The Bear's Cave! - Older Bearshow Art Archive Thread

[Bearshow]

Hello!

After some talk in the other thread, it sounds like some Orgers no longer have access to my older pieces (since my original website is gone ), so I wanted to create a thread where I can put up my old stuff.

I apologize in advance if anyone isn't interested; I debated doing this since some might see it as skating by on past work, but I'll have new stuff up in a day or so!

Also, I can't seem to get the feature working to add my art to the Fan-Art section, so that's why it's here instead of there .

These are going to go in the rough order that I originally posted them, a kind of a retrospective I guess, of the old glory days when we all had lots of 200x redesigns to speculate about. My style changes a lot, too, over the years, so please be forgiving of my early stuff .

First up: SHE-RA!

I first found out about the Org while I was trying to break into comics and doing commissions on eBay. The first thing I was doing here was redesigns of the Princess of Power line, in the style of the new Four Horsemen 200x re-launch. Oddly enough, I had no knowledge whatsoever about anything She-Ra. I'd never seen any of the show, so I was only working off of the original figures. Hence, the designs looking absolutely nothing like anything any She-Raver had ever seen before! Luckily, everyone here at the time was gracious enough to be kind to my ignorance .

These first couple of design sheets were actually designs that I had sent to the Horsemen, and also showed several Mattel higher-ups at Comic-Con in San Diego, around 2001-2002 - I believe. That's why there's all the articulation marks and accessory sheets.



Again, here you'll see I had no idea that She-Ra's sword was supposed to be a clone of the original Power Sword. I just designed it based off of the original toy design.



Now, ADORA:

Same deal here, complete ignorance, so I based her look off of being the 200X Prince Adam's twin sister. Notice the pink vest and purple pants!


I had at lot of PoP stuff to learn, but I still got out some more toy designs before adding any of the Filmation series knowledge to my brain!

[Bearshow]

Next up, one of my favorites, KOWL!


I always liked the general "koala/owl/Wuzzles" design of Kowl, but never cared for the weird "butterfly" wing ears. So, I gave him some large feathered ears that would still incorporate the levels of color but look more organic. Also, I gave him some royal robes to better represent his role as She-Ra's adviser. No one likes naked advice!

[Bearshow]

For the action figure design, I went with a ear-flapping action button and a backpack with his book. I figured his character would carry a large book of Etherian lore to help assist the Rebellion.



I think he's one of the few older designs that I really wouldn't change at all.

[Bearshow]

Carrying in the same tradition as MOTU Classics, the first female member of the Great Rebellion I redesigned was FROSTA:



Same deal here; my Frosta was inspired only by the action figure, so now Filmation or style guide influence here. I still like the frozen boots and all the snowflake motifs.



Can't beat an interactive accessory! The cape would have been done in a translucent plastic with sculpted flakes.

[Bearshow]

Every hero needs a nemesis, and so comes CATRA!

A pretty drastic departure from the Filmation and style guide, this lethal lady was decked out in the black, pink, and silver motif of the original figure. I would still like to see a Classics version of this look.

She would have come with her transformation/battle mask, a strip of soft goods fur, and her cat-o-nine tails whip.

[Bearshow]

Here's where I started getting more exposure to the Filmation series, so my BOW gained a swarthy moustache.

I also gave him a shirt to go with his armor.

I also gave the Heroic Archer a cross bow in addition to his bow. I guess after seeing what happened to Green Arrow in the DC Classics line, my bow and arrow would have to have been permanently attached .

[Bearshow]

Two faces are better than one, with DOUBLE TROUBLE!


When I was approaching the figure's helmet look, I went with a samurai inspired look to hide her action feature. I also wanted to create a dual nature effect in her armor, so I went with dueling crane and dragons all over.

The dueling crane and dragon extended to her double swords as well. A push of the button turns her from ally to enemy!

[Pyre]

yeah Buddy! That's what I'm Talkin' about!!!

Keep 'Em Comin Bro!

I need to meet a girl like Frosta at a bar... Check out those Icy Ugs!

And those Blue Tights make 80's Aerobic video's hot!

[Bearshow]

Thanks, Pyre!

I thought she came out pretty cute, too!

LOTS more to come, including the Evil Horde!

[Pyre]

Thanks, Pyre!

I thought she came out pretty cute, too!

LOTS more to come, including the Evil Horde!

Yer my fav artist, but I'm gonna beat you in chalenge 101 darn it! Lol.

I've always hated doubletrouble, but with your concept, I'd love to have her in my collection. Can't wait to see your horde ideas.

[oICEMANo]

Wow man!! I dont ever recall seeing the turnarounds for some of these!!
Keep it coming, Im getting a fuzzy 200x nostalgic feeling all over!

[JafariStew]

Sweet! I really love Frosta & those snow covered boots!!

[Jukka]

Hey welcome back Bear!!! I've missed your works!

Also I never fully learned them methods about using copics/markers to color lineart so if you can again help out with a tutorial or something that'd be fantastic!

[danbrenus]

Ah, this is what I was waitin' for, astonishing work man! Those Adora really rocks! Never figured out how good ol' "pink/violet/indigo" Adam's suit would look good on a girl.

[Penny Dreadful]

So glad to see you back again!! I've always enjoyed your stuff. In fact, I think I still have your drawing of Plundor saved on my computer somewhere.

[Bearshow]

Pyre - That's the fun part about the challenges; it challenges me to match up to great concepts like the ones you've posted !

Iceman - Yeah, I had the turnarounds on my site but I didn't think I ever posted them here. As you'll see, I only did them for the "toy proposal" sheets that I sent to the Horsemen and Mattel. Later ones were just the one image. These definitely bring back that nostalgia, too - hard to believe this art is over a decade old!

JafariStew - Hi! I always liked her boots, too!

Jukka - Hi, Jukka! Glad to be back! You know, I had a color tutorial posted a long time ago, but I don't have any of those files saved anymore. Maybe I'll have to do a new one sometime. Thanks for asking, though!

Danbrenus -I always liked the Adam color motif better on my Adora as well. I was kind of embarassed once I learned how Adora's actual, iconic outfit was. Still think it's a good design, though!

And now, the Evil Horde!

[Bearshow]

So glad to see you back again!! I've always enjoyed your stuff. In fact, I think I still have your drawing of Plundor saved on my computer somewhere.

Oops, sorry Penny Dreadful! You posted while I was posting .

Thank you so much! And as matter of fact, Plundor will be showing up here again, once I get to the redesign challenge era!

[Zargon]

Great stuff, Keep it coming.

[Bearshow]

And now, HORDAK!


Funny story: I designed this guy right after they had shown him in complete shadow on the MYP cartoon, and was trying to make sure he matched that shadow. I mistook what would end up being his long shoulder pads as potentially longer, bat-like ears, and that's why you see such an odd addition here. Personally, I would have done the traditional short ears, but I thought I was matching the series .

Also, I went way towards the more techno aspects of the cartoon, so my Hordak has more cybernetic details than dark sorcerer. I imagined him as the pinnacle of the Fright Zone's technology, and that he used his technology to create all of his horror-inspired minions, as you'll see.

For accessories, I turned his "bat shield" from the original toy into a full-blown shield.

It's funny, when I was going over these designs with Eric Treadaway with the Horsemen at Comic-Con, he was talking about how close my design was to what they would soon be debuting. I think he was being overly kind, 'cause their's looked sooooo much better than mine, and wasn't even close to my robot Hordak .

[Bearshow]

While my Hordak was a bit off the traditional path, I went off into the woods with GRIZZLOR!

I took more inspiration from his name than the original design, and made the Grizz into a more bear-like monstrosity. He would have still had the furry body, and I tried to make his teeth match the original design, but he really is far off from the traditional Grizzlor. Definitely a miss , but I still like him. Maybe we'll just call him Bear-Serker and put him in the Horde anyway.

His action feature would have been a removeable armor piece and retractable claws!

[wolfsfang]

I am so loving Hordak, it is so freaking sweet. Anybody that knows me on the org knows that Hordak is by far my most fave character out of all MOTU and you certainly did him justice with your design. If that Hordak was a toy I would happily buy him and put him pride of place on my shelf.

[Bearshow]

And now, MANTENNA!



As mentioned before, I imagined that Hordak created and augmented all of his minions with his techno-virus, so Mantenna was given cybernetic eye stalks for super spying. Also, while Mantenna has always had four legs, I wanted to reflect the design of the original toy, so I broke them out into hoof like, insect legs.



Besides the extendable eye stalks, I also gave this guy a weird periscope laser thing. I have to admit, I don't know what exactly it was .

[Bearshow]

And rounding out the fearsome foursome, LEECH!



I love my Leech, especially the new additions like the planerium worm-inspired gauntlets and the palm extensions.



I saw Leech as the shortest Horde member, but broad like a barn.



Instead of compromising the head sculpt, I proposed eliminating the sucker feature and focus on removeable sucker extensions that would shoot out of his palms. I like to think, in my little delusional mind , that the Horsemen gave me a node when they incorporated one into the Leech staction a few short years later.

When I met the Horsemen at Comic-Con that year, they said they already knew who I was because they said they had been passing around my stuff at the shop in New Jersey. I had lots of one on one time with Eric especially; he's a great designer and we had lots of fun going over each look. At the same show, I also met a few Mattel designers that had worked on the original line, and the great feedback I received help to motivate me to pursue even more redesign work! Hope that's not tooting my own horn, but it was very special to me to have those moments.

[Patreek]

Your Bow is still my all time favorite! Love seeing these all again!

[Eternian Poet]

Wow, what amazing work! I love these re-designs! You've proved again that fan-art can go far beyond the originals in terms of sheer awesomeness & creativity. Bravo!