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springsodasSo, I mentioned a couple of weeks back the idea of keeping a development diary for my TMNT fan iteration, TMNT: The New Millennium (NewMil for short.) Well, here we are with the first entry and what do I have to say? Quite a bit despite there still not being much at this point.
Speaking broadly, one of my fatal shortcomings when it comes to tackling any kind of project, regardless of what it may be, is how I tend to look at the project as a whole rather than a bunch of bite-sized pieces. I think about all the things I want to do, what needs to be done, where I'm planning to put everything, trying to fill in all the gaps, etc. Long story short: I end up overwhelming myself because I'm trying to figure out too many things at once and never actually get anything done. This is 100% the problem I encountered with the original concept of NewMil and why I struggled to go beyond anything other than a few basic character profiles and some vague ideas.
Now that I've rebooted the project from scratch however, I am taking a much slower, gradual approach where I'm not considering... basically anything outside the turtles themselves. Not the plot, which characters are going to appear, what horrors the boys are going to be put through, nothing. The only thing I'm thinking about right now is who the turtles are and what I want them to be. And working with the turtles is a bit of a contradiction, to be honest; they're official characters from an established IP and while no two versions have characterized them exactly the same, there are still a good handful of traits that remain consistent across all iterations. But these are going to be my versions of the characters and there is still so much that's ultimately up to my discretion that figuring out the various nuances and complexities in their characters and what kind of character journeys I want each of them to take is going to take some time. But hey, that is the fun of this kind of thing, right?
So far, the turtle who has gotten the most attention from me is Leonardo. It might seem a little odd considering my favorite of the brothers is Don, but I often think about how Splintered Fate described Leo as being the family's "soul" and that, I think, is a perfect word to describe him and his role both within the team and within the family dynamic. He's also been used as the baseline for the brothers' designs in most iterations, so once I figure him out, the rest should start falling into place. I still have no idea what the turtles are going to look like, but I've been pouring through my collection of TMNT arts by Michael Dooney, along with Khary Randolph's work and Freddie E. Williams II. All of their styles and approaches to the turtles have various qualities that I like, so it's mostly just a matter of mixing and matching until I find the formula that works best.
Speaking broadly, one of my fatal shortcomings when it comes to tackling any kind of project, regardless of what it may be, is how I tend to look at the project as a whole rather than a bunch of bite-sized pieces. I think about all the things I want to do, what needs to be done, where I'm planning to put everything, trying to fill in all the gaps, etc. Long story short: I end up overwhelming myself because I'm trying to figure out too many things at once and never actually get anything done. This is 100% the problem I encountered with the original concept of NewMil and why I struggled to go beyond anything other than a few basic character profiles and some vague ideas.
Now that I've rebooted the project from scratch however, I am taking a much slower, gradual approach where I'm not considering... basically anything outside the turtles themselves. Not the plot, which characters are going to appear, what horrors the boys are going to be put through, nothing. The only thing I'm thinking about right now is who the turtles are and what I want them to be. And working with the turtles is a bit of a contradiction, to be honest; they're official characters from an established IP and while no two versions have characterized them exactly the same, there are still a good handful of traits that remain consistent across all iterations. But these are going to be my versions of the characters and there is still so much that's ultimately up to my discretion that figuring out the various nuances and complexities in their characters and what kind of character journeys I want each of them to take is going to take some time. But hey, that is the fun of this kind of thing, right?
So far, the turtle who has gotten the most attention from me is Leonardo. It might seem a little odd considering my favorite of the brothers is Don, but I often think about how Splintered Fate described Leo as being the family's "soul" and that, I think, is a perfect word to describe him and his role both within the team and within the family dynamic. He's also been used as the baseline for the brothers' designs in most iterations, so once I figure him out, the rest should start falling into place. I still have no idea what the turtles are going to look like, but I've been pouring through my collection of TMNT arts by Michael Dooney, along with Khary Randolph's work and Freddie E. Williams II. All of their styles and approaches to the turtles have various qualities that I like, so it's mostly just a matter of mixing and matching until I find the formula that works best.
Here's the first turtle headshot doodle... can't wait to see what you look like down the road, little dude.
