A New Udevu

Udevu appeared in the comic “An Unusual Choir” as a rather fuzzy Mufasa-clone.  (Udevu is my own name for him since he did not have one in the story.) Since clones are boring, I never really drew him.  But then I just recently noticed that Udevu has a minor coloring error on his left shoulder.  So I revamped his design to include that (I call it a birthmark) and then spiced up his look even further by giving his tail the same treatment, since his tail is never shown in the comic.

Udevu is Simba’s uncle in the comic, and I like the idea of him being a younger brother to Mufasa and Scar…read the brief story I have for him in the comments on the pic.  That’s why I added the green eyes and black tail tuft to his design.  Here is the revamp:

Merchandise Errors

Just for fun, and because I just recently updated this section of my Photobucket account, I thought I would share a few funny merchandise errors here.  It’s amazing the variety of mistakes that can appear in merchandise – take a look!

Two big errors in the pic to the left – Mufasa seems to be missing an awful large part of his bulk, and Sarabi has acquired a Zira-esque headstripe.  Though to be fair, this pre-dates Zira.  Sarabi looks kind of neat with a headstripe!  I actually have a hard copy of the one on the right (I might scan in my own version since I snagged this dark photo online).  LK book illustrators routinely use pictures of lineart as part of their own illustrations, but if they alter those, watch out for pieces left behind—like Scar’s dislocated paw in Simba’s armpit.

I only very recently discovered this one to the left, and it’s one of my personal favorites.  The coloring job is excellent on the cubs, perfectly matched to the design…of Simba and Nala, not Kovu and Kiara.  Golden Kovu is just so cute!  The one on the right is a napkin (I just uploaded a pic on TLKFAA about another napkin error) that perhaps on casual inspection looks fine.  Then on closer examination…the right paw belongs to Kiara, the left paw belongs to Kovu, the center paw belongs to…WTF?

Check out the rest of my Merchandise Errors album for yourself…there are many other fun mishaps lying around!

Building a Better Ahadi

This pretty much sums up my opinion of the TLK6NA design for Ahadi.

I think it’s ugly, boring, and not creative.  I see his coloring as a putrid mixture of toilet-fillings: diarrhea, vomit, urine…etc.  Other than the colors there is nothing to make him unique, and that’s frankly a uniqueness I could have done without.   Mohatu and Choyo (the “selfish” lion from “The Brightest Star”) each had defining characteristics that made them more than just Mufasa and Scar clones.  Even Udevu and Laika, Simba’s aunt and uncle from the comic “An Unusual Chorus”, are spectacularly hairy.

Ahadi is one of the only two subcanon characters I consciously modify from their published forms.  I think that there is enough leeway for me to do this because the textual description of the character says that he “had a long black mane and bright green eyes.”  Putrid-illustration-Ahadi does not match this.  I find it really unusual, since generally the TLK6NA illustrators have a keen awareness of all the characters in the scene, and pay attention to details like “Ni is a scruffy lion covered with dirt.”  Though I do suppose I have never seen mention of coloring in TLK6NA, so maybe that kind of actual visual description was beyond the artist.  Whatever.

In any case, along with adhering to the 6NA text my fanon Ahadi has:

1. Golden coloring – partly because gold/black is not a color on any movie canon lions, and is more visually appealing (to me) than the other mixed Scar/Muffy combination orange/reddish-brown.  I was also influenced by early fanart designs for Ahadi.
2. Outlander characteristics – because outlander lionesses are so booooring and I didn’t want Uru to be one of those, so I gave the dark hooked nose, angular features, and claws to Ahadi.  This also fits in with my origins for him as a “desert lion” – I have a detailed explanation for why these characteristics help Ahadi and related lions operate better in the climate (i.e. dark eye surrounds absorb sunlight, like grease on a football player’s face or the tear-stripe on a cheetah).
3. Fwippy mane style – Mostly to make him different from other canon lions.  Inspired partly by concept art for Scar and also by the classic “superhero” forelock that springs from the front of the hairstyle.  The sideburns also come from that concept art.
4. Goatee – Because Nuka had to get one from somewhere, and Ahadi, as his double-grandfather in my fanon (the father of both Zira and Scar, his parents) had to have significantly contributed to his genes.

So, I decided to come up with my own design for Ahadi because I hate the illustration version,  if I hate the design, I will not draw the character, and I wanted to draw Ahadi.  Simple as that.