Tamara "Tammy"; keeping the peace on the city streets

Tammy is a young, border collie policewoman at the start of her career. She graduated from the police academy merely 3 months ago. She patrols the city streets in the Banzai/Precious universe on her motorcycle. Her development is in the early stages so she could change a bit. Personality wise, she's a bit of a spitfire and nobody pushes her around w/o answering for it. She has an unwavering sense of serving the community and helping those who need it.

More Banzai!

Just like people, characters have many, MANY facial expressions and poses unique to them. Exploring Banzai, and my other characters, is tons of fun. The more I explore him, the better I can draw him in his story.

More getting to know Banzai

Getting to know a character is just as involved as getting to know a real person. The only difference here, other than Banzai being a fictional character, is that the artist must define everything through picture and storytelling.

Getting to know Banzai

After I create a character and design a story around them,  my hands and I spend some time getting to know the character from a technical drawing standpoint. During this phase, I establish his actions and little nuances that make him "Banzai".

Tweaking Banzai to be his best

The main goal of a character is to be as appealing as possible. I thought banzai could use a bit of tweaking and technical grounding. The only design work he's had to this point were conceptual and "free form" where the technical structure stuff was taking a back seat. Now, I'm working out his technical aspects to achieve high appeal and to also streamline the process of drawing him. He'll be starring in his own story soon so he needs to be worked out from all angles.

Banzai the auto mechanic (WIP)

Banzai is a character that I did a couple of acrylic paintings of earlier this year. Right now, I'm prepping him design wise to be used in a story I want to illustrate. He's a work in progress but I'm sure his final design will be worked out very soon.

Free spirit of a child

Don't really have a name for this girl yet.....anyone got any suggestions? All I know for sure is she is a pure, innocent youth like most young kids her age (5 or 6). She dreams to be an artist when she grows up and her creative energy follows behind her in a flow of color. Unless you also have a dream you hold dear, you won't see the rainbow trailing behind her. Remember to dream.

Ver; the fairy that brings the spring renewal

As I continue feeling "pixie", I made a fairy that heralds the coming of spring. Walking or flying through the trees, plants sprout flowers and a fresh warm breeze coaxes out the animals that slept during the long winter.

Project "World" scene 2 is complete! Whoo!

If you could choose right now to instantly go anywhere on the planet Earth via bus, where would you go? All the kids in this scene are happily on their way to new lands and new experiences.....well, at least most of them. The bus is in rough shape but it still manages to go to the many bus stops around the globe. Russia, Australia, South Africa, China....so many destinations to go to!

Night and Day; eternal twin sisters

As I continue feeling "pixie", I had some fun with designing "Night" and "Day." Night is on the left and Day is on the right. I figure if I'm designing 2 figures to represent daytime and nighttime, they should be the same size and age (at least on the autumn and spring equinoxes, that is). Throughout the rest of the year, one or the other will be taller/older to represent the shift of the hours. Night will be older during Autumn and Winter and Day will be older during Spring and Summer. Had so much fun drawing these two!

Feeling "pixie"

It's like having a craving for something delicious to eat. For the past couple days, I have been feeling "pixie." They're a ton of fun to draw and have such potential for what they could look like.

Sibling love.....at least while the camera is looking

Having siblings is a treasure and a challenge as any person that has a sibling will admit. Lily, on the left, and Jaz, on the right, show their love for little Henry in the middle. For this precious moment, they will love but they all know that this is a temporary truce. In the next few minutes, it'll be back to business as usual ( squabbling, fighting, teasing and so on ).

Jaz poses for her color test

As I continue developing these characters, eventually they all must go through the color test phase. Jaz Duck here is the first from the Davy Otter universe to try on any full color palette. Ducklings are usually yellow while they're young so I thought I would try that on her. Yellow feathers led me to amethyst eyes to get some contrast. Pink for her glasses would have been too girly, black would be too heavy....so I thought about another cool color compliment for her glasses and arrived at sky blue.

Olaf Vonderslietenhooseg; owl of great age,,,,,but not so wise

Olaf is the resident owl living in the woods near Tom's farm. He has many cycles of the seasons. Ever watchful and unblinking, yet he can't see a thing. Unfortunately, he suffers from dementia and often rambles for hours whether anyone is listening or not. Davy, feeling a sense of duty to his fellow forest critter, often catches fish for him to eat.

"Pops"; Banzai's father

Micheal (aka: Pops) raised Banzai by himself since his wife passed a couple of years after she gave birth to their son. If it's broken, Pops can fix it whether it's a car or a household appliance. He is a very quiet, calm, wise man that has worked hard all his life. He has a small garage where he mainly repairs cars but he'll look at any machine that comes in broken. Behind the garage is a small but comfy home that he lives in with Banzai. Pops often doesn't say much yet when he does speak, it carries an air of deep wisdom and experience.

Katie; goat of supreme evil

Katie is a goat living on Tom's farm. She's a very cryptic and odd gal that is usually behind the mysteries of 'who dunnit?' on the farm. Often, she does something and then frames some poor sap to get the wrap. Most of the animals don't say much to her as her responses don't make any sense at all.

Paul; the scarecrow and ultimate confidant

Paul is a scarecrow that hangs out in Tom's field. When Davy needs a moment to think or vent, he sits and talks with Paul awhile. Even though Paul doesn't ever respond, Davy often feels better after chatting with him.

Fenton; the hyper-active squirrel

Fenton is squirrel living in the trees next to Tom's farm. He's usually looking for something of interest on the ground or checking out what Davy's up to. Often spaztic and easily excited, Davy often sends him away with promise that 'something really cool is over that hill!'.

Project "World" scene 2 : The bus to take the kids around the world