Albert the... polecat? WIP

willicreate

Except for the polecat, I went through the same list of animals as potential candidates. There's a reason why bears, elephants, etc are beloved by humanity. Loving the exploration of the polecat's spagetti body.

Becky

@Georgios-Christopoulos that's a fun idea!

Becky

Your sketches are very fun. Thank you for sharing your visual thought process!

lizardillo

Thanks all. I have tried to stylalise a bit and make him looooooooong. Polecats just look like furry tubes when they stand up but I've added a bit of shape just to add some form. Going with a teal accent colour (it's my fave and I like to sneak that colour in wherever I can!), he's not wearing a waistcoat, it will just be spots or a pattern around that area. I'm having a bit of an arm positioning dilemma. Position 1 seems the most comedic but he looks like a giraffe, 3 seems the most realistic to the actual animal but make him look too skinny. I'm thinking somewhere in the middle like 2, although that limits his reach a bit to get high things but I can stretch his lower body and squash his upper body if he's reaching for something high up. I'm swayed towards 2 but any opinions welcome. I thought of having him bending on the front and back 3/4 like the top left but then realised thats not a 'neutral pose'.

I think I'm going to have to say 'polecat inspired' soon as it's moving away from the real thing and becoming a polecat/meerkat/squirrel. Albert the Polmeersquirrelkat.

xin li

@lizardillo lovely character. I wonder what it would look like if no.2 and 3, the arm is a bit longer. Right now the arm feels too short in these 2 versions.

lizardillo

@xin-li thanks I've added some length on. It will definitely help if I extend them as I was trying to draw him eating and his arms wouldn't reach his mouth at that short length.

miranda-hoover

@lizardillo Looking great! Love the multip-purpose garment; very clever!

Jules

I love your design of the polecat! It has really great shape and I really appreciated seeing all the behind the scenes with your reference and thoughts. It looks fantastic!

lizardillo

I think this will be my finished character sheet layout. I will redraw, colour and add fur patterns/details tomorrow (it’s late evening here ). I will try and give him a little more personality, my facial expression skills are not that good, they are all a bit generic so will be looking at trying to improve on them. He’s not as mischievous as I would have liked but I may have time to try to add some bits at the end but I may be pushing it a bit.

Thanks for all of the feedback, it’s really appreciated. Glad you are liking the process, sometimes I feel I waffle on a bit too much, sorry if I do!

I have no idea what mammal he’s turned into now. Some sort of polecat-mouse with a touch of hyena think!

Thanks again for being so supportive.

brettb_draws

@lizardillo This is such a fun design, I really love the proportions !!

LordAzazel

@lizardillo Very nice work. I love how he can use his little scarf in many ways. Such a versatile design choice!

lizardillo

Here is the final. I will submit in a bit as I can't decide whether to take off "spotty polecat" as I'm not sure he's very polecat-y any more

Thanks everyone, it's so nice to have such a helpful and supporting community.

Looking forward to seeing everyone's Alberts this month.

Janette

Oh, I love him! So much fun!

willicreate

Nicely done. If you're polling, I've vote for spots. It's for kids, so go colorful and imaginary.

lizardillo

@willicreate I toned down the spots a little so the bandana was a little more prominent but otherwise he's still spotty