Here it is. Part One of Eleven-year-old Drawings.

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First entry (art)
Second entry (art)
Third entry (fic) (Fourth World)
Fourth entry (fic) (Fifth World)
Fifth entry (fic) (Sixth World part one)
Sixth entry (fic) (Sixth World part two)
Seventh entry (fic) (Sixth World part three)

Part One of drawings I did at age eleven, requested by privatemaladict (that's who you send the therapy bill to, btw).

This is a series of drawings that I invested a significant portion of math class to in junior high school. I was in either the seventh or eighth grade. I was completely unpopular, hated my classmates, and was entirely miserable. It really was the worst two years of my life. I was surprised at some of these drawings when I looked at them last night; clearly I had some issues about violence. I warn you, some of these drawings look as if they were the product of a deranged adolescent. Well, they probably were.

Anyway, the fantasy world was where I liked to be, and I read lots and lots of fantasy at that time, like Piers Anthony (Xanth, Blue Adept) and Dune by Frank Herbert. I also voraciously read books about drug use and its effect on the human body and books about Native Americans. I was fascinated by Mayan/Olmec/Aztec culture as well.

So this series of drawings was a story to me, some sort of illustrated daydream progression. I apparently developed some sort of cat culture that was heavily influenced by the D & D weapons guide and Native American cultures. These cats battled against a race of dragons perpetually. Their military system was based on different sets of "forces". (Spear Forces, Arrow Forces, etc.) Their means of transportation were giant heart-shaped floating balloons. The military cats would inscribe their balloons with a symbol depending on which Force they belonged to. There were rites of passage and tragedies and lots of combat and singing. You'll see.

I've left the pictures in order and titled them with my eleven-year-old self's titles. My current self will be typing a commentary for each picture so that it won't be a total waste of time...hopefully you'll get a chuckle out of some of the pics.

I scanned each page in and cropped and resized. There are thirty scans in all. Half will be in this entry, the rest in the next, and I apologize now to anyone with dial-up who wants to see these. Actually, I apologize in advance to anyone who actually clicks on the cut-link. If you are deranged enough to want to see them closer up, just click on the picture.




List of forces So here's where it starts. As usual, I compulsively organize things, and provide a "guide" that explains the different forces, even though I really wasn't planning on showing this to anyone. Even then I knew I had a crappy memory. On the left of each name is the symbol that appears on the balloon of a cat who belongs to that Force. On the right are their accoutrements (weapon and necklace). "CAP" aka Citizen Alert Patrol was composed of cats who were citizens and not trained by the military. "Smalls" (ahahahhaa!!) were young cats who had not passed a Rite of Passage yet to become part of the military, though they did accompany them on some of the patrols (thank goodness there were no lawyers in this society).



Introduction First glimpse of the lunacy involved. The cats wear loincloths. They are floating by holding onto the string of a large heart-shaped balloon. They have armbands with horsehair decorations (despite a complete lack of horses). Apparently the cats don't mind if their mortal enemies join them, and they apparently bear them no ill will, because one of the figures is a lizard-man. Anyway, here you see the basic concept. I wouldn't bother looking at the rest unless this somehow intrigues you, because it's more of the same, ad nauseum.



Meeting of the dragon This is a two-sided piece. On one side we have our usual singing array of floating cats (I am so cracking up right now). The other side is the next pic down.



Meeting of the dragon pt 2 This is especially psychotic. Apparently not only do the dragons war with the cats perpetually, but the cats enslave some of the dragons and ride around on them. I'm not certain why they are meeting with this giant disembodied dragon; if I were the dragon that the cat was riding on, I'd be pissed that my leader was meeting with them at all, and not freeing me from my bondage, but oh well. This meeting seems friendly-like, but in later pieces it's all blood and nastiness, so apparently this was a short, peaceful time in their history (with slaves) for the cats.

I love the bizarre creature in the hot-air balloon, though. I can't tell who is saying "No, you fool!" Is it the naughty fanged blob? Or the heart? Either way it's kind of weird but amusing.



Ceremony of the dragon This is a dragon statue, so don't get too frightened for my sanity yet. It's some sort of ceremony. Hey, the Dragon Rider's saddle is stripy. To match his stripy sword. Notice that only the Dragon Riders have swords that twinkle. Even the Thin Belts don't have twinkly swords. That's what you receive when you enslave your enemies to do your bidding, apparently.

I don't know why that other cat is bringing a box of horsehair armbands, but he looks pretty happy about it. They must be part of the ceremony, though it boggles the mind as to exactly how horsehair armbands would assist in a Rite of Passage.



Cat patrol Just a nice, happy, floating Cat Patrol. Bet you wish you had one.



Early cat wars I love the exuberant cat in the upper left hand corner, who looks as if he's about to burst out into some crazy rendition of "Zippee dee do dah". And the fanged tambourine that the cat in the lower left is holding makes me laugh. A lot.



Early cat wars pt 2 The flip side of the drawing, where we see the ugly truth emerge. A cat spell caster (the only one we ever see) is apparently rigging a trap for a mad, slavering dragon so that they can enslave him. It is highly amusing that the dragon involved is mad and slavering, yet still has the presence of mind to wear shorts.

Love the spell (Parnexi Lolls). I'll have to use that somewhere in HP. And check out the ultra-realistic detail of the warrior's sword (the warrior in the tunnel) knocking bits of dirt from the ceiling.

One of the warriors has an axe, which is surprising, as it's not listed on the Official List. Though neither is the fanged tambourine, for that matter.



The spear
Here's where we get into the disturbing stuff.

Part one: The setup.

A dragon in a hula skirt (the horror!) is attacking a happy warrior. Another warrior throws a spear.

What's that about perspective?



The spear pt 2 Ah, the dire consequences. Will the warrior live? Well, I'm fairly certain that the dragon won't, though his hula skirt still looks smashing. I am amazed at how gory this is. I don't remember drawing anything like this, but now that I see it, I realize I must have.



The lone warrior's revenge Okay, this was my favorite when I was drawing them. The weird "creature" (sleeping and snorting) is about to be killed by the Lone Warrior. Who is singing. As he is planning a sneak attack.

The bowl on the grill over the fire looks like it contains spaghetti noodles and a dinosaur tooth. Yum.

No, I have no idea what his revenge is for.



The lone warrior returns Here is the Lone Warrior returning on foot with his trophies. Note that his belt is now the stripy belt of the creature he has just slain. Note that he isn't singing anymore, either. Revenge is serious business.

Where is his balloon? Why is he returning on foot? Why is there a gate in the middle of nowhere on the ground, when they seem to be mostly airborne creatures?

I love how the sentry's all "Dude, you're back! Whoa!" It's the Keanu guard.



The flame sword Ah yes. Another two-parter. The dragon has a military cat in his claws. What will happen?



The flame sword pt 2 That cat should so sue. That was rather an inept rescue mission, if you ask me.



Rescue of Tana Okay, at least in this one, the cat has a balloon. And perhaps the other cat is a bit too enamored of him, because he's not even looking at the spear that he's throwing..



Rescue of Tana pt 2 Hmm. The hula skirt does obey the laws of gravity. Bet that dragon's pissed.

And why the long face on the one cat's face? I'm confused. I can't tell who rescued whom.

Part Two

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