Mechthild's re-visions of MOTU

[Met-Hild]

I'm a new face around here (hello all!), but I've been doing MOTU-inspired art for a long time, so I want to start with some of my older works before I move on into recent stuff. This should give you a better idea of where I'm coming from and why my versions of the characters are sometimes so odd.

I won't go all the way back to my childhood but start with spring/early summer 2002 when I learned there would be a revival of MOTU. I think I may have seen pictures of some of the toy designs, but the new series hadn't premiered yet. I was then inspired to write and sketch my own updated version of Eternia, it's history, races and characters.

These sketches date back to June 2002, although some of the photoshop coloring work was done later, and some weren't scanned before today. I couldn't find all the sketches I wish I could have shared (such as the pencil sketch of Grizzlor or Orko with long braided hair), but these should give you an idea of what I did back then.



Skeletor was the first to receive his new look. In these sketches he's sort of still between being Skeletor and Keldor (whom I envisioned solely based on the minicomic, and at one point made Randor's uncle rather than brother!) Note the heavy overuse of the chaos symbol as a design element!




Beast Man was a bit of a departure from the original. I wanted to make him feral and predatory, a sort of mix between man, lion and ape. His weapons, armor and adornments were supposed to reflect the primitive and violent nature of his race.




Mer-Man was always my favorite Evil Warrior. I'm not sure why I thought giving him a tail was a good idea, but it was part of making him more fish-like together with the scaly skin and webbed fin-like arms and legs. I designed his armor and jewlery as a mix of marine shells and things robbed from sunken ships and drowned corpses. It ties in with the ideas I had of his race.




Clawful received by far the most radical revision. I think I just took the head and the claws as a starting point and filled the rest with humanoid lobster parts! He was supposed to be an underling of Mer-Man. The other creature I added here was an original creation, a cephalopoid monster servant of Mer-Man that I never gave a proper toyetic name.

I fear this post will bloating up to an excessive lenght if I go on, so I think I'll add the rest later today or tomorrow. Stay tuned.

[Caedus]

If this stuff is 8 years old.. then you sir, are my new favorite artist. These are all epic, but clawful really appears to be in his own league. just cant wait to see more.

[Predabot]

Lookin' good here, Meththild!

Altho I find some of the changes a bit too extreme, I do think they are superbly executed, so I do see the merits!

It's got very much a bit of an alternate take air to it, like a parallel universe. Eternia-5 or some such.

[Milk Man]

Good work. Loving it
Keep posting more please

[Met-Hild]

Here's the rest of the 2002 batch.



Grizzlor and Hordak. As I mentioned earlier, I couldn't find the pencil sketch of Grizzlor, but I have this partial digital painting sketch of a generic member of his race. I was being a really literal with his name and made him grizzly-like in the same vein as Beast Man was lion-like. This version of Hordak looks meaner and leaner than I remembered, but I think I made him a bit too Fu Manchu. (I also made a sketch of an ancient hero that was of the same race as Hordak, but I was so unhappy with that design I don't want to show him to anyone.)




Oh, how I loved the Snake Men when I was little. I didn't sketch any particular character but experimented with different variations of humanoids with snake-like body parts. Even so, you can still see that the tail-handed one was inspired by Sssqueeze, while the long-necked one is very close to Rattlor if you ignore the constrictor-style head. I'm really not sure why I didn't do a redesign of Tung Lashor even though he was my favorite Snake Man back in my childhood.




This particular character started out as Kobra Khan, but evolved into something of his own. I eventually decided to make him Khan's father and the high priest of the Snake Men. The funny thing is that at this point the Snake Men didn't have a designated god in any canon yet, I just figured they'd have a religion!

My Kobra Khan is an agnostic by the way.




I wanted to save Battle Cat/Cringer last, because of my old designs it's the one that I like the most. He's not really green, more of a dark yellow or olive. I tried to give him a distinctive color pattern partially inspired by ones seen in marsupials to give him a natural, yet alien look. I might do him a bit differently today, but I still think he could work well in a movie.

[Met-Hild]

Since I posted nothing but old stuff, I want to tease you with something new. I have a whole bunch of things on various stages of unfinished from pencil sketches to nearly finished digital paintwork. To keep things interesting, I'll show you an early color test I did to see if the color scheme I planned for my new version of Clawful works. This should give you an idea of how my approach has changed since 2002.

It's got very much a bit of an alternate take air to it, like a parallel universe. Eternia-5 or some such.

That's how I see it myself. It's not supposed to fit within any previous continuity but exist parallel to it. An alternate Eternia that I might have created had I been given the powers of a dictator/goddess!

[Granamir]

Hey guy! congratulations! your art is so great!

[hauke]

This is really great work!

[Charlie Brown]

congrats! great artwork.

the fish tail on mer-man is an intriguing idea!

[TechTrek]

great looking work.


its very nice to see some fresh takes on MOTU.


I for one, as much of a vintage purest I can be (obviously not as much as CM) can very much appreciate this new look to great classic characters.


very good art work also!!

[Met-Hild]

Thank you, all of you!

I'm hoping to make new versions of all of the characters I did eight years ago, not just Clawful. It'll take a while though, because I also have He-Man, Buzz-Off, Keldor's suit of armor and a couple of faces waiting to be finished, and I'm really trying to get something done for the current redesign challenge.

[Niki]

You have a beautiful style, my most favorite is your Kobra Khan Father he looks awesome.

Please keep ´em comin´!!!!

[danbrenus]

That's really great stuff here, can't wait to see more!

[Eternian Poet]

Excellent work. Let's see more of your personal vision.

[super-munkyboy]

WOW!

Amazing stuff sir!

[Optimus Prime]

I think your new takes on the characters pretty darn cool. I particularly like your old version of Clawful.

[Eamon]

These are really cool! Can't wait to see more!

Oh and belated welcome to the boards!

[Met-Hild]

I'm currently stuck with Buzz-Off, or his axe rather, so I decided to post a bunch of sketches.

First, one that I actually posted on the forums earlier but for some reason didn't think of posting here. Just a tiny little thing I quickly sketched and then colored in photoshop when I started redoing my redesigns from way back. Would you believe this was the first realistic human I had drawn in four years? I'm still having difficulty accepting it's been that long.



In case you are wondering, I was testing different outfits for He-Man, and found that this was as far as I was comfortable to go changing it. Actually this is now my design for He-Ro/King Grayskull for my personal version o Eternia.


Next up, a new armor design for Zodak, or the Council's Enforcers in general. It has to do with my ideas of the Enforcers I've mainly explored in text form but they started spilling into visual form as these things tend to with me.




Last one for now is a new redesign of Grizzlor. I was inspired to sketch this quickly after watching Pixel Dan's review of MOTUC Grizzlor. I just drew him as a creature with no armor, weapons or even a loincloth. I'll do those later if/when I make a proper colored version of him.




Let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

[Sandman]

Your work is absolutely amazing, and reminds me of the kind of design work done for a movie or animated series. Do you work as a designer? If not you should.

[Met-Hild]

Thank you.

I have a BA in graphic design if that counts. And I worked for a while as an illustrator, but right now I don't work, period.

[Lewd_Squirrel]

these look pretty sweet.

[Met-Hild]

My neck has been giving me trouble lately so this took longer than I expected, but I finally decided my Buzz-Off is good enough. Also, you get a taster of the Mechthild-verse bio I wrote for him, whether you like it or not. (Seriously though, let me know if you'd like to read more of these bios - or not to see them at all.)

Buzz-Off
Bazaphoros of Andreeno

Hailing from Andreenos, the greatest andreenid hive in Eternia, Bazaphoros was one of the myriads of insectoid children of Queen Andreeno III. At an early age he was chosen to be a part of the elite leader caste. He was fed with a special nectar that granted him a greater strength and higher intelligence than that of the worker or warrior cast andreenids. His colors also changed to more vibrant yellow and shining black to reflect his position in the hive. As a trade-off he became resistant to the ambrosia that could transform workers into warriors and allow warriors to multiply their strength and grow a stronger, thorny carapace.

By the orders of Queen Andreeno III, as soon as he had come of age, Bazaphoros was made an ambassador of the hive to Eternos. Soon after he had arrived, young Bazaphoros found himself in the middle of the battle of Eternos. Sharing the unselfish nature of all andreenids, he rushed to the ramparts to aid the Eternian Guard defend the city from Keldor's rebellious forces. Though he was not properly trained in the art of war, he saved many lives by taking many of the wounded to safety, including a young man called Mekan who had had his spine crushed in battle.

Bazaphoros was recognized for his acts of bravery after the battle, and to the surprise of everyone asked if he could join the Eternian guard. While this was unusual, Shamar Moonspinner, the leader of the Ruling Council of Eternos gave him his blessing, sealing the matter. The other guardsmen remained suspicious of the stranger and many started making fun of his name, telling him to "Buzz-off for us". Not familiar with human idioms, Bazaphoros at first mistook it as a mispronunciation of his name. He was also sent on pointless missions, mislead and generally played as a fool for his ignorance of human customs. Once Captain Randor and his lieutenant Duncan learned of this they put an end to such bullying, but the nickname Buzz-Off stuck even after he had gained the trust and admiration of his peers.

[The Blue Beetle]

These designs are fantastic! Well done, Mechthild! I also love the name you've given to Buzz-Off, "Bazaphoros" is a much more preferable real name (if we have to have "real" names at all...) then "Tzzzzzt frikkin' whatever"!

Keep up the great work!

[sdilks]

I LOVE your more realistic design of MOTU!!!

My favorite by far is Beastman! I don't know why, but his design just intrigues me, and I can't stop staring at it!

Great work! Keep them coming! Please!

[Eamon]

Wicked Buzz-off!!

Do you listen to the podcast Mechthild?