#kyle the fox

[phantomninjin]

Boy who hasn't done anything wrong in his life

Yeah flying with three tails wouldn't be possible for him tho But that doesn't mean i can't come up with some ideas for him

Also yeah i did it from this i love redraws can you tell/lh

[i-drew-this]

My Original Characters

Some people have a lot of original characters (a friend of mine told me tonight she has 250!) but I only really have three that are anything more than just a first-occurrence idea. I drew Dr. Quack for only like the fourth time in 4 years today, and I thought I might share my three original characters.

Kyle The Fox 

Kyle The Fox Exists in a sort of 30s-50s old Hollywood cartoon animal kinda world. He’s an old-fashioned cartoon character ala Bugs Bunny or Animaniacs and as such he gets to do all sorts of crazy cartoon-y things. His stories are, as I call it, “popcorn entertainment” at its best, “ars gratia artis”! No big morals or earth shattering revelations! There will be the occasional hint at depth though, afterall, Kyle the Fox is not completely superficial, but he leads a generally fun life. The music of Kyle the Fox is the best, most exuberant of old Hollywood film scoring. MGM musicals meets Max Steiner meets Carl Stalling and Scott Bradley, etc. He travels around the world but never has any money (like Charlie Chaplin’s tramp character) and stows away alot and goes wherever the wind takes him.

Jack Danger

Jack Danger, on the other hand, is my ‘serious’ character. He exists in a realistic sort of pseudo mid-1960s world. He’s sorta James bond meets The Fugutive meets Catch Me If You Can meets Run For Your Life meets Jonny Quest meets James Bond. There’s such a rich history of 60s spy/action heroes with gorgeous femme-fatals and “bond girl” equivalents, but I thought it would be really different to have my protagonist be gay in this period setting. It would not only appeal to an audience that has historically been neglected, especially by these 60s action/spy movies & shows, but would also allow me to tell some important and relevant stories that have some real depth to them. Musically, I want Jack Danger to sound like a jazzy 60s tv show score. I love the styles used in say John Barry’s 60s bond films, but I want something a bit smaller-scale that sounds very very American. Sort of a Pete Rugolo/Stan Kenton sound (Run For Your Life is a great example). I have a tragic origin story already in my head that I’ve been developing for a few years now. It’s pretty good, but it still needs a little work.

Dr. Quack: M.D.

Doctor Quack is a non-anthropomorphic duck who works at a hospital. There’s nothing much going on in his mind (hence the tiny blank pinpoint eyes) and there’s no conceivable reason he should be allowed to practice medicine [he’s kinda like Chicken Boo from Animaniacs), yet somehow he does. The hospital administrators hate him, but somehow they can’t bring up charges to fire him. He’s got a well-meaning blonde assistant named Heather who does human things he can’t, like talk to people, or pick things up or turn doorknobs. Dr. Quack is set in a sort of pseudo early-mid-1970s world ala Emergency or Quincy: M.E. and he drives a ridiculously gaudy, over-sized tacky whale of a luxury car with a landau roof, opera windows, and every other regrettable 70s luxury car styling mistake known to man... or duck... Dr. Quack has been known to on occasion have Heather help him shlep a “friend” from the hospital basement into his passenger seat so he can use the carpool lane. He’s by far the most absurd of my characters and he’d also be the easiest to make a web-comic for too. The writing just has to be ridiculous and funny, the drawing doesn’t have to be as artistically minded as Kyle the Fox or Jack Danger, and it’s just fun.

[kyle-the-fox]

Doodle Page 1

Just a doodle sheet cropped and with outlines of a ‘65 Thunderbird erased in the middle.

The Vaxley thing is just sort of a sign for some random company name that popped into my head that I could maybe use somewhere.

I’m really bad at drawing cars, especially the streamlined 30s-40s kinda cars that will populate Kyle’s world. It looks kinda okay, if you squint!

I want the world of Kyle the Fox to be old fashioned and that includes the formal wear. I thought the double-breasted dinner jacket made it look a bit more old-timey. Also, I never draw him with shoes, but I figured I might give him at least sorta formal sandals if he’s this dressed up.

[kyle-the-fox]

HOLLYWOODLAND

I figured it would be fun to draw Kyle the Fox on the cover of one of those old Hollywood fan magazines. I had just seen Too Much, Too Soon (1958) so I decided to sorta parody Diana Barrymore’s name as one of the cover items. 

I modeled his pose and the chair off of a photo I love of Frank Sinatra on the set of Anchors Aweigh (1945). See below...

[kyle-the-fox]

Singin’ In The Rain

This is from close to two years ago. I drew the original smaller inlaid picture on the back of an AP Government quiz one rainy day and wanted to expand it into a full-pager.

[kyle-the-fox]

Things Are Looking Up

I actually sketched this close to a year ago. I was telling a new friend about Kyle the Fox and I realized I didn’t have any drawings of him in my folder with me, so I made one out.

[kyle-the-fox]

???

As this is a more complicated sketch, I decided not to go the usual trace over inking route and instead tried this.

[kyle-the-fox]

Kyle The Fox - profile

Playing some of the Sam & Max games and finally watching Disney’s Robin Hood today for the first time made me want to get back into Kyle the Fox. I made a few clumsy attempts tonight, but I think this is the best of them. I should’ve spent more time on the thickness of some of the lines here, but it’s late and I should get some sleep!