heffysdoodles:

A pet idea of mine for a long time has been “designing” my own rendition of an animated adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book. It’s long been a favorite story of mine, and while I love and hold dear Disney’s ‘67 adaptation… let’s face it, very little of the original book is there. I like to think about what a somewhat more faithful, somewhat more serious adaptation would be like - rather like Bill Peet’s original draft of the film for Disney. The Russian animated adaptation could also be an inspiration (LOVE the look of that film) but I don’t know how stylized I would want to be.

These sketches are only studies for a few of the species that consist the cast (Indian wolf, black leopard (panther), sloth bear, reticulated python). I’d like to do a bunch of finalized character designs at some point, but a dilemma for me is what level of caricature and anthropomorphization I would want to go with. I love Disney’s film for it’s strong and likable characters, but for a more serious rendition I wonder just what degrees of personality the cast would need to be injected with - I don’t know how “Disneyesque” I’d want them to be. I’d like a harmonious blend of raw animal and human characteristics in the designs and personalities, although maybe a bit less dry and super-serious than Kipling’s writings. Depending on what tone I go with this would probably be something very different for me, but a challenge I’d welcome. If I pursue this idea any further I guess it’d make a pretty nice addition to a portfolio.

Also sloth bears are freakish alien creatures and I don’t know how to draw snakes.