Artie [artwork]

[the_gneech]

I was noodling around with lion sketches, trying to come up with a design for a new character who would incorporate some of the aspects I liked best about Leonard and Torey -- who are pretty different characters! This guy, currently called Artie (short for Arthur, to go with a kingly motif), is more of a socialite than Leonard is, prone to dancing and showing off and flashing toothy grins ... but isn't the bubbly airhead that Torey is. In some ways, Artie is supposed to be the kind of guy that, say, Johnny Bravo thinks he is. I'm having a little trouble settling on a look, tho.

Noodle No. 1:



I'm thinking of giving him a long, braided mane in the back, something like Vega from the Street Fighter games, but with more fluff up front. I love that large face in the lower left -- I was deliberately trying to break away from my usual style there, and on that front it was a huge success. But it doesn't exactly suggest a cocky life-of-the-party type, either.

Noodle No. 2:



This guy is a little closer in personality, but he seems to have stolen Conrad's bangs. Unfortunately, the markings around his eyes, particularly the little hatchmarks above his eyebrows, kinda get lost. I think his chin may need some enlarging, too ... maybe I should start with a toothy grin and work from there.

I dunno, maybe I should just steal this one:



Any suggestions?

-The Gneech

Comments

[ccroft.livejournal.com]

Love the shades!

His chin looks good to me - manly ;-)

[frostdemn.livejournal.com]

Hm, looks good. Like the personality, but I'm curious of the result. :3

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

I think he still looks very Leonard. This is not a bad thing because it's very cute art but if you don't want him to look like Leonard, then it's sort of a pain, yes?

Um...things that will make him less Leonardlike -- maybe a more carefree wash-n-wear mane?

Bigger, less smirky eyes?

Slightly less long in the nose?

I know he's a lion and Lions are supposed to look all regal and kingly but ...if you want him to look as cool as Johnny Bravo thinks he is, you may want him to look a little more relaxed, a little less like he's trying to be intimidating?

Just a vibe I get, and the two tiny pennies that go with it.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

I will probably bulk up his chin a bit, and try to soften the eyes.

-TG

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

What the hell is this?

Hehehe. Nice comment.

I like noodle no. 2 a lot. I'm struggling to remember Torey, though. Is he in SJ, or am I just confused? I do know you've drawn other lions and I haven't known their names. ...

Question: will Richard ever make an appearance?

Have the best

-=TK

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

How ironic... my dad was telling me about something that his brother, Richard, just said as I typed this note. ;)

Have the best

-=TK

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Torey is the dancing dude in this icon. :) He's only been in a few pics, and most of those were by other artists. He's not a SJ character specifically, although he could show up there if I had a story for him.

Richard appeared in a Saturday Grab Bag (the jellyfish incident), but I doubt he'll be in any storylines soon. He's a problem child.

-TG

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I remember the Jellyfish incident. It's the second time his name ever appeared in the strip, too. The first came during the "It Hasn't Been That Long" series. :)

*Looks at the audience* Hey, give me a break! I left my books in Washington!

So that's Torey? I always thought it was Rumblepurr. Silly me.

Have the best

-=TK

[http://users.livejournal.com/_litho_/]

Oooh, I like the closeup face in the first page of noodles... as you call them.

I've always thought of noodles as an asian form of pasta...

Cute eyes. I like eyes. :) very important are eyes.

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

Keeping track of the different lions gets a touch hard; you should definitely choose a different style of mane.

Just make sure that no one mistakes him for THIS Arty:

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

I'm not terribly worried about that. ;)

-TG

[panthras.livejournal.com]

Ooooooooo! the Vega look would be so cool ^^

[exatron.livejournal.com]

I second that. It's a look that you don't see on lions very often.

[confusedoo.livejournal.com]

I think noodle #2 is really close. What I would do is shorten the bridge of the muzzle a bit and make the chin a bit lower. I think the bangs and eyes work really well, as well as the thickness of the neck. I'd lower the jaw line a tad, too. It looks like the head is a bit too small for the neck/shoulders. I think a bigger jaw would give him a more 'manly' regal look, which sounds like what you're going for. That would also make the proportions a bit more 'human', and I'm not sure exacly how that would play next to the existing character models.

*completely unrelated aside* Are you going to continue with various grab bag stuff through the hiatus or is it just the mouse brothers through January?

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Note that this character doesn't have to be integrated into SJ, he's just somebody fun for me to draw.

It's mouse bros. until January 9th, unless I come up with something I really want to post before then.

-TG

[godmanga.livejournal.com]

Maybe a shorter haircut? You made a point about short hair on lions when you answered my question way back.(poor leonard) But it's an idea to think about. Not 'all' lions should have long manes IMHO. Like the pic Vince drew of my lion character Alan (who gets a short haircut in my story)

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

There are lions without manes, but I just don't identify with 'em. (I don't identify with cougars either, for whatever reason.) So for me at least, the mane is a required element.

-TG

[tr-wolf.livejournal.com]

Short hair perhaps cut spiky, or in a mohican (soft mohican, not punk style), or maybe with a tin-tin style flick at the front fringe/bangs?

Tongue stud perhaps!

Maybe a bracelet or jellybands/shagbands, I dunno.

Just my 2 pence worth ^_^

[kylet.livejournal.com]

Pls don't change the eyes. ^.^ I like the shades low on the nose still let you see the eye markings :-) Oh, and the whisker streaks are good too.

For the bangs, you could soften them and bring them forward more to look less Conrad-y:


Since there's no beard mane you could go all out on the chin. Maybe drop it down so it's not just a straight line to the jawline.


Or you could give him a very short, localized beard...more of a goatee?

Whatever you choose, rowr. ^.^

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Hmm ... that guy with the purple background is very close, actually. Who is that?

And yes, I was thinking of bulking up the jaw. ;)

Re: the eyes, which ones do you not want me to change? 0.o

-TG

[confusedoo.livejournal.com]

That's Kensuke. http://kensukethecat.deviantart.com/ He's got some really cute stuff.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Sheesh ... why does nobody TELL me about these things???

*falls over*

-TG

[kylet.livejournal.com]

I've posted several pieces of fanart he's done on the i.s.o. community ;-p He roxx0rz muchly.

Eyes = the updated version. Smexy! I still like the "cute" version but ya said you weren't going to do that...

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

Well, I've missed it all, apparently.

Gah. So. Totally. Outclassed.

*flees the country*

-TG

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

What th-- hey, st-- Now cut that out! There's a reason you're my favorite artist, you know!

Have the best

-=TK

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

Yay, Bagheera! :)

Have the best

-=TK

[hallan.livejournal.com]

Braided mane... hmmmm... An interesting idea.

I might have to try that...

Vega rocked. My friends hated me when I played him. :) Wall-jump-into-flying-suplex! Repeat! Repeat! K.O!

Hallan

[milgrove.livejournal.com]

Then they would've LOATHED my Dhalsim. Had so many paths to the noogie, it wasn't funny. :)

YOGAAAAAAA!

[hallan.livejournal.com]

Chun Li was still my favorite, though. So many weather-named attacks. :) Death from Above!

[kamau-d-lyon.livejournal.com]

I like the concept you lay out in the new character. As for the art work; I like the first set more then the second. I do think there'd be a time and place for him to use the shades however. After reading some of the other comments one thing that might help would be to look at Theo from "Between the Lions". I think the character has some of the softer features suggested (including braids) and with your ability to blend what you've seen might give you a model to work off.

Good luck with the development.

PS forgive me for pirating a part of your (and Mooncat's) artwork for the Christmas Icon. I'll be waiting for the lawyer to knock on the door.