While doing the exploration doodles for my turtles I was trying to get a feel for their designs (especially with bandanna length) and then suddenly I had a BREAKTHROUGH
In my iteration (TMNT: Children of the Sky) each turtle is actually associated with an element. These elements are pulled from the Foot Mystics in the 2003 version (excluding metal because I always thought metal was a weird addition) and I’m not sure yet if the turtles will ever have true “powers” from these associations or if it will primarily be a symbolic thing… either way, their mask tails now each give a hint to their element!
Leo’s mask already reflects his element with the coloring, so he has a pretty traditional mask with long tails that have a lot of curves to represent water.
Raph’s tails are probably the most fun because I already knew I wanted them to be ripped and jagged, and it honestly just makes sense to draw them a bit like a flame.
Donnie’s tails are short and square which is basically what I’m going for with his entire design — with him as the earth element I really want to lean into a very blocky build for him, and the tails fit that perfectly now!
Ok usually I’m a short tails Mikey kind of gal but then I realized that as the wind element my Mikey absolutely needs to have the longest mask tails so I can draw them dramatically stretched out in the wind. Plus I added really long splits down them, which I think will provide some really great dynamic posing!
these designs are far from finalized and I probably should have been working on an assignment right now but oh well, I wanted to draw my turtles
