I’ve been sitting on the in-progress version of this, um, version of Kat since last year, and I finally got around to getting some refinements in.

For what it’s worth, I think both my Christmas and Easter Kats have better faces, but I didn’t spend very much time on those and their bodies are pretty simple — for example, I didn’t draw them with fingers.

That being said, this is one the better Kat faces I’ve got so far. The next big challenge is, of course, drawing her face like this consistently.

I’m satisfied with this pose insofar as a first attempt. But, like, her legs need better positioning, that arrow seems way too long (though, apparently, real arrows are about two and half feet long).

Also, I’m getting better at visualising the details of her appearance, if not actually drawing them. To whit:

• those sideburn-looking things — to clarify, they’re the parts of her long hair that aren’t tied back in her ponytail; the likeness to the similarly hot-blooded Kagura from Azumanga Daioh is unintentional, but welcome.
• beige shirt with the blue triangles embroidered on the hem; no symbolism there, just included to make a beige shirt less boring.
• yellow Adventuring Belt — the belt has been part of Kat’s character since, like, the third chapter of Fryte’s Gold (incidentally) and I’m pretty sure it’s been included every time I’ve ever drawn Kat. Also, the yellow is a shout-out to Batman’s utility belt is often drawn yellow.

I think my big takeaway is that I need to hammer out a method of getting proportions right. I know that the average person is seven-and-a-half heads tall, but I don’t actually understand how to fit a character in seven-and-half heads’ worth of space…

Hoping to have an updated, improved Dunstana soon. In the meantime, stories here, art here. Email list and social medias here: