Took a bit of time to myself to finally sketch out my vision for Frida based off Andy Suriano’s Farewell. More design thoughts under the cut.
I know some were wary of her appearing too feminine, but honestly I enjoyed the challenge of finding a way to feminize the base turtle model and stay true to Andy’s wonderful design. I don’t want her to just look like her brothers in a show that embraces their differences.
The biggest thing I added to her design was an exposed heart. My own little twist inspired by a real life issue some turtles deal with as well as a fitting ode to the artist she is named after, Frida Kahlo, who would often drew herself with her heart floating outside of her body. (And yes I made the creative decision to keep her heart at her center as with many turtles.)
This deformity occurred during her mutation where the sudden growth spurt tore open a hole at the seam of her plastron. She has survived as long as she has because of Big Mama who uses mystic wards to keep her heart physically safe and emotionally numb. If you look closely to her plastron in the show it’s not actually a natural body part but rather seems to be an attachment of her trench coat. Likely a false cover to hide her obvious weak spot (or at least that is my head canon!)
I love the idea of her and Donnie having something they can relate to and I’m sure he’ll be happy to design chest armor for her down the line once she’s free of Big Mama. Maybe someday I’ll figure out her full Mad Dogs outfit, but for now this is just her base and bandana.
As each of the boys embodies a shape, I found it all too fitting to have Frida’s be a heart. It’s honestly a cool shape that uses both rounded forms and sharp points, which I think would encapsulate her character well. Prickly on the surface but a softy deep down. I tried to find less typical ways of feminizing her. Sharpening her beak and digits while retaining the style of feminine eyes present in most of the female cast but matching it more closely to the unsettling shape of the eyes on her assistant’s mask.
Her markings are a color flip of Mikey’s, where as his are yellow spots with orange outlines hers are orange with yellow outlines. Coupled with her yellow eyes to match Donnie and Raph, it gives her this fiery vibe that I think still sets her far apart from Mikey.
The mask was honestly the hardest part. I love that it further accentuates her heart motif and made her more expressive, but just giving her the obvious bow and calling it a day did not sit well with me. I decided to try more of a high ponytail look, but I think it still needs some work. I’m pretty sure I like her with yellow though, both as a nod to Jennika and the idea of April giving her something of her own to help form the bond between the two.
Would love to flesh her out further but back to my usual stuff first.
It’s like he’s creating blueprints in his head first, because this is what makes sense to him in his process of creation! It’s how he was always doing it and how it works for him.
When he doesn’t have time to create something from a mental blueprint, the end result is something pretty formless, just like his shield he had to desperately use against Kraang at the end of the movie:
It reminds me of artists with aphantasia that need a concrete plan/sketch before outlining a drawing
Cass you dang beast. A whole comic in one year, with so many little hidden things from beginning to end. Lovely story. I’ll miss the updates, but every season ends. Hope you get some good rest.
I’m real jazzed with how this came out. I actually took time to do the light and shadows and shapes. Which I usually hate to do, it stresses me out. But I think this came out pretty good!
So...this is basically a little animation test we did to see if we can replicate the style of the original show. Turns out we can haha. And now that we know that, we want to do more~
Solid Helium Lizart Lotte
Aaand I put this thing on Tiktok and YouTube :D
Also. If you want you can help me pay these people for their work by making a donation. Yes, I'm paying them. This animation wasn't made just on enthusiasm.
_____
Quick Q&A: Yes, you can use this animation for gifs/icons/edits/headers/profile pics/redraws and other stuff. Just include the credits. Please:)
tangentwithtanner
jacobvanloon
kianamaiart
ellievsbear
snowghoul
2087
pixelskylines
