Cait Zellers

@caitymayhem.bsky.social

366 Followers 441 Following

Artist, Cartoonist, Mortician, Elder Millennial just trying to navigate the burnout

A painting of a figure crouched amidst dark trees. The skin of the figure is gray-green in the light and their posture is somewhere between predator and prey. Overlayed on top are layers of neon lines depicting the claws and head of a coyote on top of the figure's own.
A chimera- a vaguely humanoid creature with the head of a ram, one yellow eye in the center of its head, and long fingers with too many joints, crouches in a pool of blood. The chimera is being clung to by sallow grey-green hands all over its body.
A cranky artist scribbling on a display mumbling ‘why do you look so off-model’, then shaking the display with the ferocity of a woman at her limit, screaming ‘I DESIGNED YOU’
Me holding the sketchbook I have been searching for for days that my wife found in 15 minutes behind the sofa.
An ancient woman with wild, whispy white hair and a massive glass eye in her left socket stands in front od a donkey with the same wild white hair. She’s wrapped in layers of rusty brown robes with a large turquoise tattoo of ancient runes that covers her right thigh. She wears many rings and bracelets but no shoes and clutches a staff with eyes blinking at the viewer from the knots in the wood.
A digital illustration of a lake monster a la the creature from the black lagoon and her human girlfriend swimming in the moonlight.
An AMC movie ticket secured to a sketchbook page with washi tape covered in cats
A cinematic style illustration featuring six characters. A weeping woman seemingly made out of glass stretches a hand to the viewer- she is surrounded by four characters, a gentle violinist, a mysterious man holding a bouquet of roses, a bloody tattooed brawler and a pensive alien psychic. In the foreground a young man holding a journal stands in a glowing alchemical circle.
Handwritten text from the page: '03/06/2025- 1st day of ECCC My hands are shaky today. I've been feeling a familiar ache in my right hand. It's not my dominant side, so I'm a little ashamed to admit I've been ignoring it.' Next to this text is an ink drawing of a right hand with shaky, wavering lines radiating out from it. Handwritten text: 'I've been pushing my hands to do more and more- trying to assuage my guilt with Korean hand cream and cuticle oil. But I know that's a patch.' To the left of the text is an ink drawing of the Tony Moly peach hand cream container that is shaped like a peach. I didn't do a great job and it looks like a butt. Handwritten text: "I'm feeling that disconnected feeling again." Below the text is an ink drawing of the male and female ends of an electrical cord that have been pulled apart. Handwritten text: "I'm going to publish a book and no one is going to care. (Internal fear dialogue.) I don't know indie comics anymore, I know- anything about this world anymore." Bottom right of the page is a drawing of me (big glasses, bushy/curly hair) holding a paper coffee cup. My thought bubble reads: "I paid too much for coffee but I know better for tomorrow."
Senshi, a bearded dwarven chef leans over a cooking pot holding a ladel. He’s wearing a leather skirt and cuffs but no shirt. Behind him an ancient red dragon breathes steam up his skirt, exposing his perfect round ass, much to Senshi’s surprise
Selfie on the lightrail on the way to ECCC
The six characters of Dimension 20’s Fantasy High relaxing and chatting on a set of bleachers as the sun sets and turns everything a warm shade of orange. On the top bleacher Adine reads and levitates Boggy the Froggy while Fabian admires his reflection in the blade of his sword. Beneath them, Kristen and Riz are having a spirited debate, and sitting on the ground Fig and Gorgug talk music as Fig strums on her guitar.
An extremely round and lazy white and gray splotched cat snoozes on a heated blanket and a tufted pillow while blatantly ignoring his mother’s request for help.
A sheet ghost perches on a cork base surrounded by moss, mushrooms and small trinkets. This small friend and all of their treasures fit snugly under a glass cloche.
Panel 1: A person with wild curly hair and glasses is split down the middle, the two halves separated by a dark void. Both halves put a hand to their chest. The caption reads: "So, I do two things." The speech bubbles read: "I am an artist. I am a mortician." Panel 2: The two halves of the person are stretched further apart, the strands of the darkness holding them together stretching between the halves like taffy. The caption reads: "In some ways these things are very different."
Panel 1: A curly headed face with glasses is split down the middle, the two halves separated by a moving, liquid emptiness. The caption reads: "My name is Cait and I do two things." Panel 2: A full body shot of the person from the first panel- we see now that their whole body is divided into two halves as they take a step forward. The half on the viewer's left is wearing an oversized cardigan and sweats with no shoes, the half on the viewer's right wears a collared jumpsuit and heavy boots. The caption reads: "I 'spose the easier way to put it is that I have two jobs."
Panel 1: A mortician's gloved hands carefully arrange the hands of an autopsied and embalmed body in a traditional position folded over the stomach. The caption reads: 'It's my job to lie' Panel 2: An embalmed body on an embalming table, surrounded by embalming instruments. The body is wrapped tightly in a sheet, with a strip of tape holding the sheet closed at the chest. The caption reads: 'So a family might be able to say goodbye without seeing that trauma and pain' Panel 3: A mirror of the previous panel, only now the embalmed body rests in a casket, wearing a suit and tie and holding a rosary in their posed hands. The caption reads: 'On someone they loved, someone who should still be alive.'
Panel 1: A view from above an embalming table, a mortician in PPE carefully stretches the shoulder and arm of a body on the table, guiding the arm out from the body like a bird's wing. The caption reads: 'It's my job to gently break rigor,' Panel 2: A view of the body on the embalming table from the side, head and elbows propped on robber blocks to help the body stay in position. The mortician's hands hold the body's shoulder steady as they massage bruised tissue at the throat. The caption reads: 'To flush blood out of bruised tissue,' Panel 3: The body on the embalming table has been turned on their side so their back is visible. The mortician, wearing a plastic gown, gloves, and a face shield, uses a needle and surgical suture to close a hole in the body's back. The caption reads: 'To sew up bullet holes and torn skin.'
A cover image of a adult male body dressed for their funeral in a suit and tie, hands folded over their stomach. The face is obscured by the title: 'Suitable Memory Picture.'
Top panel reads '6 PM' a cartoon cat with giant eyes and fluffy ears traipses through a swampy setting, a little frog with gigantic eyes watches the cat walk away. Writing above the frog says 'Keroppi buddy, please blink.' The caption reads: 'Causing chaos on my Hello Kitty Island.' Bottom panel reads '7 PM' a person with fluffy hair and glasses contentedly folds the pile of laundry in front of her, holding up a pair of underwear with flowers on them. Her though bubble reads: 'I get to fold my wife's undies for the rest of our lives, and that is a blessing.' The caption reads: 'Folding laundry and thinkin' about life.'
Top panel reads '2 PM', a platter covered in all sorts of sliced veggies, each labeled- they include broccoli, carrots, bean sprouts, king oyster mushrooms, and green onions. Caption reads: 'Preppin' veggies for hot pot!' Bottom panel reads '3 PM', a table laden with all sorts of supplies for a hot pot meal, stack of bowls, lots of sauces of different types and sizes, sliced veggies, greens in a bowl, fried tofu and rolled meat, all with a steaming electric hot pot in the center. Caption reads 'Ready for hot pot birthday dinner!'
Top panel reads: '10 AM' a rotund, magnificent cat howls at the top of his lungs- his speech bubbles read 'WOE!' 'TRAGEDY!' 'SORROW!' 'WHY?'. The caption reads: 'Shroom sings us the song of his people.' Bottom panel reads: '11 AM' A square headed person with fluffy hair and glasses leans their chin on a worktable where she is placing a glass dome over a little terrarium with a sheet ghost inside of it. On the table is a hot glue gun and other bits of moss and beads. The caption reads: 'I'm making Little Guys.'
Top panel reads 'midnight', a very sleepy person sits up in bed next to her sleeping wife, a cat sits on top of her. Her speech bubble reads 'Sid, I gotta pee.' The cat's speech bubble reads 'MAOW.' Bottom panel reads '7 AM', A pretty person in a beanie with a suspicious cat in her lap glances over at her sleepy gremlin wife who is collapsed against her arm. Her speech bubble reads 'Hey! You Awake?' Her wife's speech bubble reads 'BLURAGH.'
The Witch June is a gnarled, ancient woman with gray-brown skin and wild, fluffy silver hair. Her left eye has been replaced by a massive, milky crystal eye and she holds a staff with flicking eyes seeming to grow out of the wood. She wears draped layers of tattered burgundy and purple fabrics embroidered with bones and crystals held in place by a thick yellow leather belt. She wears bangles and bracelets and earrings and rings in all sorts of metals studded with crystals and jewels, and her exposed right thigh is covered in a bright turquoise tattoo etched in a swirling runic pattern to her knee.
Velveteen's human glamour is a sallow skinned, ancient looking human man. He is frail and stooped with a ring of thin, wispy white hair straggling from the crown of his head and bright pink rouge smeared on his cheek below bulging yellow eyes. He wears a tattered Napoleonic era British military uniform, complete with knee-high boots, jodhpurs, and golden epaulets on a threadbare red military jacket.
Marvin is a beautiful non-binary human with pale skin and flowing copper hair. The are so, so jacked. Marvin does not skip leg day. They are clad in bronze armor that has been magically enhanced to fit like a second skin, clinging to broad pecs and shapely abs. They wear heavy, oversized bronze gauntlets, both of which are set with massive, glowing green stones. Over their armor is slung a teal pleated kilt and an emerald green cape with magic runes stitched along the hem. Their nose and cheeks are dotted with freckles.
Taalis is a black woman with shoulder length hair worn in its natural curls with a headpiece made of bright gold spikes imitating the rays of the sun woven around the crown of her head. She wears a gown of deep royal purple and gold trim, a plunging neckline that meets at the navel and a thigh slit nearly to the waist. The sheer sleeves of the gown and the train are speckled with flecks of gold like stars, and she wears a gold collar, gold cuffs and a polished gold garter around her exposed thigh.
Maige is a gorgeous black woman with wide, hypnotic pink eyes and her pink hair braided and wrapped into two fun buns atop her head. She wears multiple layers of ruffles in shades of pink in a pastel goth/lolita style, with dragon wing details at the collar of her jacket, her waist and the back of her high heels. She also wears bright pink dragon wings to complete the outfit. Her nails are long and perfect and she wears a tiny human skull brooch at the collar of her dress.
The Wizard Spir seat as if on a throne- a stunning, sharp-jawed black woman with pale silver hair and blazing orange eyes. Her hair is pulled back tight and wound into a long, high ponytail held in place by thick braids wrapped around the base. She wears a deep blue under layer beneath mirrored chrome armor that seems to move and shift like liquid mercury around her body. Within the sheen of the armor devilish faces with glowing eyes appear to grin and snarl- the outward indication of the spirits the wizard has trapped within her armor.
A portrait of the artist, a femme with big curly hair and glasses waiving and smiling. The text bubble says ‘I started a ko-fi!’
A white woman with dark fluffy bangs and glasses looks at an orange and white cat sitting next to her. The cat looks deeply suspicious even though this person is his mother and he definitely loves her.
A terrifying gold bath bomb from lush meant to look like Jeff Goldblum’s giant head from Wicked
A very pale person with wild curly hair and glasses wearing a big navy blue caftan with a westen print and bean-shaped purple house shoes
Profile of the artist, femme person with thick rimmed glasses and dark curly hair going in every direction. A red nose and a expression of resigned existential crisis
A cartoon of the artist, tired as fuck, holding a coffee mug
An ombre pink Christmas tree hung with four ornaments and sparkly lights. Inside the top left and bottom right ornament a person in a striped sweater and pom-pom beanie and a person in a green shirt with glasses and curly hair hold a banner that says ‘merry and bright’ between them. The top right ornament is a disgruntled orange and white cat hanging from a ribbon around his belly with a wreath around his neck like a cone. The bottom left ornament is a glass ball with a fat gray and white cat inside, trying to swat at the banner.
A drawing of a mother spotted hyena and her cub with text reading “the children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.” - James Baldwin
Stanley is a boy with a jack-o-lantern for a head. He wears laid back skater jeans and a graphic tee under a pink and purple checkered sweater. He’s holding his skateboard behind his back.
Astrid is a cute witch in a purple witches hat with her black cat familiar perched on her shoulder. She’s wearing a cute magenta blazer over a blouse and mini skirt, and sipping on a smoothie.
Quinn is an anthropomorphic haunted house with long chicken legs and little ghosts hiding out in her rafters. She wears an orange and green layered a-line dress and carries a mini ghost purse.
Tabitha is a purple werewolf with pink locks. She’s wearing overalls embroidered with moons, stars, and bats and an orange crop top. She’s holding a black tarot card.
Miles is an anthropomorphic bat in a leather jacket and cuffed jeans, hanging upside down and licking a lolipop