Olds

I was going through my deviantART gallery a while back and found so much old artwork of characters I haven't touched in years. It made me kind of sad! I honestly intended to do a lot with some of them, but back then, most of my time was eaten up by school (I was about to graduate!). So, these characters were placed on the back burner, then eventually forgotten.

One of those characters was 'Mulliegrums'. I'd had the idea for him in my mind for quite some time, but even as I drew him, I knew I'd probably never use him. Why I chose that hideous colour scheme, I'll never know. I found his design too complicated to remember, and that discouraged me from ever drawing him much. Rather than bother simplifying his design, I simply threw him away.

It's funny how proud I was of his design/story when I first created him, though. I hate it now, and if I ever revived him, a whole lot would have to change. For example, I think I'd make him less of a 'sad' character, and more of a 'paranoid' one. His appearance would also get a nice makeover. I'm too lazy to do that now, though, and I doubt I ever will, since I don't really care about him anymore! Sorry mulliegrums.

Another character I had big plans for was Harass. Originally, I planned to use her in an animated short, but, as you can see, I never followed through. I did, however, draw her quite a bit. She lasted much longer than Mulliegrums, but in the end, she was just sort of left behind. My feelings for her changed as I changed.

Unlike Mulliegrums, I actually took time to develop Harass' backstory/personality while she was around. She went through several big changes in a brief period of time! From being full grown and feral to standing on two feet and only being 5 years old. From being on her own and sad and scared, to living with her older brother. Of all my characters, I can relate to harass the least, but I do still like her. She's innocent and carefree, even though she's had a rough life. She doesn't think about the past or worry about the future - she just lives in the moment!



I've been thinking about this character more and more lately, so it's possible I may bring her back. I dunno, though! Only time will tell.

The last character I'll talk about today is Violet. She's one of my oldest characters - only a few days older than Saria! Like many of my characters, was born at school, where a friend and I would often collaborate together on comics featuring our classmates and ourselves. We were working on a comic where we were all superheroes our senior year. My super "power" was donning a pair of kitty pyjamas and going to sleep.

"Jeanie" as you know her today didn't really exist yet (and wouldn't for several months), so you could say that Violet was actually a precursor to Jeanie. In a sense, anyway. The character who became violet was me, and Jeanie is me, so they overlap somewhat! I'm confusing myself so I'm going to stop talking about this now. Whoops.

Anyway, my friend and I never finished that comic, but I liked violet so much I decided to keep her. Her name wasn't violet yet, of course. It was sarah. I didn't start calling her Violet until about a week after I'd first drawn her!

Because she and Saria were the only two characters I really had back then, I often paired them up. They had an interesting relationship.. Violent was a complete bully to Saria, and Saria was too much of a coward to stand up to her. Though she'd never admit it, Violent did care for Saria. Sort of. She stuck up for her once or twice! And even though Saria was constantly being bullied by Violet, she still liked her a lot. I don't know why. Saria was dumb.

When I created Riff Raff, they shared a common enemy, which brought them closer together!




I figured those two would always reside in the same universe, but Saria grew up and went on to do other things! Violet was tossed to the side when Saria took center stage.

I still draw her occasionally - even still draw her interacting with saria sometimes. (Like here and here, kind of. Those are Saria's hands!!), but I have mixed feelings about that, since Saria is a pirate now and her personality is completely different! I just can't see them living in the same world. It kind of makes me sad!

There are a lot of other characters in Violet's universe I never got the chance to introduce, though, so maybe I should focus on them. Violet shouldn't have to be forgotten just because Saria has become more popular. It's funny that the little kitty she spent so much time bullying in 2008 went on to become the character she is today though! Don't be a bully like Violet. It never pays off in the end.