of amazement. Soon, the rest of us follow.

Several streaks of light dart across the night's sky, coming in and out of vision quickly. Some of the streaks are but blips in the celestial tapestry, whereas others are thick, visible, look dangerously close.

This goes on for many minutes, without stopping. I've seen meteors before in my life, but never this plentiful...

Some of the children's sounds shift into a subtle fear.

"The streaks of light won't hurt you," Na-rae says, as she gestures towards the sky. "They are warnings from Mujigaebi, Teitōji, our father of the skies. He is fooling the yōkai into thinking that it is day; the light that comes from Sol burns them, so they flee. That is also why we use fireworks for special occasions."

"Fireworks?" Nami-chan questions. "What are those?"

Na-rae gives them her attention with a smile. "It is in the name, Língbō ya: it's a flower made of fire. Special kinds of things are flung into the sky, and they explode in many, many colors-- like flowers blooming."

"Cool..."

"Maybe we can take you three to the Two Dragons Festival during the night, so you can see them for yourself."

"But eomeoni," Kiri-chan chimes in, "you're scared of the dark!"

Na-rae's attention shifts once more. "There are lot of lights on during the night festival," she answers, "so I'll just need to go there before it gets dark, and have your fùmǔ protect me when we head back home."

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Apr 5

There's only one OC that I have, in detail, answered this question for, and that is Na-rae, the eomeoni of seven (six of which she didn't carry): she loves star-gazing, and astrology as well. Her late parent ended up fueling this passion of hers, which went untapped for many years. #writing #wip +

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Mar 23

My main "gardener" is Sin, who grows the produce their late papi did— trading tubers for cashews— and mushrooms. To connect with a lost sibling, Ahn established a garden with xier twins, Ha-ru and No-eul, who chose the plants themselves. Alfonz's mother grows flowers. See attached #writing #wip, lol

A portion of the work in progress story Duel Dragons. At this part of the story, an array of characters are sat for lunch— save for two who went boating without the main group. While Josefín cleans Juli up, Kiri asks the group what they grow.

Story snippet text is as follows:
"A specialized collection of mushrooms," Sin answers, "plus the produce that mi papi used to grow in his own garden."

"Really? How difficult is it to grow mushrooms?"

"It's super easy: the main problem is keeping yourself safe from the spores when you go to harvest them." They look up from their soup. "What about you four: what do you grow?"

"That decision is up to the twins," answers Ahn, who then looks over to Ha-ru and No-eul cleaning themselves up after lunch. Since neither twin was expecting their bohoja to stare at them, they become somewhat surprised, and attempt to explain their decisions in CSL.

Since only three-and-a-half people understand CSL at the table, Ahn decided to translate for them.

"Big," is No-eul's answer; "pretty" is Ha-ru's.

These answers bring a smirk to Sin's face. "Have you eaten the food that you've grown?"

Both twins nod in unison.

"Even the flowers," Kiri interjects with a smile.

"Eating flowers, huh... Do you mean 'drinking', or..."

Kiri chuckles. "We sometimes cook flowers into our cakes, especially when they're in-season. Out-of-season, or when the flowers are super tiny, we drink them-- or at least, we drink the liquid it steeps in. I guess you could eat them, too..."

"Kiri enjoys drinking plum blossom chai on the regular," interjects Ahn, "so either I'm making it fresh when they're in-season, or she's drinking the blossom preserves left by my late abeoji."

"That sounds nice," comments Josefín, more or less done cleaning off Juli now. "I wonder if mi mamán would like us to bring some fresh flowers or clippings for her to appreciate or propagate."

"It would probably be a decent payment," says Sin, "for her watching over the gardens and Uri for us."

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Mar 22

Where you'll see me most often is ToyHouse, ATmosphere replies, a Discord server or two— I often keep to myself. Mutuals can hit me up for collabs or further contact information; still thinking about financials right now. Here, have my account mascot in two forms (with content warnings, too). #art

A drawing of the account mascot Catatante— a hybrid between a Sword-Nosed Bat and a Gelada with a warm color palette, teal details, and music motifs— sitting on the ground casually as they stare blankly at the viewer. Account information is written around them.

Text reads as follows:
Catatante [written in Latin, Baybayin, Katakana, Cyrillic, and Hangeul script]; also known as... Cats [also written in the above scripts]. it/they/mors/iel/牠 [pronouns]; agender intersex.

Mascot/SFW palette: #68241D [mahogany], #EB7B0D [orange], #309989 [teal], #E9F182 [light yellow], #272726 [black].

OC/NSFW palette: #543399 [purple], #FFF200 [yellow], #00FFC7 [cyan], #FFF [white], #272726 [black].

Interaction-focused account. Only posts own works and thoughts. Quote/Reposts: informational/text posts, gifts, shares, tagged NSFW.

Public-facing icon: [an image of the account icon]. Additional info in next post.

A sketchy waist-up drawing of the account mascot Catatante— a hybrid between a Sword-Nosed Bat and a Gelada with jutting tusks, a tooth gap, and music motifs— looking at the viewer with a hand up as they say "Remember, kidults: portrayal isn't endorsement unless explicitly stated!". Account information is written around them.

Text reads as follows:
Catatante Content Warnings.

Posts to this account may include the following:
1. Visual or written depictions of:
a. Trauma (symbolic if/when drawn);
b. Kink (usually just suits and pinups when drawn);
c. Identity issues (gender, lineage, body image, etc.);
d. Body horror (e.g. multiple eyes/limbs);
e. Animal, space, and ocean-related phobias;
f. Mental differences (autism, plurality, etc.);
g. Physical, mental, and psychological conditions.

2. Solely-written depictions of:
a. Explicit sex (I don't like "seeing" my OCs boning— I'm a weird aego);
b. Abuse (including inter-generational and harassment at school/work/in public);
c. Eating and substance-abuse disorders (with those characters in recovery);
d. Violencia! (slur-slinging, injuries, bigotry, death, genocide; SA only in discussion).

Note: I might repost NSFW art that I didn't draw, politics, news, etc. I dislike sharing video content because it's over-stimulating for me, and Bsky doesn't know how to make videos not loop or play with the sound auto-enabled. Until Bsky lets us see content warning labels on NSFW without needing to turn the censor warning on ourselves (give it a badge like you do to other things, Bsky), NSFW reposts will be scant. I like consent, so I like [underlined] tags and [underlined] alt text; posts and reposts oft have both.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Mar 22

Time to finally make a pinned post. Hi I'm Cats, artist of many mediums, world-builder, etc. I like drawing creatures inspired by nature, and love diverse characters as well. I'm never not learning: you can tell where my research takes me with the art that I make. (1/2+) → #art #OCSky

A collage of four reference sheets, displaying ethereal, animalistic entities.
The first reference sheet is of an oceanic deity based on hydrothermal vents, icecaps, dunkleosteus, and coelacanths.
The second sheet is of a multi-limbed folklore-ish deity based off of earthworms and grunge "fashion" (to put it simply), with a heraldic depiction of said creature to one side.
The third is of a shape-shifting nine-tailed fox, with a bust of a Chinese-coded masc, a full-body of a gravid sphinx cat, a bust of its true form, and a partial body of their true form in a well. The true form is a combination of both foxes and dragons.
The fourth is an anthropomorphic Gryphon alter, dressed in Chinese clothing for one full-body, bands and sandals for another, and a drawing of it looking dumbfounded at a computer in the corner. There's also a cutesy ink-only drawing of xier being petted by a pair of Chinese-coded twins, which are two of its other alters.

A collage of four reference sheets, depicting four proper animals within the user's constructed world.
The first reference sheet is a depiction of the Tagalog folklorish creature the Tigmamanukan, with a coloration based off the omen bird which is given this title. It is depicted as a hybrid of a few dinosaurs and kangaroos, with a tripedal resting stance, saltigrade legs, long claws on its "hands", and a head with a pointed crest and teeth-filled "beak". A Human in traditional dress is positioned at the center.
The second sheet is a depiction of a wingless Gryphon, the stand-in for canids. It has a design based off ornithopods and wolves, and has a bi-quadrupedal body plan with a beaked face and feathery ears. A Human in traditional dress is positioned at the side.
The third is a depiction of the Bo Kheng, the stand-in for bovids. It is a hadrosaurid quadruped with a ribbed keratinous crest jutting from its forehead and wide, floppy elephant-like ears. It also has asymmetrical legs, with the front legs ending in cloven hooves and the back ones in flat, three-toed feet. A Human in Western clothes is positioned at the side.
The last reference sheet is of a Skakun, the stand-in for horses. It has the same saltigrade leg-plan and tripedal resting stance of the Tigmamanukan, but has a dimorphic color palette and far softer, bird-like features. It is based on pachycephalosaurs. Instead of a pointy crest, it has a ring of feathers around its domed head, with large droopy ears on each side. A Human in Western clothes, alongside a poncho, is positioned at the side.

A collage of four story covers, alongside two fake poster designs, for four of the user's published stories and one perpetual work in progress story.
The first cover is for "Sin Nombri", which depicts the three narrators (Sin [they/them], Kei [he/they], and Alfonz [he/they in this story]) standing "around" the title text. Sin looks irritatingly at Alfonz who is smirking at them, whereas Kei is looking at Sin with his hands held and a neutral curiosity.
The second cover is for "Year's Beginning", the sequel to "Sin Nombri", which depicts the Great Phoenix Ximu [Xie/Xier].
The third cover is for "Lavender Associates", which depicts the story's main pair: Tatsu [he/him] in the back, who is clutching Tanaka [he/they] possessively as their back is to the viewer.
The fourth cover is for "Loose Ends", the sequel to "Lavender Associates", which depicts Tanaka with his face turned to the viewer; at this angle, one can clearly see his glasses and hearing aids. A pair of scissors (implied-held by Tatsu, due to the stim bracelets on the wrist) coming close to cutting his braided hair.
The top right poster is a kabuki depiction of the Great Phoenix Hō-ō, performed by Ahn [xie/xier]. Xie is dressed in many layers of colorful kimono, the inner kimono a gradient of red to yellow with flower and the outer kimono a gradient of blue to indigo with leaves and vines. Xie is holding fans as a stand in for xier wings.
The bottom right poster is a kabuki depiction of the World Serpent Teitōji [he/Him], performed by Kiri [she/he/they]. He is dressed in a few layers of kimono as well, though it is far more modest. They are also wearing armor, boots, legged hakama, and a pair of horns, with many beads around their neck and a singular pair held in the hands.
Both posters have the same text and design elements (all written in Japanese using kana), though inverted as a diptych. The background is a stylistic depiction of a solar eclipse, with white clouds wrapping around the center subject.

A collage of three character sheets and two story-based character illustrations.
The first character sheet is of Nami [he/they], who is drawn in his work outfit. This outfit is a combination of Chinese hanfu (upper half) and Japanese wafuku (bottom half), indicating his mixed lineage status: it comes with a hat, coat, pants, and toed boots.
The second character sheet is of Hana [she/her], alongside a few of her assistive devices. She is depicted in underwear to showcase her muscular upper half and her amelia, a congenital condition where she is legless outside of a left clubfoot. She is seen sitting in her "comfy legs" while belted to her active wheelchair; wearing a single toed boot as she's doing pull-ups, and sitting casually as she plays video games asymmetrically (with a controller in one hand and another around her foot).
The third character sheet is of Tanaka [he/they], both as an adult returning to his homeland of Cánh Tây Nam and as a child departing said homeland. He is dressed in Vietnamese clothing with the exact-same design in both versions of himself, with a red Áo dài embroidered with gold pheasants, navy silk pants, flat shoes, and a black headscarf. Both are wearing glasses and hearing aids, though of different styles.
The first character illustration is of the primary "Loose Ends" cast spending time in a Vietnamese-coded store, with Shiori [center, they/them] trying on Vietnamese clothing as Tanaka and Shiori [she/they] help.
The second character illustration depicts a game of Koi-Koi between Nami and his xiăodìdi, Hiroshi [he/him], with food around them on one side and Hiroshi getting a massage from his spouse, Jun [they/them].

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Mar 8

Nine games that have impacted me as a creative. All of these games did something unique enough that I keep thinking back to them. Music, art, humor, critical thinking, choices, creative system usage (lol). (P.S. Don't buy Disco Elysium new: if you know, you know.) Website: my9games.com (in Japanese)

A list of game covers in a three-by-three grid, not in ranking order but in creative order.
Games listed are: OneShot; Yakuza 0; Papers, Please; Hacknet; Dragon's Dogma; Everything; Disco Elysium; Remember Me; and Loop Hero.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Mar 7

Describe your plot in five words or less. (How about four stories, two of them being sequels?) Sin Nombri: matriarchy equals trans-masc suffering; Year's Beginning: 'Sin Nombri', the weddings episode; Lavender Associates: two gays, two lavender marriages; Loose Ends: "Who am I, really?" -- Narrator

A cropped, dual-watermarked line-less illustration of two of Sin Nombri's main characters: Alfonz [he/they at this stage of their life, coded Quisqueyan] at left, and Sin [they/them, coded Latin American] at right. Sin has Alfonz pinned against a glowing-yellow wall, staring at him with a sneer as he looks at them listlessly.

A dual-watermarked shaded illustration of the private wedding's wedding participants (Alfonz [they/them at this stage of their life, coded Quisqueyan], Lena [he/she/it, coded Oromo diaspora], Mikki [ji/xer, coded Chilean-Filipino], and Sin [they/them, coded Latin American]) and their wedding party. On the far left is Lena's parents, Faayani [she/her] and Goota [he/him]; behind Alfonz is their mother, Magdalia [she/her]; behind Mikki is xer parents, Sima [he/him, coded Filipino] and Miguel [they/them, coded Mapuche-Chilean]; and behind Sin is Mikki's university roommate Ahn [xie/xier, coded Korean] and Sin's old contracting agent Sal [they/them, coded Pakistani].

Alfonz is dressed in a white, lacy leotard, with a boxy hat and gold-tipped heels; Lena is dressed in a suit with white embroidery and lace, and is holding both of Mikki's hands; Mikki is dressed in a pure-white baro't saya, including tapis, and has xer sandaled foot on Lena's; and Sin is dressed in a tie and long coat, with their hand on one of Mikki's shoulders.

The rest of the wedding party are dressed in a mix of traditional and Western-styled clothing (with Sal wearing hijabi and Ahn wearing hanbok), but instead of each outfit being colored individually a gradient of waves washes over all of them collectively.

The bottom right corner has the title: "Fête de Lune Private Wedding".

A cropped, dual-watermarked illustration of Tatsu [he/him, coded Japanese] clutching Tanaka [he/they, coded Ryukyuan-Vietnamese] possessively, with Tanaka's bare back facing the viewer. Though mostly out of frame, Tanaka is wearing arm braces; on the other hand, Tatsu is wearing finger-guards, and a wedding ring is present on one of his fingers.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Mar 4

So much #WIP art and writing... ("Suggestive" label for top "nudity" in one image, and the implications of one piece of writing-- both on the bottom row. Can't label for both "suggestive" and "nudity", unfortunately-- or individually, for that matter.) Warning: multiple limbs, multiple eyes.

A work-in-progress lined illustration of a masculine person [Nami, he/they], coded Chinese-Japanese, singing into a microphone, with one full-body drawing and a bust.

A screenshot of the work-in-progress story "Shōchikubai: My Auspicious Spouses", showing the beginning snippets of Chapter 13, "Leadership". Metrics are 13 chapters; 61 thousand, 5 hundred 69 words total; and 1 thousand 6 hundred 43 words for Chapter 13 itself.

Literature description: "A somewhat-detailed account of the life of Umetarō, the current house head of the Iwasaki clan, starting in his youth and ending when he became house head himself."

Story snippet (which is cut off at the end):
"Our travel to Wolgyeong by boat happened with very little issues.

"Nami-chan was excited the whole time, running around, trying to look over the edge, constantly being picked up by their fùmǔ to calm them down, to show them the expanse of water around us.

"On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Kiri-chan seemed a bit uneasy, didn't like the rocking of the boat, had to be brought to its lower levels and relaxed by my hahaoya as their eomeoni soaks in the gentle breeze of the chilly Mors air. Ichigo-kun went with them not because they didn't like the boat, but because they--"

A screenshot of the work-in-progress short story anthology for Schlocktober 2025, with a focus on Entry 9 which is simply labeled "Student Loans". This entry is 3 thousand, 4 hundred nine words long (of the 3 thousand, 6 hundred eighty-eight words total).

Literature description: "Mikki feels pressured to do camwork to pay off xer tuition; Prompt #9a: Nonconsensual Consent".

Story snippet:
"It's very hard, going to school as a member of the Foreign Exchange Program. What's even harder is when your parents said that they'd pay for your full tuition, but they accidentally got the currency conversions completely wrong.

"That is why I am using legal loopholes to pay what they couldn't cover."

A work-in-progress line-less illustration of a fat feminine figure [Mother Death, Mors, or Kamatayan, she/her], coded-Philippine indigenous, with two sets of arms and breasts, sitting cross-legged on the floor with her arms up.

She is wearing clothing articles (and tattoos) inspired by the dress of a few different Igorot ethnic groups (a product of some earlier research), and is carrying two hand-axes in her upper set of arms and two baskets on her scarf-wrapped head.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Mar 1

Finally finished one set of notes, 🎉. I need to do a CTRL+F replacement of ethnic group terms (as I fixed the one for Ifugao [one coded ethnicity of some of my OCs] but not the others), and figure out how I'm going to summarize their different tattoos. Besides that, woo-- time to visdev (soon-ish)!

An Obsidian window partitioned into two even content views.

On the left is notes for "Dress and Adornment in the Mountain Province of Luzon, Philippine Islands", dated 1929, and a handful of subheadings: an Introduction, a subheading of the seven distinct Igorot groups (the Ibaloy, Kankanay, Ifugao, Bontok, South and North Kalinga, and Isneg), a General Details with the subheadings "Carrying Methods" (of children, burdens, and water), Blades and Shields, and Weather Protection; and the Summary for all of the above notes.

The text under the "Summary" heading reads as follows:
"Below are a few sets of tables that summarize the styles of dress worn by the seven Igorot ethnic groups mentioned throughout these notes. These charts include the names of clothing articles, colors, and/or designs, and may also feature use cases.
"Note that not all groups are known to weave their clothing: the Isneg and Ibaloy don't weave at all, and others might opt to buy their textiles from outside their communities. This should be kept in mind while one skims through the tables below."

On the right is the glossary for the notes on the right, from A-tak ("an ordinary bolo blade used by the Ibaloy") to Appong ("strings of beads worn by the Bontok. Oftentimes, these are--"), which is cut off by some note metrics.

In the bottom right corner is the metrics for the left-side notes: 0 backlinks (because the backlinks are in the Glossary), 14 thousand 2 hundred three words, and 109 thousand 2 hundred thirty-three characters.

The notes for the 1936 book "Iban or Sea Dayak Fabrics" are seen as a tab next to the one for the displayed notes.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Feb 18

I put a lot of research into this one it's kind of ridiculous, lol. Looking up Vietnamese clothing stores, Tết customs, the signage in that image. I redrew that bench 4 or so times. Shiori's pose in the previous image comes from TrueRef (unposted challenge), the rest I posed 3D models for. #art

An angled background shot of the back corner of a clothing store. The store has trilingual, Vietnamese/Chinese/English signage in a few places, a mirror, a bench, a changing room door, and a clothing return rack. One wall has vertical wood panels, and the rest of them are painted an off-blue grey.

Above the mirror is the "changing room" sign, next to the door is another "changing room" sign, and above the clothing rack is a "return" sign. Below the mirror is a corner bench, made primarily of wood with black upholstery.

The clothing are a variety of Áo dai, Áo bà ba, silk pants, and skirts, with varying lengths and colors. These clothes are an Easter egg, as they're colored similarly to the Progress Pride flag: it features the standard rainbow, plus black and brown for BIPOC members of the queer community, and white in a few places to refer to transgender members of the community.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Feb 18

It's the Lunar New Year: I hope it's happy! (I waited a day because two cultures celebrate on the 18th, but I'm kind of late, oops time zones.) Unfortunately, I still haven't fully developed the lunar cycle for my constructed world, so I can't say which "year" it is for these characters. #OCSky #art

A candid illustration of the prominent cast from Loose Ends spending time in a coded-Viet clothing store— trilingual signs in Vietnamese, Chinese, and English implying such.

These characters are Tatsu [he/him], Shiori [they/them], and Saori [she/they], coded-Japanese adults; Tanaka [he/they], a coded Vietnamese-Ryukyuan adult; Linh Hảo [they/them], a coded-Vietnamese elder; Heiwa [they/them], a coded-Japanese toddler; and Hạnh Phúc [they/them], a coded Japanese-Vietnamese toddler. Linh Hảo has dark, splotchy skin, Tanaka and Hạnh Phúc tan, and the rest pale. All of them have black hair and eyes (and Tatsu, a beard and sideburns).

Tatsu is sat on a bench, satchel to his side, phone in one hand and stim necklace in the other. He looks over at Linh Hảo (the mirror behind him insinuating such) as they take a photo of Shiori trying on clothes. Shiori is absolutely ecstatic, dressed in long, beige silk pants, a purple, knee-length Áo dài, and a dark, sheer shawl that Saori is slipping onto their shoulders while she talks to them. There is also a Nón lá on their head, which Tanaka is adjusting with a soft smile.

Between Tanaka and Shiori stands Heiwa, who looks up at Shiori with a hand on their guardian's leg. In front of Tatsu is Hạnh Phúc, who is sat on the ground while chewing the ear of their plush Bò Kheng [a hadrosaurid bovine with large, elephant-like ears].

Both Hạnh Phúc, Tanaka, Heiwa, and Linh Hảo are wearing Áo dài (Linh Hảo's being a solid blue, and the others' having gold ornamentation on red), with all but Tanaka wearing Khăn vấn on their head. Saori and Tatsu, on the other hand, are wearing kimono with hakama, though Tatsu has a haori on his shoulders and jika-tabi on his feet (in contrast to Saori wearing zori on her feet and a short-sleeved kimono). Tanaka is wearing glasses and hearing aids, Shiori is wearing noise-limiting hearing aids, Heiwa is wearing a stim bracelet, and both Tatsu and Hạnh Phúc are wearing noise-cancelling headphones.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Feb 17

Tossing a few alt text tips that I use: Bsky's 2k character limit sucks, so I use an application to count alt text before I post it [Obsidian, which I use for lore docs, notes, etc]; and To keep alt text and image visual (for ease of use), I post an IC [in character] reply to that image on Toyhouse.

Two side-by-side windows, with the application Obsidian on the left and a web browser opened to Toyhouse on the right.

The same chunk of alt text is visible in both windows: on the Obsidian window, at the bottom right of it, the word counter says the alt text is 1 thousand, 9 hundred 40 characters long (or 60 characters under Bsky's alt text limit); on the ToyHouse window, a character named "Alt Text" has posted this alt text verbatim as a reply to the post of its relative image.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Feb 15

(Casually takes a break to fill this out; writing the alt text took longer than compiling the image.) Kinda sorta #art though definitely deserves an #OCPrompt for the OC Activities feed. Would've fixed the text to my liking (as writers *are* artists, just not always visual ones) but time, lol.

The quoted "OC Creator Spectrum" image filled out by Catatante, the icon space the eponymous mascot (sitting suggestively while licking a lollipop) with an overlay of the account's actual icon.

Instead of each spectrum line having a single mark, they have a 🌶 emoji for the mark and some text above that specific section.

The fill out goes as follows:
Writer to Artist: center, "writers are artists";
Solo to Collab: very high Solo, "hard solo (but open to collabs)";
Experiment to Expression: center, "(what does this mean)";
Plot First to Design First: center, "certified plantser 😎";
Heavy Lore to Light Lore: full Heavy Lore, "lore so heavy it's on a constant drip cycle";
Angst to Fluff: medium Angst, "angst hits harder with fluff";
Fantasy to Non-Fantasy: center, "(nearly) everything has an explanation";
Canon to Headcanon: very high Canon, "every AU [alternate universe] stays in the mind-palace";
Main OC-Centric to Cast-Centric: full Cast-Centric, "casts make character deaths juicier {in smaller font} [light-hearted]";
Fixed-Pairing to Multi-Ship: very high Multi-Ship, "amatanormativity is dead here";
Few OCs to Many OCs: exceeds the 'Many OCs' threshold, "even the auxiliary characters have depth";
Gatekeep to Lore Dump: medium Lore Dump, [in slightly smaller font] "(vampire autism: invite me in for lore)".

Template by @txtdariocs.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Feb 8

Haven't been posting art much because I've limited spoons on writing 2k character-limited alt text, and am taking notes on two books simultaneously ("Iban or Sea Dayak Fabrics and Their Patterns" and "Dress and Adornment in the Mountain Province of Luzon, Philippine Islands") for character research.

An Obsidian window partitioned into four unequal content views. The left column is notes on the 1936 book "Iban or Sea Dayak Fabrics and Their Patterns", and the first few entries of its glossary underneath; the right column is notes on the 1929 book "Dress and Adornment in the Mountain Province of Luzon, Philippine Islands", with the top of its glossary in vision beneath it.

A summary of the text is as follows:
The notes on the left side (for "Iban or Sea Dayak Fabrics and Their Patterns") detail the etymology of the terms "Iban" and "Sea Dyak" under the heading "The Iban or Sea Dayaks"; beneath the heading "Iban Costume", descriptions on the types of Iban dress are listed. Its glossary's first terms are ambun (alternate name for embun), bedong (women's girdle), bidang (petticoat; skirt), and chinchin tembaga (a brass ring).

The notes on the right side (for "Dress and Adornment in the Mountain Province of Luzon, Philippine Islands") list the six main groups of Igorot (the Ibaloy, Kankanay, Ifugao, Bontok, North and South Kalinga, and Apayaw) under an "Introduction" heading; under "The G-String" heading are details on the Igorot loincloth (which is called a "g-string" throughout the book). Its glossary's first terms are a-ten (the lower garment of the feminine Ibaloy. It is a tapis (or skirt) which goes beyond the knees and completely wraps the body from the hips down), aklang (a simple, short-sleeved jacket with buttons near the top and slightly fanning at the bottom, and usually a paungay at the nape of the neck; worn by Kankanay femmes. Three types of aklang are named kinadangian, lamma, and lubung), apayaw ("pursuing" in the Kankanay dialect), baa (a dark-blue loincloth with red stripes along its length; worn by Kankanay mascs), and baadiaw (a type of white bean harvested by the Ibaloy; they are often used in necklaces).

In the bottom right corner is the Glossary's metrics: 157 backlinks, 2 thousand 24 words, and 14 thousand, 2 hundred 68 characters.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Feb 7

Had to make my own chart because I like grids and clearer labels. (Casual 6am posting. I have so many OCs I can't guiltlessly participate in OC asks; unfortunately, I'm not going to alt text each character's name due to sanity. These are all characters with spoken roles in my stories.) #OCsky #art?

A two-dimensional graph titled "The Trauma to Emotional Stability Axis". The X axis is labeled "lacks trauma" on the negative and "hordes trauma" on the positive, and its value description is "amount of trauma gained in life. The Y axis is labeled "emotionally stable" on the positive and "emotionally unstable" on the negative, and its value description is "strength of one's outer emotions".
Several dozen OC icons are scattered about the chart, with a large variety of ethnicities, ages, skin tones and genders (mostly Humans, with the odd humanoid here and there).
The point distribution is dense partway up the y axis, with an oblong, almost elliptical spread along the x axis at a tilt (towards the "emotionally-stable trauma-hoarder" quadrant). Almost the entirety of the positive Y "emotionally stable" section of the graph is filled, whereas the negative Y's distribution is almost X-shape in shape.
There are even several characters on the extreme edges of it, mostly in the "emotionally-stable trauma-hoarder" section.
Many of the user's favorite (see: most drawn) characters are either near the outer borders, or drawn as close to a 0 point as possible.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Feb 2

Thanks for affirming us mixed folk 💛. I'm Cats, mixed Quisqueyan-American, and I live to draw (and write about!) mixed characters, whether they be Human or not. (I spend hours researching other cultures for fun, too.) The first image is from ArtFight, the rest are (some) of my original characters.

An illustration of a narrow hairstylist's shop, with many photos and graphics of hairstyles and family members on the walls. It is filled to the brim with Filipino characters of different looks, genders, and lineages-- the main hairstylist, Miguel [they/them, coded Chilean-Mapuche] being the only non-Filipino, but a transplant.

Everyone in the shop is staring at the viewer, as Miguel asks, in Tagalog, "Would you like a haircut, friend?"

The image is labelled, with everyone (except Miguel) having a letter on or near them: each character's name, pronouns, and owners are in the corner, listed by letter order.

A group portrait in greyscale of two families: the polycule family in Platina, and the more traditional family from Daeseom.

In row one stands Alfonz [they/vi/mors, coded Quisqueyan-Italian], Sin [they/them, coded mixed Latin], Kiri [she/they/he, coded Korean-Japanese], Ahn [xie/xier, coded Korean], and Mikki [ji/xer, coded Filipino-Chilean]. In row two kneels Lena [he/she/it, coded Ethiopian diaspora] with the standing children: Ha-ru [they/xie, coded Japanese], Juli [any pronouns, coded mixed Afro-Latin], No-eul [they/xie, coded Japanese], and Nari [they/them, coded Ethiopian-Korean].

Alfonz grins as vi leans towards Sin, who is stood cross-armed next to them with a soft smile. Kiri is grinning as well, holding up a "peace" sign [index and middle finger up] with her hand next to their head. Ahn is softly smiling as xie leans towards Mikki, who is grinning with xer hand in the "Vakonawa" sign [crossed middle and index finger, with thumb pointing out].

Lena is slightly smiling, holding up the sign of the Great Wyrm [pinkie, index, and thumb pinched together, with middle and ring finger up]. Ha-ru and No-eul are in a three-person half-hug with Juli, with Ha-ru looking stoic, Juli grinning, and No-eul softly smiling. No-eul holds up a heart sign [crossed thumb and index finger] with their unwrapped arm. Nari is looking at the camera stoically as well, arms wrapped around their Vakonawa plushie [a Cetacean with an icy crest and six limbs].

Kiri, Ahn, and Ha-ru are dressed entirely in Daeseom dress. Kiri is wearing a kimono, Ahn xier hanbok, and Ha-ru a mix of cultures: a jeogori and a hakama. No-eul wears baji, but the rest of their clothes are standard, mainland dress. Mikki is wearing a baro with tapis. Juli is also wearing a tapis. The rest are wearing mainland dress.

The footnote reads: "Meet Up 2025 - Daeseom + Platina Family".

A five-panel comic for a yet-to-be-written story, featuring Pato [it/its, coded Quisqueyan-Chinese] as the story's focus and Alfonz [he/they in this stage of his life, coded Quisqueyan-Italian] as its competition.

[The setting is in a decently-sized, well-furnished room. In the off-center sits a coffee table, which is halfway surrounded by couches. The floors are wooden, the walls are dark, and the furniture is vivid.]

Panel 1: Alfonz leans forward as Pato starts to eat some of its noodles. This panel was made to look like a video feed. Alfonz starts conversation with a "sooo..."

Panel 2-3: Alfonz looks directly at Pato as each of them sit in their own frame. Alfonz has his hand up with fingers pinched, and says, "We're starting this one off with a muk-bang, huh?" [A mukbang is a foodcast-- Alfonz is making a pun here.] Pato slurps its noodles loudly as he says this.

Panel 4-5: Pato sits almost silently, eyes closed, in the first panel, with a soft "ahem". In the next, it looks forward, and says, "I'm part Dàdǎorén, not Daeseom-in, you racist", the bubble showing the Chinese [大島人] and Korean [대섬인] characters for each endonym. [Dàdǎorén and Daeseom-in are two distinct ethnic groups in Solaris. Pato is implying that Alfonz was getting its ethnicity wrong on purpose, but didn't seem to pick up on the wordplay.]

Pato's shirt has 胰島素 [insulin] written on it, because its fat head blocked the insulin pump I drew in Panel 1 and I got mad about it.

A portrait of two men, Soolan [he/him, coded Ethiopian] and his husband Étienne [he/they, undefined coding but looks white], sitting on a couch— or, more specifically, Étienne sitting on the couch, and Soolan sitting on one of his legs with his own crossed at the ankle.

Soolan is wearing glasses, and has his head tilted towards his husband, looking at the viewer with crossed arms. He is dressed in very boring, straight-bodied clothes in a blue-grey monochrome. The side of the head towards the viewer is braided, but the rest of it is a small afro.

Étienne, meanwhile, is wearing a white, sleeveless tank-top with ripped jeans, a watch, and no shoes. His hair is short and sideways-swept, and he has visible tattoos on his arms. Some of his tattoos are drawn to the side, with arrows pointing to them: they are his name in two different scripts, as he is an U'rin in Human disguise.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Jan 29

Added alt text to image. I read the Mushi-shi manga from cover to cover and own the last three/four volumes in a mega-volume bundle. The anime is very close to, if not one-to-one with, the manga. It is gorgeous, and literally inspired my own constructed world's "magic" system. Very good, 10/10.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Jan 17

👀 Having to write the alt text for this one's a pain LOL You get the cat-boy free; I decided to alt-text the full image (and I don't want to summarize it). Nudity tag for cat nipples (yes really 🤣). Fun fact: said reptile-mantis centaur species has no written script! Tags: #art #OCs #CharacterDesign

A dual-character reference sheet featuring Qinglán, the Ziilan Katcho, and Galileo, the Lun Payangi. Featured are a full-body, a bust, and a detail ref for each character, then a bust of the two of them together (Galileo nuzzling Qinglán beneath xier jaw with a purr).

Qinglán has a mantid body plan with reptilian features, a quadruped with four legs and two hands. Digits count to four on both xier feet and xier hands; whereas xier feet are reptilian, xier hands are humanoid with spikes on the knuckles. Xier color scheme is mint and cream, with red, gold, and red markings. Xie has four sets of eyes: two gold, mantis-like ones with false eye spots, and two humanoid ones beneath with black pupils; xie also has a mass of red feelers pulled up into a simple updo. Xie is fully nude.

Galileo has a bipedal, humanoid body-plan with cat features (digitigrade feet, a cat head, and a long tail). His body is a soft pink with brown splotches all over his body (including his nose and nipples). He has red eyes, with yellow sclera, and long fake lashes. He also wears a wig in two of his solo drawings (which he is holding in the third). In his full-body, he is wearing underwear.

Text reads as follows:
Qinglán, enma [they/xie]; height: 1.65m/5'5"; Owner of Broke-Back Records.
Qinglán is a Ziilan Katcho primarily raised in the River district of their home town. Holding an affinity to music, Qinglán decided to move to the city, working part-time as a delivery driver before establishing xier very own music shop. Only wears clothes on the front of xier body for the comfort of others; wears traditional garb.

Galileo, efya [he/him]; height: 1.245m/4'1"; "ur #1 femboi eBoy gamer x3 rawr!"
Galileo is a Lun Payangi born into city life. He is terminally online, but cares a lot about the audience he has curated over the years. His specific subspecies lacks a visible coat of fur. Owns a large collection of wigs and hair accessories. Incredibly vain (but his audience loves this about him).

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Jan 15

Regenerative [Homunculi] form. Forgot the kid actually had the degenerative form but due to the Power of Not Giving Up™ had it "swap" to regenerative. Some have more art; they're all under this tag: toyhou.se/Capseisen/ch... Aiden and Javi have the most art lol Tags: #art #OCs #CharacterDesign 😌

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Jan 15

Mhm mhm, yes I do! These crops'll suck tho, so two-parter: degenerative forms first. I have more recent art for the second character (Aiden) but this one shows how he wears the Symbiont in different places; I'll need to redraw the first one (Jabari), too old. Tags: #art #OCs #CharacterDesign 😛

A full-body, soft-shaded drawing of Jabari Obasi [he/him], a felid with a Symbiont affixed to his residual limb. His pelt pattern is a combination of both tiger and cheetah, with the coloration of a white tiger. His amputated limb is on the right, and in place of it is his bio-synthetic limb. This limb is fully black, with four sharp, white claws. A cane is held on that side of his body.

His golden orange eyes look at the viewer, and he waves with a smile. He has visible mastectomy scars on his chest.

Text on image is as follows: Kasvinsha [name written in Daemonic script], Jabari, Descendant of Shi'a. Efya [Daemonic gender word], he/him. Dated 2021.

A mini-reference sheet of Aiden [he/they/it], an anthropomorphic rodent with a symbiotic, transformative limb. The sheet features two full-bodies (one with the symbiont on his residual limb, one on his back), his Feral form, and three waist-up drawings of his different outfit styles. There is also a small drawing of his Symbiont unattached, with the label "Symbiont-2: Tsuchinoko subtype".

On one of the full-body images, his Symbiont is clamped on the residual limb of his right shoulder-blade as an arm; on the other, it is clamped on the back as a tail, its typical appearance. Behind them is his shifted rodent form, his left hand holding a nut and the Symbiont supplanted as his tail.

Text reads: Aiden, Måntöska. Rot Victim, Human Skeptic. Adaptive; Curious; Cynical. Intuitive; Reckless; Resolute. Character Notes: Older Teen; he/they/it. Symbiont *not* optional. Neuter [flat, featureless groin]. Shifts to rat form at night. Will be violent if necessary.

Clothes, Nude: Keeps Rot Bandaged; Uses Arm Mod Rarely. Casual: Button-Flapped Shorts. Formal: No Pants; Uses Tail Mod Rarely.

Dated 2021.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Jan 15

Saw this #OCprompt circulating and wanted to add alt-text to the faces expressed. (Quotes turned off because I don't want alt text credit— steal the alt from me.) The artist, mugges, is on here! Image from Tumblr; posted in 2017: mugges.tumblr.com/image/158291...

An expression sheet from Mugges, featuring sixteen emoji-shaped faces in various expressions, with columns A through D and rows 1 through 4.

A1: shocked, furrowed brow, one brow slightly raised, dot pupils, mouth lightly parted.
B1: embarrassed, downward-tilting face, blushing, bit lip, looking to side with tears in eyes.
C1: nervous, wide eyes, quivering circle-pupils, blushing, sweating, uneven grin.
D1: sneering, upturned face, furrowed brows, narrowed eyelids, slit pupils, tsking with spit.

A2: fearful, peaked brows, wide-eyed tears, circle pupils, quivering lips, opened mouth.
B2: laughing, raised brow, closed-eyed tears.
C2: shock, wide eyes, dot pupils, tall brows, cheek-blush, spit-take.
D2: angry, furrowed brows, slight blush, dot pupils, yelling.

A3: smug, one eyebrow raised, closed eyes, blush lines, grinning.
B3: seething, vein mark, steam marks, eye blush, furrowed brow, circle pupils, small clenched jaw.
C3: tiny face, dots for eyes, cheek blush, eye blush, tiny tongue.
D3: charm, diamond sparkle from eye, one eyebrow raised, lidded eyes, triangle mouth with teeth.

A4: sobbing, pinched eyes and brow, streams of tears, quivering lips, wide-opened mouth.
B4: nervous tic, eyebrows raised, dot eyes, looking to side, one cheek raised, slight smile.
C4: adoring, heart shapes in eyes, looking to side, heart from eye, slight cheek blush, asymmetrical open-mouthed smile with no teeth.
D4: exhausted, horizontal eyebrows, lidded eyes, slit pupils, bags under eyes, dashed mouth.

At the bottom reads "Mugges' Expression Sheet".

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Jan 14

Sneak peek 👀 I need to go to bed now.

A screenshot from an Obsidian vault, showing only the folders and files. Each folder lists a four-week "month" block, aside from the top folder which is for non-question posts-- and each month has a themed week written inside. Text reads as follows:
0) Account
- Pinned
1) Kratos
-Week 1) Introduction
-Week 2) Family
-Week 3) Culture
-Week 4) History
2) Ponos
-Week 5) Expression
-Week 6) Health
-Week 7) Food
-Week 8) Disability
3) Laimos
-Week 09) Entertainment
-Week 10) Conflict [highlighted]
-Week 11) Animals
-Week 12) Language

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Jan 13

Returning to this to show personal examples: back when my world-building was co-op, I actually made a 67-question Q&A to figure out what, specifically, my partner wanted their civilization "baby" to look like. Here are a few of them (many have a civ name attached, so I went with the lowest set lol).

Crop of a spreadsheet list of questions and answers, listing the 59th [read as "60"] through 67th [read as "68"] questions. Text read as follows:
Do you need a permit in order to own an animatronic pet?
Can one legally grow plants in the comfort of their own home? Do they need a license?
Do you need to check in with the government before thinking about conceiving?
Are children made with sex still, or are test tube babies the huge go-to thing?
Is there a limit of children per household?
Can single parents have children?
How does the adoption process work?
Where is food grown? How is it grown?
Where are the livestock raised? What kind of livestock are there (poultry, dairy, etc.)?

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Jan 13

Having my daily spoon allowance drop due to body issues means that I can't participate in Portfolio Day with everyone (though y'all have fun), so have this "before the alarms go off" post of an old character sheet. ToyHouse watermark version due to old watermark. #OCsky #CharacterDesign #spirit #art

A character sheet of the Hégŭ Jiŭwĕihú in its three forms, drawn digitally in 2024. The sheet features four drawings with different rendering styles:
A soft-painted, minimally-lined bust of his Human disguise, a golden-eyed man in white hanfu with a golden flame-lotus symbol on his forehead. The top half of his dark hair is pulled into a topknot with a gold clip. The bottom half is left hanging loose in the back;
A faux-watercolor bust of their Fox form, featuring the same forehead symbol and a few dark markings on their tan fur;
A full-body lined drawing of her Cat disguise, an uncanny sphynx cat with primate hands, muscly forelimbs, a curled tail, and almost-humanoid eyes; and
A half-body faux-watercolor monochrome drawing of xier Fox form with a fuzzy dragon-like body, in xier wishing well. All but one of xier tails are tipped dark.

The text reads as follows:
Hégŭ Jiŭwĕihú [with hànzì], Nine-Tailed Fox* of the River Valley. The malevolent fox spirit of the Hégŭ region in Ānshāndăo, terrorizing its inhabitants for centuries.

Legends say this spirit started to haunt this region as the result of a genocide that had occurred around 1482 AH. Goes by many names and titles, including but not limited to: Chīmèi, Huáng Zìfén, and Wáng Lĭfén [all names featuring hànzì].

Cat Disguise [Common Form]. Presents as a gravid female cat. Has an infatuation with cats. It is assumed that this spirit might have been one prior to its death. The spirit makes its approach to those they expect to be immoral and tests them with a simple request. The spirit will eat those who deny its request and grant wishes to those who honor it.

Human Disguise [Uncommon Form]. Only uses its Human disguise when at places of worship, or when talking to the person who had succeeded its trial.

Fox Form. Appears in fox form only when granting wishes. Grants wishes from the shrine it possesses. Has six full tails and a half-tail.

Footnote (*): this spirit uses whatever pronouns suits them in the moment.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Jan 11

My art + my inspirations: extinct, extant, and symbolic theming. Images retrieved from Wikipedia, sources in alt + below. Dunkleosteus reconstruction drawn by Hugo Salais; hydrothermal vent photo taken by the ROV Victor 6000; American Crocodile photo from Q. Phia on Flickr. #art #CreatureDesign #OCs

Palaeoartistic reconstruction drawn by Hugo Salais of a 8.79 meter long Dunkleosteus terrelli, a large pelagic fish from the Late Devonian period. Drawn in greyscale, with a grey body and white countershading, maw slightly agape.

Photo of a White Castle hydrothermal mound (6m diameter, 2m high) with its multiple smokers and sulphur chimneys. A small deep-ocean watercraft appears to be measuring one of the smokers.
Photo taken by the ROV Victor 6000.

A photo of an American Crocodile diving into the water, its body almost entirely diagonal with its limbs tucked and its mouth slightly agape.
Photograph taken by q. phia on Flickr.

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Jan 5

I often use ANDI to make sure my stuff meets certain #a11ty guidelines; I got curious on how Bsky's ANDI output looks today and… Do all social media sites look/read this bad under the hood? The two back-to-back "view profile"s, are those for the poster/reposter, or… ANDI: www.ssa.gov/accessibilit...

💽 Cats' Jukebox@catatante· Jan 2

2025 Year-In Review: OCs Created*: 14; Story Words Written: Over 200k; Stories Finished: 2 of 4 [WIP #1 status: ~75%; WIP#2: >85%]; Images uploaded to ToyHouse: 91; CLIPs Completed: 56*/75 [75%]; Obsidian Articles Made: 147. Have some failed bingo cards too, lmao. #artPrompt #writingPrompt #summary