Project Description

INKTOBER 52 2023 Day #30: TEETH.

“This is another repeat prompt from a previous Inktober, so there was an extra challenge not to repeat myself. As usual, I also wanted to steer clear of the obvious or literal. The thing that kept popping up in my Brain was Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem from The Muppets, so that’s what I went with (with PMD filling the role of Animal on drums…with plunger drum sticks. I don’t often draw him with his mouth open, it’s kind of weird to me). In addition to loving Muppets and how crazy ‘The Muppet Show’ was (which definitely influenced my sense of humor), I’ve always been amazed at the puppeteering involved. The silly, felted, feathered, and furred creatures have intricate personalities and body language. They are unique individuals. Despite limited mobility in some cases, those skilled puppeteers still convey some pretty real emotions and give characters life.

There were a lot of little details, fun textures, and drawing challenges in this one. I’m not quite sure I captured Dr. Teeth’s likeness quite right. I found his head shape to be a bit tricky to define due to his crazy hair and beard. His furry/fringe vest was a small headache, but not compared to the keyboard (I did make heavy use of photo references, but that keyboard is not quite accurate). I had some issues with the drum kit, too. Music runs in my family, but it skipped me, so I don’t have a lot of familiarity with instruments.

I was a Muppet fan before I became a ‘metal-head’, but I have to say, ‘Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem’ sounds like it would be a great heavy metal band.”