CAPTAIN BILLY CRIBKILLER, LEADER OF THE FETAL PIRATES!

This is the final color key for CAPTAIN BILLY CRIBKILLER. Part of the animated series concept (which I think I'm going to be calling COLLIDE-O-SCOPE) I'm working on. Billy is the leader of a group of nasty little pirates called the FETAL PIRATES -- they fly around in a flying pirate ship, descending on helpless victims with the aid of their floating jellyfish placentas which they are connected to via their umbilical cords. The placentas are filled with helium gas, enabling them to float, and have additional tentacles which hold their spare weapons, reload their pistolas, and help them with tasks too difficult for their tiny fingers. Pretty bizarre, I know.

I wanted to have some sort of Pirate group represented in the series, but Pirates, as a group, seem to be getting a bit played out and old (though they'll always be cool to me). So, I began brainstorming twists I could give this group of Pirates to make them stand out quite distinctly from the norm -- zombie pirates had been done, robot pirates just seemed silly, and I'm sure someone has already done monkey-pirates. Then I thought about the tendency in animated/ commercial properties to drastically de-age a character/characters for a cheap and rather uncreative "fresh coat of paint" (i.e. Muppet Babies, A Pup Named Scooby, Tom & Jerry Kids, Flintstone Kids, Tiny Toons Adventures, etc.), and it hit me: "That's it! Take the concept of Baby Pirates and go "too far" with it -- not just babies, but fetuses! Thus, the Fetal Pirates were born. The jellyfish placentas were a solution to the problem of how a bunch of fetuses were going to get around AND handle all the cool essential Pirate weaponry. I had a sudden vision (my blessed artistic "eureka moment") of a ship full of fetuses dressed as pirates and connected to buoyant placentas floating down from the sky, and I quickly commenced sketching.

There's more Fetal Pirates to come -- after all, Billy has to have a crew to command!

The O-mazing OctoPrimates!! Now in FULL-COLOR!!

Finished inking most of the character sketches for the animated concept package, and I'm in the thick of coloring them all now. First up is HENRIETTA KNUCKLES, one of the SKIDMARK SISTERS, the OctoPrimate Roller Derby team genetically engineered by Professor SquidHead (haven't finalized a good proper name for him yet) when he went through his "evil mad scientist" phase. Anyway, they're part Gorilla, part Octopus, and they can block, pivot and jam like nobody's business! More to come!

THE SEMI-STEREOTYPICAL JAP-TASTIC TAG-TEAM DUO!!

First thing, insincere apologies to any of you offended by that title. If you WERE offended, you need to relax a little, and take a deep breath.... There. Better now? All those imagined racist implications gone now? Good. Okay, let's move on.

These two fellows are part of my animated series concept (I should really come up with a definitve name for this "animated series concept" so I can call it something proper). Anyway, one is called "Kinjite, the Jetpack Sumo", while the other is knows as "The Stilted Samurai". I'll let you figure out which is which. More to come...

"THE RETURN OF THE CHARACTER SKETCHES!!"

Just a few more character sketches for the animated series concept.
First up, Doctor Hedonism. He's a nasty old bugger who's take-no-prisoners pursuit of pleasure puts him in conflict with my group of heroic super-musicans. He's the de-facto head of the evil organization H.E.R.P.E.S., but more on him later. His second-in-command is a bit nastier, and much more offensive -- I'm not sure the world is quite ready for him yet (I actually rendered by Advanced Illustration instructor speechless -- he just sat there repeating "Oh my God... Oh my God", a fact of which I'm quite proud -- , so I'll hold off on introducing him until later.
Next up is the benefactor/ father-figure for my heroes, Professor Syd "Squidhead" Fleetwood. He used to have a normal head... now it's a squid. Why? Wait for it -- more on him later.

A FEW MORE WACKY CHARACTER SKETCHES...

Three more character sketches from my animated series concept. Very briefly:
First is Ergophobos, an ancient Egyptian wizard reincarnated mistakenly in the body of a lazy, morbidly obese white guy.
Next up is Captain Billy Cribkiller, the de facto leader of the Fetal Pirates (they float around courtesy of their buoyant airborne jellyfish placentas -- don't ask)
Finally, Mobster Lobster, one of the Pugilisticrustaceans, a gang of boxing crustaceans created by a mad scientist (coming soon, Buster Crabbe and Shrimp Shocktail)!!

Over and out!

"STEAM-POWERED EX-PRESIDENT GOES ON KILLING SPREE!!"

Another sketch for my animated series concept. This may look like Abraham Lincoln, but it's not! He's been reborn (through the twisted and perverse birth canal of black science) as L.I.N.C.O.L.N.!! What does L.I.N.C.O.L.N. stand for, you ask? Easy -- it stands for Lethally Intelligent Non-Confederate with Obscenely Large Noggin, what else! I based this design (quite obviously, if you're an old-school Marvel Comics fan) on the wacky yet adorable villain M.O.D.O.K. (Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing -- they don't make bad guys like they used to. I'll give you L.I.N.C.O.L.N.'S full story when I post his final design -- just thought you'd like a tease of giant-floating-Lincoln-head-with-a-civil-war-era-canon-in-his-hat for now. You're welcome.

"AND ON BASS GUITAR... SCHRUBB!!"

Rough sketch for my character SCHRUBB. Schrubb is the bass player for the super-group that is the focus of the animated series/ comic book/ action figure line concept I'm smack dab in the middle of creating. I've come up with plenty of rough concepts for things like this before, but this is the first one I'm actually carrying through to the stage where it will actually be ready for proposal to an actual company (check you local listings in about a year or so). I'll give a more in-depth description of the concept once I hammer out a few more details. I don't want to really finalize any of the designs or the overall concept until I've visualized all of the major characters and worked out their connections, backgrounds, plot elements, etc. It involves music, science, the supernatural, and a hefty dose of far-out mayhem and bizarre characters.

The core of Schrubb is simply he's an early 70's refugee bass player who doesn't talk, and whose face (indeed his entire head) is concealed by his shrub-like head of hair (hence the name -- clever, eh?). His glasses (which are already in the process of being redesigned to better emphasize their arcane nature) allow him to see well beyond the range of normal human sight. Sometimes this will mean a very broadened spectrum of sight, sometimes this will extend to the temporal, sometimes it may even enable him to see into your mind!! I'm still working on the details, but I'll post more when I've got it.

BEWARE, THE OCTOPRIMATE ROLLER DERBY TEAM!!

These lovely ladies are part of my senior thesis project, which I haven't mentioned until now. I'll post a more detailed explanation of it later, but in centers around a concept for a truly whacked-out animated series (of the Adult Swim variety) regarding the world's most awesome super-powered music group, who not only play in sold out venues worldwide, but also explore and combat the unknown and arcane forces of nature, science, and the mystic realms. Think BUCKAROO BANZAI and THE TICK in a back alley brawl with THE VENTURE BROTHERS.

Anyway, these are the OCTOPRIMATES, a roller derby team whose members are genetic combinations of gorillas and octopi, created by a deranged scientist to conquer the world roller derby circuit! Their names are: Daisy Ditch, Henrietta Knuckles, Smashley Bundt, and Tentakillerilla (or just "Tentakelly" -- haven't decided yet. Inked and colored versions to be posted soon!