Santolouco's Nick influenced TMNT designs
 

EDIT: Bobby Curnow confirmed that these were designs are NOT related to a future IDW comic series inspired by the Nick cartoon. Thus, I have changed the thread from its original title. My bad, folks.


http://santolouco.deviantart.com/art...heet-321121895
http://th09.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/...4c-d5b6r8n.jpg

From Mateus Santolouco:

What is that??????????? They look UUUUUUUUUUUGLY

Those designs look nothing like the Nick Turtles. And what's up with April, is that supposed to be Nick's teen April?

I can't see any kid who loves the cartoon looking a this and thinking its the same.

I'm confused. Is this for the Rise of the Foot mini-series he's writing and drawing? He said it was for IDW's TMNT, not Nick's. I thought the Nick Cartoon comics haven't been confirmed yet?

Looks like fan art gone bad.

well it's only concept art... really means nothing

Look at April's clothes, it's the same shorts over stockings that Nick's April has, although she looks much older here otherwise.

I really like his Turtle designs. I'm on the fence with the April. I think the outfit is a cool shout-out to the Nick show, but those black leggings would strike me a fashion disaster in real-life!

Hmm... ya'know, you might be right! He does seem to describe it as pertaining to the Secret of the Foot mini-series. If so, then a Mod can feel free to lock or merge this thread.

The April & TMNT designs really do seem indebted to the Nick show, so it's hard to imagine character designs like these showing up in the IDW ongoing series, even if it is just a mini-series. I suppose we need some more info. I also change the title of this thread to be more of question than an indicative statement of fact. :-)

April looks way too much like Nick TMNT April for my taste (and there's the obnoxious multi-colored pupils from the Nick show too) and... really... she's got a yellow shirt? C'mon. And there's Dude Mikey™ standing there with the "Pizza!" quip, completing the utter eyeball rollingness of the piece.

I'm digging a lot of things the concept art is presenting, especially on April. And I love the pouches for Mikey's chucks

I actually think this looks good. Really digging the designs for the turtles and April.

Excuse if I sound rude, but what's so wrong with Mikey saying "pizza", the multi-colored pupils, or April wearing yellow?

I kinda love these designs as well. An interesting take on the nick turtles. Then again, I seem to be much more accepting of change (read as artistic license) than your average turtle comic fan.

Because it's not Mirage GRIM DARK KILLER TURTLES! RAWR!!!

Okay, Jester, make that forum meme; you know you want to.

Yeah, that's why I'm confused. If it's a comic for the Nick cartoon turtles, it seems strange for him to say he was influenced by them! Plus, it would be pretty surprising that he's writing and drawing a mini-series for both Nick AND IDW. Either way, I think it's a little amusing that Dan Duncan's influence are the weird "removable" plastrons. Just when we thought we were done with them!

Then again, those turtles and April look a little too much like the Nick's turtles to not for a comic based on them. And underneath he posts an unofficial pic for the Secret History of the Foot which admittedly looks totally different, edgier and more in line with IDW's TMNT than the initial model sheet.

Still confused...

This is concept work for the Secret History of the Foot Clan... why does anyone think it has to do with the Nick toon? I don't see anything in the link that would indicate that... in the link he says:

"Hey y'all!
This is more or less how these guys, and April, are going to look on the new mini-series I'm writing and will be drawing for IDW's TMNT."

April's shorts/stockings are the same as Nick's April, that might be where the confusion started.

Ha, I didn't even think about that, you're right.

Yeah, it was definitely the strong Nick toon influence that threw people off, I think. Also, the unofficial piece he has linked at the bottom of the description looks totally different than this one, and seemed more likely to be the IDW of the two based on style.

There's no getting past it being heavily influenced by the Nick TMNT. The very different body types, faces, different colored pupils... and then we have April over there who looks like she walked off the "set" of the cartoon.

Thanks for clearing it up, Bobby. My apologies to everybody for a wrong assumption. I even read the Santolouco's post but still got the wrong conclusion. I have since changed this thread's title.

I actually don't mind the Turtles so much in that. I think the characterization of them there is pretty lazy, though, like each one is a caricature of their most "iconic" personalities ("look how angry Raph is! look how leadery Leo is! look how party-y Mikey is!"). I'm also not a fan of the Turtles' bodies looking vastly different from one another's (and if you're going to do that, and give them very different skin tones, and give them all different colored pupils?... it's too much), but whatever, that's just personal taste. As someone else pointed out, it is a little bit funny that the one thing that the artist seems to carry over from Dan Duncan's rendition of the Turtles is the one thing that people almost universally seemed to dislike -- the apparently flexible/pliable/styrofoam-esque plastrons. What I really like: the belts look awesome, literally like an amalgam of the A.C. Farley belts and the final evolution of the Eastman/Laird belts. The artist also really seems to make the "wraps" look work and not look lame. Radically different Turtle skin colors aside, I like the addition of the reptilian-esque spots around the shoulders/thighs, etc..

All good! Re-reading my post, I think I sound kind of snotty. Hopefully it didn't come off that way.

Hey, you're a creative type. All good creative types are at least a little sensitive about their properties being misrepresented. :twink:

However, while we're on the subject... can you share any information about when we might see an IDW published comic based on the new Nick cartoon? I seem to remember Tom Waltz said it was coming eventually.

Not sure how anyone got confused by this. It was pretty clear what this art was. However, I dig it. I like his turtles.

There isn't any official news about a TMNT Nick animated comic yet. We haven't seen any episodes here at IDW. Once we do, we can have a better idea of how maybe to proceed. I know folks would like to see it happen, and we've talked about it, but at the same time, it's hard to sustain things that might be seen as 'kids comics' in the direct market.

I'd like to believe that something like later day Archie comics could survive in today's environment. We'll see!

Also winters, I've just tried to think of a witty response to your 'creative types' joke, and have come up with zilcho, so that might say something about how creative I am. :tsmile:

At the risk of sounding off color (and keep in mind I'm actually a big Archie TMNT fan)... isn't that kind of what IDW TMNT is right now?

I know what you're getting at here...but you're quite right. The level of violence/adult themes seen in IDW now is pretty similar to the later stuff from Archie after about issue #50.

Whether that's a positive or negative depends on the person, but I think we all hope IDW can go further in terms of adult themes and actual blood during fight scenes...if Nick allows it.

I for one, really like these designs. April looks great. Her and the turtles actually look like teens (17 yrs old), more so than any other incarnation I can recall. I also really like her clothing style and body expression, again very teen-like.

I get what Andrew's saying about the pic containing some of the overly common, cheesey, mikey's grinning while eating pizza and saying "dude" and raph's a constant grump. It does get a bit old after a while, but I'm sure he just used it for familiarity's sake.

This.

As standalone art, I love it. As art based out the Nick series & all that. But this looks nothing at all like the IDW turtles... The fact that a book in that same continuity is going to look like this is almost insulting. Not that it's bad, just... much like the earlier books, indicative of a different universe, & different tone.

You could say the same thing about some of the micro artists. Valerio Schiti comes to mind as feeling like I was reading a new, standalone Turtles story not set in any particular universe.

April is what I like best about this drawing. She looks great, if you ask me.

I'm whatever about this guy's Turtle designs; could do without the exact eye colours from the Nick show, but in theory, I'm always in support of differentiating their faces enough that you could tell which is which, even if they had matching bandannas. And I definitely disagree with Andrew on this regard, because I like the differing body types (though never as extreme as in Dawn of the Ninja) and varying skin tone (something that I've always felt is so purely cosmetic, that it should be left to the artists' decision).
But... y'know, Team Red better.

Mike saying "Pizza?" for no apparent reason seems oh-so pointless, but at least he's cute, I guess.

personally when i saw this i was really excited. i love the designs, they might look a little odd and ugly, but i realy like it when artists do that to the turtles. it adds the uniqueness of each artists interpretation. as for april i think she looks great too. i love the nick shout out with the shorts and leggings and i think the yellow sweater looks great as well

i like it but i woued have liked it more if they has same skin color,same eye color same hight and of course all red bandana

i quite like these

Hey Andrew,

I completely see what you're saying, but I meant more a comic that sprung specifically from a cartoon show. Something clearly marketed towards kids. Regardless of one's opinion's of IDW TMNT, I would think we can agree it's not marketed at kids. Marketed at folks who were ONCE kids, maybe...

I don't think you'd see (or have implied) children being beheaded from anything directly connected to a cartoon show.

But I'm not disagreeing with what I think is your main point— IDW TMNT is closer to all-ages appropriate than Mirage. That's fair, and therefore so is a comparison to Archie. And I did say later day Archie, so yeah... the comparison is even more apt.

As for these designs, I was going to say everyone should chill. These aren't final designs, and the attitudes displayed therein are just for fun. It's behind-the-scenes concept work, and hopefully seeing that is enjoyable. I'm personally under the impression that the Turtles are going to look a lot closer to the unofficial teaser that he posted. Though with not as small a Mikey.

I was going to say all that, but hey— Mateus put them out there for public consumption, so public comment on them is warranted. But, as always, I would say reserve judgment for the final product.

I think the piece is fantastic, and I have to agree with Genesis that April stands out as the best looking. I like her design. I don't see the big deal in her sweater being yellow. Yes, it's an OT shout-out, but it's just a color. At least it doesn't say "Channel 6 News", know what I'm saying?

The "Pizza" line is trite, and a little disheartening. That's probably the low point of the piece. The Turtles themselves look great in my opinion, although Nick making Mateus draw the Turtles taller than they should be is extremely annoying. Ross Campbell had that same issue.

Does Nick not realize that the Turtles should be significantly shorter than an average sized human?

Yeah, it is a little strange for the IDW-verse. Although, like Bobby said, these designs were from the WIP phase, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

What I don't like about this is the turtles having pupils (please, NO!)and different heights and shapes of bandanas (I like them classic). And yes, the turtles here look like superficial caricatures and too much based on the new nick's toon.
I think Santolouco can do better than this.
Wasn't this perfect? http://santolouco.deviantart.com/art...aser-315251373

probably not a surprise but I LOVE THEM!!! :D

(okay, last post... probably!!)

The size issue isn't Nick mandated. It's how Duncan originally drew them (same size as Casey, etc), and I'd like to keep some consistency. There's some wiggle room for style, sure, but I'd like to avoid it being a super crazy size difference. Thus with both Ross and Mateus here we have sort of a compromise... not quite as tall as Duncan's, but not as short as they'd probably ideally like.