Character notes

The cat on the Texas Water sites.

She was designed on paper, in one sitting, by a twelve-year-old, and the brief that came with the drawing was six lines long and specific down to which paw. Every picture on every one of those sites was built from this one page — same eyes, same collar, same single white back paw.

Character design: a twelve-year-old. Illustration built from her drawing and her brief. She has not named her yet.

The original drawing: a black cat with a blue Texas on its hip and a fish-skeleton collar
The original. Everything else came from this.
ONLY the hind right paw should have a little bit of white on it
— from the brief. The line that told us how seriously to take the rest of it.

The specification

Eight things, and no others.

Three views of the cat: side profile, three-quarter front, and back

  1. Texas, on the hip

    In her blue, on whichever hip is facing you. It is the only marking that has to be on the side the camera is on, and it is the one that makes her ours.

  2. Aqua eyes

    Large and pale, against solid black. On the underwater scenes they are the only bright thing in the frame, which is why the descent works at all.

  3. A reddish nose, white inner ears

    Two small warm notes in an otherwise cold palette. They keep her from reading as a silhouette.

  4. A white spot on the bridge of her nose

    Small enough to miss and specified anyway. It is in every frame.

  5. One white back paw — the right one

    Not both. Not the front. The brief was explicit about this and it is the detail that proves any given picture is actually her.

  6. A collar of fish skeletons

    Blue, patterned with little white fish bones, with a round silver charm reading TEXAS WATER hanging from it.

  7. Bands and a bow on the tail

    Alternating blue and white near the tip, and a dark blue ribbon tied in a bow. The bow is the thing that moves when she swims.

  8. Solid black everywhere else

    No highlights invented, no extra socks, no tabby ghosting. The restraint is what makes the six markings land.

COBALTAQUAROSEBLACKWHITE

How it was done

One drawing, twenty-something pictures.

The hard part of putting a character on a website is not the first picture. It is the eleventh one, where the collar quietly changes pattern and the white paw swaps sides and it stops being the same animal.

  1. The drawing was the reference

    Her artwork went in as the reference image for every single generation, not just the first.

  2. The brief became a fixed block

    The eight markings were written out once and pasted verbatim into every prompt, so nothing could drift between scenes.

  3. Everything got checked against it

    Each picture was looked at for the hip, the collar, the charm, the bands, the bow and the one white paw before it was allowed onto a page.

Every picture

Made from that one page.

The abyss — the first picture made from the brief
The abyss — the first picture made from the brief
The straight character shot
The straight character shot
Diving
Diving
Batting a bubble
Batting a bubble
Rain over North Texas
Rain over North Texas
A reservoir at sunrise
A reservoir at sunrise
The lake bed, where hardness comes from
The lake bed, where hardness comes from
A treatment plant
A treatment plant
A kitchen tap
A kitchen tap
Asleep beside a cooler
Asleep beside a cooler
A doorstep delivery
A doorstep delivery
Empties going back
Empties going back
Looking into a softener
Looking into a softener
Under the sink
Under the sink
The corner you get back
The corner you get back
Hot and cold
Hot and cold
A job site
A job site
The truck at the gate
The truck at the gate
A blank label
A blank label
On the stage
On the stage
On the map
On the map
Scale on the element
Scale on the element

Still open

She hasn't got a name yet.

That is not an oversight. Naming her belongs to the person who drew her, and she is taking suggestions. Nothing here goes anywhere near a sales list.