Crowned
A series of 50 digital drawings of crowned black cats
Summary
Expanding the Series
Crowned depicts the incongruous pairing of a crown symbolizing power and a cat that has no need for it. For me, it also marks the point when I began developing my drawing and design style in earnest. Before this series, I mainly drew white cats; from here, black cats became central to all my work. The expressionless round eyes, omitted mouths and silhouettes with gradients only at their edges also began with this project.
After living with cats for well over a decade, I came to recognize how little they reveal their emotions. I expressed this through blank faces and omitted mouths, and tried to give each figure a distinct presence through its posture.
The series began with black cats, but later included other animals, such as crows and pandas, and objects such as a television. As it continued, I sought beings and things that had nothing to do with the power and desire represented by the crown.
Many of the cats’ poses were based on my cat NIKI. NIKI is a Russian Blue with gray fur, but I depicted the cats in black to create a dramatic contrast with the crowns’ gold and yellow. That choice later became my signature.
Crowned strongly influenced SHHANart and Mimic Shhans.
After completing the Crowned series, I actively explored remixes within Crowned itself, alongside recombining individual works to develop Shhan Remix.
I also made and sold stickers featuring every work in Crowned.
I explored other forms of artwork by combining pieces from Crowned, as in A Crown Among Cats and Falling Cat, and drew new crowned cats in works such as Oh, Shhan!.
