For the last month I've been developing this classic style character Oscar the Otter. My inspiration has been from early animation, particularly the rubber hose animation that you see in early Disney and Max Fleischer cartoons.
I'm planning on Oscar being my first large comic story. Shooting for 100+ pages, and to start off, I am writing a 16 page ashcan teaser comic. I want to have something to promote at upcoming conventions, so I'm busy telling my first mini adventure with Oscar.
Below you can see several character designs I've been working on. At the bottom, I drew a Dog plague doctor for fun, and now I'm really digging the look. So now I'm thinking of maybe doing an Oscar story set during the Black Plague.
Last note I'd like to mention is the fact that I've been wanting to build a zoetrope for several years now, and finally I am starting to work on one. If you haven't seen a zoetrope, check out this video:
I am building my zoetrope much like this design, but at a larger scale. The drum I'm putting together is 24" in diameter. The reason it is so large is that I'd like to be able to make 12 frames at about 5" in size. I'm planning on submitting this at the next Terrain Art Show, and making four or five different animation strips that attendees could swap out at will. Right now, I'm trying to get a hold of a junk one speed bike (even a kids bike), and taking out the gears, chain, and pedal so I can use it for my zoetrope. If you have one and live in either Spokane, WA or the Tri-Cities, let me know!
If you've been following me, you may notice my increased interest in vintage cartoons. I've been at the drafting table, coming up with something that I can use to funnel this style into, and I think I've finally hit the nail on the head. Here's a little sampler of the idea:
I'd love to make a nice opening story for this, maybe 24-36 pages. It would be a fun story to jump on from now and then. It's such a departure from my usual work, it's incredibly refreshing.
