The recently appointed General of the Nome Army: Guph. And the only reason he got the job is because that his hatred for the good and happy people outweighs any rational thought (which got his predecessors, well... discharged from service permanently). Through his hate, he was able to come up with a plan so bold and insane that even the Nome King doubted it would work.
An alliance with other wicked tribes neighboring their kingdom to form one huge army to overwhelm the forces of Oz. Yes, it is without a doubt that they could conquer the Land of Oz. But the tribes of Whimsies, Growleywogs, and Phanfasms hate each other as much as they hate Oz. And all were planning to backstab each other for dominance after conquering Oz. Guph is aware of this inherent treachery and plans to backstab them all by stealing the Magic Belt and then banishing them away to their home countries again so that only Nomes shall conquer Oz.
Out of all the Nome Generals featured in The Emerald City of Oz, Guph stood out as among the rest due to having a substantial role that wasn't "Your Majesty, this invasion is impossible" and then being executed by the Nome King. For one thing, he has a personality that is distinct from Roquat and Kaliko. Whereas the Roqaut embodies greed and Kaliko embodies servileness, Guph embodies hate.
Hate is all too real in our world. Hate drives normal people to do horrible things, often in the name of righteousness. Hate is completely irrational. It demands that everyone sacrifice everything, including lives, for a gamble that may not even pay off. It makes dangerous alliances with factions that you don't understand. And it will not end with just the specific target. It will seek new targets to fill in the void. I knew exactly what I wanted when drawing Guph here. It can be seen in his military uniform.
Guph was designed with Danny DeVito's Lorax in mind, namely being short and having a giant mustache and eyebrows (as well as the voice). He also has a lot in common with Yosemite Sam too, having a very short-tempered and is trigger-happy. I even gave Guph red eyes just to emphasize how rage-filled he is.
Now, according to the book, Guph is described to be a very old Nome with long whiskers that needed to be tied around his waist just so he can walk without tripping.
That was a pain to do since I have no real reference as to what it could look like and be animatable. Guph's design in Marvel's Oz series at least trimmed his whiskers to just touch the floor with no need to tie them down. But I wanted the whiskers to have that same feel as the book's description... and I managed to get that by having the mustache wrap around his legs.
For the color of his skin, I went with a bleached out rock and muddled with the tone give a sort of pale look to him. I really wanted him to look old. Additionally, I had hands be fur colored to really emphasize that this Nome is extremely old even by Nome standards.
Overall, I do like how he came out. Truly an angry old Nome that stares into your soul for this Nome-vember. I'm not sure if I can do more Nomes right now. Three is a good number. But if I have time, I'll try to tackle the other Nome Generals.
