Peter Chung's TMNT designs
 

Yep, "the Aeon Flux guy" is the reason the original TMNT intro and first season looked so cool:
https://www.instagram.com/peter_k_chung/

April O'Neil in Action!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU_x7aFrtGA/
http://i.imgur.com/odoElZz.jpg

Additional images SPOILER'd for large sizes:

Pre-Mutation Rocksteady and Bebop (unused concept)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU_v54dLgr5/


Splinter/HamatoYoshi
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU_w-JVLIw0/


Shredder/Saki
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU_xSjfLRbk/

SPOILER'd for large images.

Turtles in Disguise
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU_wP9SLemR/


The Punk who would become Scrag
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU_vqNYLcZd/


Zak the Neutrino
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU_wGINLzZe/


April O'Neil's head turnarounds
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU_xxEwLdXm/


April's expressions
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU_xluIrenR/

Wow, thank you for sharing! I would be curious to see even more of his turtles drawings.

Cool to know that he was the art director of the original series. The art also reminds me of the original coloring books.

I also thought "isn't that the Aenflux guy?" I'd definitely love to see a TMNT short made by him. It'd be all kinds of crazy.

Neat to know that he designed Krang's body as a joke, not knowing the series would get so popular.

Yes, definitely. The Random House books followed these designs very closely, especially the first two books by Fernando Fernandez.

What a great post....
I love Aeon Flux too.

Rocksteady’s human design was going to be a flaming homosexual? That’s a gay character design if I ever saw one.

Neat! Thanks for posting them!

But that one pair of images of April though... lol Calm down, Ariel, it's just a spoon.

I see someone is too young to remember anything of the 80s punk era.

Amazing.

Funny how Rocksteady design has completely changed between this and cartoon itself.

Shredder looks more like Mirage incarnation. I wish there were some sketches of Krang and some other characters.

Also, I've read there was another character designer, before Chung was brought to the series. Is there any more additional information about that?

I think I've seen the final Shredder design somewhere else.

Thanks for sharing these images. The alternate Bebop & Rocksteady designs might have worked if they were ever approved.

It would appear that Chung liked the design for April O' Neil.

I don't mind the Human designs Bebop and Rocksteady much. Once Shredder sprays the mutagen on them in Enter the Shredder, it is all over.

Very cool. I really dig Aeon Flux because it is so dang bizarre and otherwordly. It's cool to see his take on TMNT. If only he could do more with the brand.

Cool to see that he storyboarded the original opening theme as well. Still the best theme in my opinion.

I'd take that opening intro over pretty much the entire series, for the animation quality. I find it to be gorgeous looking. I agree, it's really cool to learn he was behind it.

I'll include the other turnaround photos of April here with links to the original posts, to make them easier to find for future reference.

April facing front
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU_yqjwLhCq/


April side profile
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU_yTtVriXR/


April's backside
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU_yIu1LtLD/


April in Action (higher resolution)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CU_x7aFrtGA/


Chung also comments about his design on Krang's Android body:

Peter Chung posted his original storyboards for the opening sequence!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWCv5o4L6Qy/

Storyboards Part 2
 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWCvqjGLW4z/

Storyboards Part 3
 

These are some of my favorites, as there are some humorous differences between the concept and what became the final animation. "Leonardo Leads" is lampooned by the fact that the other three turtles appear to be running from a giant robot (Krang's Android?). And Michelangelo's "Party Dude" dance seems to show him in a padded asylum room rather than a Disco-Fever dance floor.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWCvRQ5rTJt/

I love this so much. Get this man back on TMNT.

Heh, can you imagine a respectably-budgeted direct-to-video TMNT feature produced by Chung in an unashamedly "anime" style? That would be epic.

It'd be so cool. I can imagine Netflix wanting something like that. I think there is a ray of hope we may get something interesting there, seeing as they are working with Nickelodeon and have shown a strong interest in adult animation. Not holding my breath, but maybe they say "Rise of the TMNT didn't work out so well, but we've been having a lot of success with our animation aimed at teens/adults."

Ok, I can't possibly be the only one thinking this looks bad... right? o.o

So far you are the only one.

Also, keep in mind - those are supposed to be rough draft, they are not supposed to look super good or polished.

And if anything, those storyboards remind me very much how Turtles looked in some Mirage comic books.

The beauty is in the storyboarding and the cinematic nature of it. The perspectives or the way the "camera" behaves. There is a great sense of motion in both the linework and the camera movement.

Chung also wrote in a recent post (his post on the Rugrats intro) that when he was in charge of directing an animation sequence himself, he would usually do the storyboards way rougher (not "polished") than if he was handing the job off to another team.

Right on. It's purposely rough, but very dynamic.

Some more TMNT development treasures shared on Instagram from Peter Chung!

Krang's Android:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CYdUv5DudLb/



Additional comments:
Q cartoonistaaron: Did you design Krang too or was that pre-existing? Were there any toy designs you had to work from?

A: Krang was already designed. I can't remember if it came from the toy company or the Eastman and Laird. I adapted it for animation. The vehicles like the turtle van and flyer came from the toy company. Others like Krang's robot were drawn by me first, then turned into toys.

Q therealgrimbot: Plus the story has Krang be its designer so it gotta feel alien which the final reflects nicely.

BTW, ever seen Peter Laird's sketches for it? https://imgur.com/M9Es4It
Needless to say - YOU knocked it out of the park. :D

A: Thanks. No, I had not seen those. They look good. I'm surprised that he didn't get to have his way. I'm sure if the cartoon was made using his design, that version would be considered a classic and mine would be seen as deserving rejection.

More April!
 

April O'Neil Exploration
"All these are from 1987"
https://www.instagram.com/p/CYdaSonOXDp/

Thanks for posting it here.
I can see rational behind Android's design, even if its still look goofy. Suspenders and visor certainly add to his image, he'd be looking rather plain without them.

Other variants though are better, IMO. Especially one from a 3rd sketch.

Laird's versions, IMO, look pretty goofy as well.

Neat! Thanks for sharing.

Though I can't unsee the Shrekdroid, even if the concept art is many years older...

Hooray for early Turtle Van designs (alongside some of Chung's early Turtle art too):
https://www.instagram.com/p/CYqQKyqL6bW/

Neutrinos!
 

Chung posted some more Neutrinos concept artwork last week. And then he posted some more storyboards from his work on the Rugrats opening sequence, and now I can't help but think the Rugrats and Neutrinos are cousins due to the stylistic similarity!

Zak
https://www.instagram.com/p/CY3HEzPLfOm/



Kala
https://www.instagram.com/p/CY3HUfXL_uU/

More Neutrinos!
 

Dask
https://www.instagram.com/p/CY3IY4_rt2x/



Q: "Did you do all the designs of The Neutrinos by yourself or the writers came up with it?"
Chung: "I don't remember the descriptions of the characters in the script. Visually I had free reign."

All these months later and we finally get a "news" article on the social media posts:
https://www.cbr.com/animator-peter-c...a-turtles-art/

Better late than never, I guess?