This is a digital illustration I originally did back in late January of this year, featuring Koda, the energetic, mischievous, and cheerful bear cub, from Disney’s Brother Bear (2003), who has now become obese from gorging at the Salmon Run all summer long. I was never personally happy with the original version of this illustration, I thought the colours were too red. So, I decided to go back to the original Photoshop document to tweak the colours to better match Koda’s original colour scheme while conveying that this is a late summer or early autumn scene.
Drawing Koda as a big, fat cub I find fun considering how much it allows me to play with his proportions (while making sure it’s recognizably him) to convey his transformation. Also, I feel it makes sense for Koda to gain this much weight, not only out of necessity to survive the harsh winter ahead but how the weight gain reflects his emotional healing from the trauma of being orphaned.
Our once petite little cub is now a 120 pounder!