Designer - Color Test and Backstory

Seattle Slew a.k.a. Lou

Lou is one of the world's top contending race dogs. While he is a racing dog, and racing dogs are normally cared for differently than house pets, his owner is still very compassionate and this reflects on Lou's behavior. He is a very kind, good-natured dog. His best friend is also racing dog (Maximum Overdrive a.k.a. Max) raised by the same owner as Lou. While Lou is extremely successful at the track, he suffers from an inner conflict that causes him to hate racing for competition. The only real joy he receives from running is off the track, where he feels no pressure to be the best. His driving force is a dog named Riptide, who constantly berates Lou and Max out of jealousy, and is Lou's biggest competitor.

I have a good idea for a story pertaining to these characters, that includes more cast members including Lou's love interest, Mindy (who Lou meets while playing at the dog park with his trainer), but it's not very well fleshed out at yet. I'd like to finish the story with Lou, Max and Riptide attending the Waterloo Cup Meet (the Kentucky derby of greyhound racing). As Lou rounds the last turn before the finish line, he notices that Max is close behind him, Riptide following closely on Max's heels. Lou believes that Max can win, and decides to swallow his pride as he slows up, letting his best friend pass him to win the race. Lou happily retires shortly after the race, and is adopted by Mindy's owner. Riptide also retires shortly after but not so willingly, he is adopted by a small family with a particularly annoying little girl (think Elmyra from tiny toons). Max goes on to win many more races, and Lou's new owner even brings him to the track from time to time to visit his former owner and friend.

A few of the many ideas I've been tossing around and scrawling in notebooks the last few days. Would love some constructive criticism on the story particularly, and also would like to know which color tests catch your eye. :)

Design for Media - Progress

I spent the week trying to narrow down my style. I've decided I want to model my greyhound character as a racing dog, and for my Advanced Time-Based Projects class I plan to model a race track environment for him.

I found lots of great references of racing dogs and even a chart of common greyhound colors and markings.

Here are my sketches from this week

Sketches 1
Sketches 2
Variations on styles

Sketches 3
Anatomy and run cycle study

Constructive criticism welcome and appreciated!

Explorer Progress

Dogs

Papillon

Australian Shepherd

Afghan Hound

Boston Terrier

Bull Terrier

Chihuahua