Drawin' Kiwi's. Yes! They have whiskers.

Here's a page from my sketchbook with a character I've started drawing. Aptly named 'Kiwi Kong'. Built like a gorilla with head of a prehistoric kiwi bird. Kiwi Kong is here to destroy!... I would like to animate this guy but that definitely won't be happening anytime soon. But I am cleaning up and colouring a picture of him, so this Isn't the last you'll see of Kiwi Kong.

Kiwi Kong was a bi-product of this little guy (sorry, the image Isn't too clear... ahem). I've been drawing model guides of this character for the future and this page is the first set of refined designs. Oh, it's a Kiwi bird by the way, whose design is heavily influenced by character designs from the 1940's. He's got a name too, you can check that out on the embiggen.

It's taken a lot of drawings to get the beak to a state that I'm happy with, as it tended to get in the way of the facial expressions, hopefully not so much now. A couple of the expressions on here have the beak going a bit too off model, especially middle-right. Of course animation and lip sync are really going to test the design work.

I have stories for the little guy but they are a long way off. If I have a chance over the next few weeks I want to do an animation test, just animating from expression to expression. We'll have to see about that as I have a side project for a friend of mind which is sure to keep me busy for a while.

You saw him here first folks, here's to the future little Kiwi!