real cat markings?

Grindylowe · **Posted:** Mon Mar 17, 2008 8:22 pm GMT

I've been keeping an eye out and I've never seen an actual cat with Mordecai's markings. Tracy, you said he was based on a real cat - does that include his fur pattern? Most tuxedo style cats I've seen have the nose and mouth / chin white, and not the under-eye white. Actually it's the under-eye white I've never seen, and I'd like to, because cool.

kunoichi-of-night · **Joined:** Sun Oct 21, 2007 10:51 pm GMT **Posts:** 4758

Yeah, I noticed that too. I thought it was a little odd, but I suppose it's possible. Looking at my cat now, his fur is a little lighter around his eyes, but not completely different in color.

Tracy · **Posted:** Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:31 am GMT

Partially. He's based on a particularly aloof tuxedo cat named Ollie an aunt of mine had when I was a child. He didn't have white around his eyes, though. It's a common marking in tabby fur patterns, but not usually in otherwise solid colored or calico cats.
For Mordecai, it was just something that emerged when I started working out his design. I was fiddling with the idea of giving him glasses as that seemed to somehow emphasize his serious self-image. Originally, I encircled his eyes completely in white to sort of jokingly complement the glasses (that type of marking in fur patterns is often termed 'spectacles'), but in the design I settled on, the top arcs of the encircling white ended up serving as his eyebrows. I liked the way the white contrasted with the dark fur as an expressive mechanism more than I liked using something like stark black eyebrows on already dark fur....if that makes any sense. I also sort of liked the way the underlying rings emphasized his trademark unamused, half-moon stare.

Nerfiti · **Posted:** Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:39 am GMT

I love his design, and I think the white "eyeliner" he has emphases his rather clear cut personality.
If that makes sense.

Grindylowe · **Posted:** Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:17 am GMT

Eyeliner, lol. The side of Mordecai we really don't know about.

I like Mordecai's look too. I imagine it might make him rather exotic-looking in the cat-i-verse if they acknowledge things like that, which they don't seem to. I had a tuxedo cat once too, and they DO take themselves rather seriously, don't they?

Tracy, please tell us of this Ollie.

Embermoon · **Posted:** Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:51 am GMT

lol. Nearly everyone who posted has a mordecia avatar!

Tracy · **Posted:** Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:20 pm GMT

Quote:

Tracy, please tell us of this Ollie.

I do believe his real name was Oliver. He was an indoor/outdoor cat and proficient hunter well into his old age, but he was no one's lap cat (at least not until he was too old and senile to care whether he was on a lap or cushion). When not prowling in the backyard, his favorite pasttime seemed to be squinting at passers-by and spectating family gatherings from his traditional perch atop the refridgerator. I suspect it became a habit of his to remove himself to the loftiest places he could find because he shared the house with a trio of rowdy young boys and a big dog prone to trampling over him a half dozen times during the day were he to remain foolishly underfoot. It's just a common sense survival mechanism for a cat in such a situation, but he did a good job pretending it was simply his innate superiority that placed him way up there. :wink:

Sireez · **Joined:** Sat Mar 15, 2008 8:48 pm GMT **Posts:** 13521

Interestin -_-

Grindylowe · **Posted:** Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:42 pm GMT

*pictures Mordecai perched atop the refrigerator, all superior*

PS - new forum look is double plus good - I wondered why we were down!

Stony Rawk · **Posted:** Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:31 pm GMT

right now I'm picturing the actual character Mordecai sitting on top of my fridge...

now I'm laughing uncontrollably, and getting stares from the whole library.

Grindylowe · **Posted:** Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:56 pm GMT

I kind of imagine him smoking a cigarette and glaring, only I don't think he smokes.

He should, though.

Jabberwocky · **Posted:** Thu Mar 20, 2008 6:31 pm GMT

Mordecai possesses the certain kind of awesome that might be ruined by being a smoker. Besides, there's the smell and what not, he'd probably freak. Cleanliness and all that...

On the other hand, who didn't smoke back then if they had the money for it?

@Tracy: Cool... And I love the refrigerator business, that's such a cat thing.

Grindylowe · **Posted:** Thu Mar 20, 2008 6:44 pm GMT

He should smoke cigarettes and listen to Nick Cave. Time nonwithstanding.

Sireez · **Joined:** Sat Mar 15, 2008 8:48 pm GMT **Posts:** 13521

That might damage his overall intellect because he would probably know cigarettes are harmful and he seems far to stable and upright to resort to smoking but thats just what i think.

TheFedoraPirate · **Posted:** Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:00 pm GMT

Most people didn't know that back then...that's why everyone and their grandmother smoked.

real cat markings?

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