Detective Tatsuki, Ganbatte!
The fur-ruit of three months of stress!
*smacked*
"Call me a cop and I'll give ya such a walloping!"
ππΏππΏ
Long story ahead.
In January, near the end of the month, I struggled making Rigby's reference. I wasn't sure if I wanted him to have plantigrade legs (like when I partial as him) because the Detective AU is more "serious" than a lot of the other ones and as such, he needed a design you could take seriously or digitigrade legs like the canine he is.
This caused a TWO WEEK LONG STRUGGLE with tons of paper wasted as I went back and forth stressed about which I liked better. π
Plantigrade won.
My mind deciding THAT wasn't enough bullshit threw ANOTHER conflict at me: His head. I hated it. I hated how he looked like a coyote. Tanukis do not have that much white around their mouth. Ffffffffffff- OKAY!
So, more going back and forth for ANOTHER two weeks in February to March. Okay, fixed his head shape! Now, the hard part: His markings. The mask on his face had significance. It's a domino mask like a superhero wears. But... it's inaccurate. And the muzzle. It's too fat. It's too white. Gotta change 'em. But, I promised to leave his face intact... π₯Ί
On March 9th, I made the heartwrenching decision to change his face to the stylized "U" shape that people tend to draw realistic tanukis with. (Seriously, I was completely sick after doing it. Changing my fursonas' designs makes me VERY uncomfortable.) My mom... didn't care. π
Later, after having to get used to it, I started staring at an actual Tanuki's face... Then, I made a horrifying discovery: THEIR MASKS ARE SMALL CIRCLES AROUND THEIR EYES! The dark part that we associate as their "mask" is actually a part of their MUZZLE. SO I TESTED HIS DESIGN WITH MY NEW DISCOVERY. ππ
So soon after I made the new design, I retire it, too. πΆ
So, the new drama became... does Rigby look good with a half-and-half mouth like that? That discussion took a couple of days. I refused to waste anymore time on this stupid tanuki. π€¬
So, that's why he looks different now and I blew three months worth of time on him! Totally worth stressing out, wasting valuable sketch papers, not talking to my friends or getting any actual work done! I'm such a great person! πππ
Edit
So, I updated his look a little! I changed his outfit to khaki because the teal coat looked really off with his color scheme. Brown and khaki go together.
He was supposed to wear those "gumshoes" everywhere, but I remembered why I hated drawing shoes on anthros. So, he wears them so he won't contaminate an area with clues with his own pawpads. Yuck.
Yeah, they're supposed to be dress shoes. You try drawing furry-friendly dress shoes! You can't believe what I went through to find a reference!
His ears poke through slits in his hat now!
I figured the hat-pushes-ears-backwards thing was annoying. This way he can still HEAR!
(I have supernatural hearing anyway, stop it!)
I made him somewhat fat again. Not too fat, just enough to let you know he snacks on dozens of doughnuts and chugs tons of tea while working on a case. He needs to be able to run around and squeeze through stuff! I'm fairly pudgy myself, but... "narrow", so his body shape is more accurate now!
I tried to give his head a "classic toon" feel. ...I tried. π Nah, it looks really good! Better than the generic kemono head I drew on everyone in the past. (Nothing wrong with kemono style things! It just made me a little stiff with my art.)
His hair is the same color as the top part of his head. (The hair tip is a bright yellow now. That was the result of me color picking to make his coat lighter, but I decided against that.) I've been meaning to get into why he looks like that, if you care?
You know Mumble from Happy Feet? Okay. Now... he has his baby down feathers from his chick years. This seems to be an allegory for a "babyface" for him. I've seen theories go around that he may have autism and that is a physical indicator of it. I have autism and a babyface because it. (I've been mistaken as a teenager multiple times, despite the overly large unwanted chest items I possess.) (Okay, maybe carrying a plushie in my backpack and hanging near my mon out of anxiety doesn't help. π¬)
Tanuki pups have dark fur. Most wild animal babies do. So, Rigby's fur is similar to Mumble's where it didn't fully "mature" and molt when he grew up. Resulting in him looking like an "adult puppy". (This is probably why he dislikes being referred to as a "puppy" or with the -kun suffix; he's not a good boy, he's a good MAN.)
So, he's what I refer to as a "Reverse Tanuki", being dark on the top and lighter on the bottom. It makes him a pain in the ass to look at, but it had a meaning all this time.
He looks like he has... weight to him. That's always what I loved about Don Bluth's work. That the characters had goofy, fun designs, but felt... real, you know? They felt like they weighed something. They weren't just 2D objects, but flesh and blood. It was magical. While I don't want my style to be 1:1 his, I want the vibes of it, you know?
I put my all into this! It was a complete passion project! It barely looks like it's mine. Did I secretly commission this?
If you're going to criticize it, please don't be too harsh...
And lastly, don't worry! This is an overly detailed version of how he looks (like those polished stock photos Toons get sometimes?) and he'll be more simplistic in the future.
...can I just stay a private dick forever...? π₯Ί
Sorry, I said literally nothing about him as a character!
He's a classic private investigator and gets hired by clients to solve cases for them. He does not work for or with any police department and gets highly offended if you refer to him as a cop. (The way to solve that is not to share a title with one of their ranks. π¬)
Actual spoiler, but...Well, he does get blackmailed into it in one episode. All Cops Are Bitches. π€¬ Jokes on them; I marked the building. π
Despite him having a Humphrey Bogart noir look, I don't plan on killing him off or anything. ...maybe.
He doesn't always take murder cases! That's super boring! Sometimes weird, unexplainable things happen and you just happen to need the help of a brilliant, determined, faux hardboiled tanuki detective! And, there's only one tanuki detective around! He'll solve the case no matter what or your money back!* π
*my partner Det. Miyamoto advised me to disclose that sales are final and refunds aren't guaranteed.
*smacked*
"Call me a cop and I'll give ya such a walloping!"
ππΏππΏ
Long story ahead.
In January, near the end of the month, I struggled making Rigby's reference. I wasn't sure if I wanted him to have plantigrade legs (like when I partial as him) because the Detective AU is more "serious" than a lot of the other ones and as such, he needed a design you could take seriously or digitigrade legs like the canine he is.
This caused a TWO WEEK LONG STRUGGLE with tons of paper wasted as I went back and forth stressed about which I liked better. π
Plantigrade won.
My mind deciding THAT wasn't enough bullshit threw ANOTHER conflict at me: His head. I hated it. I hated how he looked like a coyote. Tanukis do not have that much white around their mouth. Ffffffffffff- OKAY!
So, more going back and forth for ANOTHER two weeks in February to March. Okay, fixed his head shape! Now, the hard part: His markings. The mask on his face had significance. It's a domino mask like a superhero wears. But... it's inaccurate. And the muzzle. It's too fat. It's too white. Gotta change 'em. But, I promised to leave his face intact... π₯Ί
On March 9th, I made the heartwrenching decision to change his face to the stylized "U" shape that people tend to draw realistic tanukis with. (Seriously, I was completely sick after doing it. Changing my fursonas' designs makes me VERY uncomfortable.) My mom... didn't care. π
Later, after having to get used to it, I started staring at an actual Tanuki's face... Then, I made a horrifying discovery: THEIR MASKS ARE SMALL CIRCLES AROUND THEIR EYES! The dark part that we associate as their "mask" is actually a part of their MUZZLE. SO I TESTED HIS DESIGN WITH MY NEW DISCOVERY. ππ
So soon after I made the new design, I retire it, too. πΆ
So, the new drama became... does Rigby look good with a half-and-half mouth like that? That discussion took a couple of days. I refused to waste anymore time on this stupid tanuki. π€¬
So, that's why he looks different now and I blew three months worth of time on him! Totally worth stressing out, wasting valuable sketch papers, not talking to my friends or getting any actual work done! I'm such a great person! πππ
Edit
So, I updated his look a little! I changed his outfit to khaki because the teal coat looked really off with his color scheme. Brown and khaki go together.
He was supposed to wear those "gumshoes" everywhere, but I remembered why I hated drawing shoes on anthros. So, he wears them so he won't contaminate an area with clues with his own pawpads. Yuck.
Yeah, they're supposed to be dress shoes. You try drawing furry-friendly dress shoes! You can't believe what I went through to find a reference!
His ears poke through slits in his hat now!
I figured the hat-pushes-ears-backwards thing was annoying. This way he can still HEAR!
(I have supernatural hearing anyway, stop it!)
I made him somewhat fat again. Not too fat, just enough to let you know he snacks on dozens of doughnuts and chugs tons of tea while working on a case. He needs to be able to run around and squeeze through stuff! I'm fairly pudgy myself, but... "narrow", so his body shape is more accurate now!
I tried to give his head a "classic toon" feel. ...I tried. π Nah, it looks really good! Better than the generic kemono head I drew on everyone in the past. (Nothing wrong with kemono style things! It just made me a little stiff with my art.)
His hair is the same color as the top part of his head. (The hair tip is a bright yellow now. That was the result of me color picking to make his coat lighter, but I decided against that.) I've been meaning to get into why he looks like that, if you care?
You know Mumble from Happy Feet? Okay. Now... he has his baby down feathers from his chick years. This seems to be an allegory for a "babyface" for him. I've seen theories go around that he may have autism and that is a physical indicator of it. I have autism and a babyface because it. (I've been mistaken as a teenager multiple times, despite the overly large unwanted chest items I possess.) (Okay, maybe carrying a plushie in my backpack and hanging near my mon out of anxiety doesn't help. π¬)
Tanuki pups have dark fur. Most wild animal babies do. So, Rigby's fur is similar to Mumble's where it didn't fully "mature" and molt when he grew up. Resulting in him looking like an "adult puppy". (This is probably why he dislikes being referred to as a "puppy" or with the -kun suffix; he's not a good boy, he's a good MAN.)
So, he's what I refer to as a "Reverse Tanuki", being dark on the top and lighter on the bottom. It makes him a pain in the ass to look at, but it had a meaning all this time.
He looks like he has... weight to him. That's always what I loved about Don Bluth's work. That the characters had goofy, fun designs, but felt... real, you know? They felt like they weighed something. They weren't just 2D objects, but flesh and blood. It was magical. While I don't want my style to be 1:1 his, I want the vibes of it, you know?
I put my all into this! It was a complete passion project! It barely looks like it's mine. Did I secretly commission this?
If you're going to criticize it, please don't be too harsh...
And lastly, don't worry! This is an overly detailed version of how he looks (like those polished stock photos Toons get sometimes?) and he'll be more simplistic in the future.
...can I just stay a private dick forever...? π₯Ί
Sorry, I said literally nothing about him as a character!
He's a classic private investigator and gets hired by clients to solve cases for them. He does not work for or with any police department and gets highly offended if you refer to him as a cop. (The way to solve that is not to share a title with one of their ranks. π¬)
Actual spoiler, but...Well, he does get blackmailed into it in one episode. All Cops Are Bitches. π€¬ Jokes on them; I marked the building. π
Despite him having a Humphrey Bogart noir look, I don't plan on killing him off or anything. ...maybe.
He doesn't always take murder cases! That's super boring! Sometimes weird, unexplainable things happen and you just happen to need the help of a brilliant, determined, faux hardboiled tanuki detective! And, there's only one tanuki detective around! He'll solve the case no matter what or your money back!* π
*my partner Det. Miyamoto advised me to disclose that sales are final and refunds aren't guaranteed.
Category Artwork (Digital) / General Furry Art
Species Tanuki
Gender Male
Size 3586 x 3059px
Listed in Folders
HE LOOKS SO BADASS. Damn, I love this so much! He's so damn cool looking!!!
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