Thursday, April 13, 2006

An Old Character

I’ve always loved designing characters, even when I was a kid doodling in my math homework. I’d come up with personalities and names for them and draw them in all the different angles and poses and expressions I could think of.

One of the first characters I ever came up with was a cartoon dog, who I never really did come up with a proper name for, though he’s been the most constant thing I’ve ever drawn in my life. Some time in late grade school I was inspired when I found out I was born in the year of the dog, so, logically, I decided to draw one. I liked the character enough to continue doodling him all throughout my middle school and high school careers, all the while refining his design as I got better at drawing. Luckily, I kept a lot of the better sketches of the guy, so you can see his eventual evolution in this handy chart:



There were two major influences on the character. One of my all-time favorite cartoons was, and still is, “Rocko’s Modern Life.” It doesn’t take a lot of effort to see the two of them have the same head. Yeah, I stole it, but I really like that head.


The other influence that came later, and was even more important in shaping how I draw in general, was Bugs Bunny. I always liked Bugs, but it wasn’t until I saw a model sheet of how he was constructed and drawn, that I was inspired to add more dimensionality, volume, detail, and anatomy to my characters. Even now, I don’t consider a character “fully” designed unless I figure out those kind of things about it.


Over the years, this character’s personality and back story have changed a bit, but here’s him in a nutshell: He grew up in the pound, and as a result, knows the whole place like the back of his hand. Ever see the show “Parker Louis Can’t Lose?” It’s kind of like that, but with a dog, and in a pound. He knows everybody there, can get out and in at any time through an elaborate series of secret tunnels, and is always operating crafty schemes without the dog-catcher’s knowledge. Also, about the name. I spent so long not giving him a name, it’s hard to come up with one now, but I have two options I’m thinking about: Jinx or Boomer. I think Jinx fits him pretty well, mostly.

In the last few years, I haven’t drawn this guy much, but I thought I’d bring him back for a new and improved finished piece:

6 comments:

Kipp Schell said...

cool character man, i used to love roko's modern life!, but i see alot more of bugs in this character. awesome!

Eli Heuer said...

Scott, this is very cool stuff, I really like the timeline progression of how the character developed. I have to say the earliest one and the second to latest one are my favorites.

Also, Jinx or Boomer are pretty good names. I like boomer more but that’s just me. Keep it up.

Unknown said...

V coool characters!! Nice stuffs!!

Jade said...

I love rocco...and spunky!

boob said...

This is a great post. I really love to see the evolution of a character. It's growth.

Just lookin' at "Jinx" I never woulda thought Rocko. Great stuff.

Mikhail Silverwood said...

go Rocko!!!