Goats!

For my advanced animation class, we were asked to design a character which could be animated in various tests throughout the year. In the past, my character designs have lacked vitality, so I wanted to go with something more lively. Towards that goal, I started thinking about the early days of animation, pulling heavily from Disney/Iwerks and Fleischer cartoons from the late 20s and early 30s. After several versions and animals later, I found pleasing shapes with a goat sketch I had done. In order to increase the versatility of the design towards animation, I worked with proportions closer to that of Warner Brothers characters of the 40s.

Designing this character was fun because I imagined the world in which he lived and the various situations and gags he would encounter. As a depression-era goat, his schtick is being terribly hungry and endlessly searching for food and ways to get it. Goats are known to eat anything, so gags can be written around that theme.