Rats Again

[soc_puppet]

I should really make myself a rat art icon. Logically, I could just use any of the mood theme images I've made already, since they also have to be 100x100 pixels or smaller, but I want something special, you know?


Sick, Exanimate, Cold


Stressed, Silly, Surprised


Exhausted, Optimistic, Relaxed


I also re-did Confused. Old is left, new is right:


Once again, I have lots of thoughts on all of these, so if you're interested in any of them, I would love to share!

I am also officially turning my custom mood theme on at this point ♥ I wanted to wait until moodthemeinayear got through Part 1, which covers the minimum moods needed for a custom mood theme, so I would feel more in sync with the community, and we finally made it on Monday! If you want to block the images for my mood theme, I've got all the links (I think) listed in this post, and will be adding links as I go. (I may have missed one! If so, and you have the time/willingness to check, please let me know which it is so I can include it properly!)

Comments

[bigcatsmallcat]

so happy to see this update!! they keep getting cuter and cuter!! and so funny!! the flower on Exanimate and the little x butt, Optimistic leaning in a half full glass, Stressed's tail!! the little spots on Exhausted!! so many cool details and colors i'm in awe!! obsessed with Sick's blanket it's sooo cute! and i love love love Silly i think i have formed a deep connection with the little guy, i can totally see why it's your favorite :''') oh and new Confused's bigger ears and s tail,,, so so cute!!!
again, i would love to hear anything you want to share about any little rat!! they're all so cute i wish to hold them :'')

[soc_puppet]

I was about two-thirds of the way done with this post when I got your reply to my previous comment, so I was very excited about the timing here 😉✌

Exanimate I had so much fun here. That rat is really leaning into the drama! But then, how else could you encapsulate "Exanimate"? (Possibly in a way that better reflects "Apathetic" or "Blank", which branch from it, but whatever! They'll get their own images eventually.) I'm definitely pleased by the little x butthole; I took inspiration from Japanese cartoon animals, which rarely shy away from such important anatomical features, though I don't quite have the chutzpah to draw testicles or nipples on animals as yet. (Rat testicles are very obvious...)

Optimistic is partly inspired by one of my own pet rats; the same one who inspired the coloration for Recumbent, in fact! I would sometimes have a glass of cranberry juice to drink while having the rats out to play, and there were a few occasions when he managed to crawl over to the otherwise empty glass, climb up the side, and dip alllll the way down into it to lick up the remaining drops at the bottom, with only his back feet holding onto the glass's rim to keep him in place! I never managed to get a picture of that, but I'm pretty sure I did get a photo of him trying about what Optimistic is doing here, with a partly-full glass; unfortunately, the balance on that was worse, so I had to stabilize the bottom for him or both he and the glass would topple over, but it ended up being the perfect inspiration for Optimistic. Lean into the glass-half-full idea (and also the desperate hope that it won't go toppling over)!

Stressed's tail is a whole mood on its own! If the frown, the hunched posture, and the clutching-at-its-head weren't enough to tell you how that rat feels, the tail definitely would. One of the easier designs for me to figure out right there 😂

For Exhausted, rats do this adorable thing when they yawn; they nearly always stretch out one or both paws at the same time! Like how humans will sometimes do \o> or \o/ when yawning! It was a little harder to capture with stick-arms on these rats, but I think I managed it reasonably well. I also got a fair amount of light brown in this batch of rats.

Sick's eyes didn't keep quite the level of pathetic-ness they had from before I shrunk the image to mood theme size, but I feel like the rest of it looks pathetic enough to make up for that. Rats love nesting in blankets. Whenever I had cloth covers for the shelves in their enclosures, my rats would like to tunnel under them where it was nice and cozy! It was almost cute enough to make up for being frustrating. (I put those there to keep the shelves clean, darn it!)

I kept a slightly larger copy of Silly for myself 😁 It's only 200x200 pixels, since that's the size I work before I shrink them down, but I loved it so much I just had to! Also that's a legit coloration it has: Masked! I knew it was the perfect marking for this rat as soon as I came up with the jester theme. I now have plans to put it together with a few other rats (such as Optimistic) for a Rat Tuesday/Mardi Gras pic for next week 😛

I actually used the same base sketch for both versions of Confused! The first one is just mirrored from the original and with the tail re-done; the original sketch had the curvy S-tail, like the final product here, but I wasn't sure how it would look with the question mark. Still, I ended up unsatisfied with my first attempt at Confused, and I think the new version smoothed things out for me. There may be a few others I re-do as well, but that probably won't be for a while.


I miss having pet rats 😥 Especially when they would sit on my shoulders and go SNIFF SNIFF SNEEF SNOOF right in my ears! Ah, I should go see if there's a pet store that will let me cuddle with some, even for just a few minutes... Until then, I'll just look at/draw pics of rats and cuddle the family dog.

[bigcatsmallcat]

i'm so happy the timing worked out well!! i wonder if me being slow will always spawn more rats :P haha

not gonna lie, the thought of these little rats with detailed nipples or testicles made me giggle so hard. they would look so funny!!

and ahhh it's so exciting to know you want to complete all the emotions!! such an ambitious but so noble goal!! that's so many rats!!!
everything about the choices you make and why and other behind the scenes info is so appreciated!! such a fun project, i'm so happy to follow along!!

:'''') and i'm so so grateful for the stories you shared, picturing your little rat dipping inside an empty glass warmed my heart :'') i love that life is inspiring these !!! they're such soft gentle creatures, the love and care you put into making them so detailed definitely shows :''')

thank you so much for sharing all those thoughts once again!! these little rats bring me so much joy :'') i hope they keep you good company until you can find some real rats to cuddle :'')