Blast from the Past #671: Sketchbook page 14, ideas for further mutations

Not much on this page -- just a few quick doodles, trying to work out ideas for further mutations for the Turtles (apparently in this case specifically going in a sort of monstrous direction with Leonardo), along with some other potential story notes. Here's what I wrote on this fourteenth page of the sketchbook:

     "4/26/94

       Physical mutations:

       Leo

       Play with more radical mutations/morphing


       -- Karai variations?

       -- Nobody as a woman?

       -- Foor Elite similar to Shredder Elite in "City at War" -- traditional garb, gear, and semi-mystical "Bushido" approach"

      
         It's interesting to me that roughly a decade before I had April O'Neil don the mantle of Nobody in the TMNT Volume 4 comic books, I was thinking about introducing a female Nobody. -- PL

Blast from the Past #670: Sketchbook page 13, Foot ninja design

Here on page 13 of the sketchbook, I was playing around with yet another variation of the basic Foot soldier design. This one has some more body armor and tech bits, though I don't recall what, specifically, these pieces were intended to do.

 Like the previous page, this one was drawn in photoblue pencil, making it difficult to see the lines. So I worked with it a bit in Photoshop to darken it up. What looks like spatter in the lower left hand corner is actually just an artifact of the photography and the Photoshop manipulation -- I think it was originally a slight shadow on the page. -- PL

Blast from the Past #669: Sketchbook page 12, Foot stealth corps

 This unfinished drawing on page twelve of the sketchbook is labeled at the top "Foot Stealth Corps"... which, upon reflection, seems a bit redundant -- I mean, as ninja, aren't the Foot supposed to be stealthy?

In any event, this appears to be an attempt on my part to think up a new look for some of the Foot clan's soldiers. I only partially inked this one, the remainder being in photo-blue pencil... which I had to mess with in Photoshop to get it to show up a little better, hence the rough look of some of those penciled lines. -- PL

Blast from the Past #668: Sketchbook page 11, Raphael posing on gargoyle

     Here's another partly-finished drawing from page 11 of the sketchbook, this time of Raphael standing atop a sculpted gargoyle on the corner of a tall building.

     I'm not sure why I drew this one, as there is nothing abut it which speaks of new mutations. Perhaps it was just something fun. I do like the pose and gesture. -- PL

Blast from the Past #667: Sketchbook page 10, loosely-penciled downward-leaping Leonardo with claws

On the tenth page of the sketchbook, I drew -- or maybe I should say "started to draw" -- this dramatic shot of Leonardo leaping downward, one hand grasping a sword and the other displaying his new pop-out claws.

I kind of wish I'd finished this one -- I like the feel of it. But I probably felt too lazy at the time... I mean, I'd have had to draw all those windows and other building details, in extreme perspective no less! -- PL

Blast from the Past #666: Sketchbook page 9, penciled group shot of new-look Turtles

This sketch from page 9 of the sketchbook shows all four Turtles displaying their new mutations...

... except, apparently, for Michelangelo. I'm not sure why I didn't draw him any differently. -- PL

Blast from the Past #665: Sketchbook page 8, leaping Leo with claws out

     The drawing on this eighth page of the sketchbook interests me, because I rarely draw in this sort of "chiaroscuro" manner. I admire people like Bernie Wrightson and Mike Mignola who can really pull it off. I think I got about eighty percent there with this one.

     I suspect this drawing was done to at least in part demonstrate how Leonardo's retractable/extendible claws would look in action... or maybe I was just having fun. -- PL