I have been working on Moo-Pig for about 4 months now. That is, the newest incarnation. This is a story that I have been working on for years. 12 years to be exact. Following is a visual evolution of the character as she appears in the newest version. I will show the image and then talk about it and what influenced my next move.

Concept 1

When I first conceived the notion of Moo-Pig, she was actually a physical blend between a cow and a pig. I dropped this idea in favor of a simpler idea: A pig whom liked to do cow things. This would eliminate any confusion for my target age group and would also eliminate the need for the “what’s a moo-pig and how did she come to be?” conversation I imagined between parents and kids. This image is the first image of Moo-Pig as a pig.

This first concept featured a bloated, fat happy looking pig. This went against the story as Moo-Pig would never fall into the bloated, fat happy looking pig category. 

Concept 2

Concept 2 featured a more whimsical, playful looking pig. Though I love stylized illustrations, it didn’t work for Moo-Pig. I felt she needed to retain normalcy. The idea behind this is that she would look like a normal pig while other pigs around her would look comical. This would be a twist in that the non-funny looking pig would be non-piggish and the piggish pigs would look funnyish.

Concept 3

Concept 3 Moo-Pig more closely resembles a pig. Though there are stylized parts about her, the overall impression is “pig.” I also eliminated color. At this point it struck me that this was a story about black and white. Color was not needed. I would include one color, blue, which will make sense in the end. I kept my lines playful but made them more controlled.

Final Art for Dummy Book

This is the current state of Moo-Pig. As you can see, I refined the awkward lines in her hind legs as well as a few other places. Overall, the image is consistent with the character. My lines are still loose and lively. I tried to give her motion. I want her to appear simple so that her actions and character define who she is. At this point I also added in the blue color and simplified the shadows. Simplicity is important to me for Moo-Pig. 

I am now in the process of bringing all illustrations up to this level. In the end I hope to end up with a nice dummy book I can submit for publication.