Radianting Feral Cats from 'Da Bayou... Number One!

Conceptual kitties from 'da Bayou...

Sketches of cats that, in the script,  are exposed to the toxic waters of New Orleans after the floods of Katrina, which flow to the bayous and swamps of southern Louisiana to infect the animal kingdom.  I wonder what effect it has on the native nutria population...

They are already ugly enough, ha!

Copyright 2011/2012/ Ben Bensen III

Demented Felines from Katrina's Aftermath...

Mini-Cat Men!

Just two quickies for my own exploration in the world of catlike humanoids left to their own devices out in 'da Bayou years after the floods of Katrina...


Radiatin' Cajun Cats!

Copyright 2011/Ben Bensen III

More Conceptual Cooties... The Finale!

Snake mouthed, possum headed, google-eyed, crustacean with a scorpion tail...

What else would you expect? I have a few more even sillier ones to show, but I think you get the idea that, pretty much, all avenues have been explored. Coming up with something that no one has ever seen before can get pretty tiresome. I believe that I have almost every animal phylum represented except maybe those strange deep sea creatures like the angler fish. Eventually, the writer gonna have to make some decision on which way to go... and, I'll bet, he'll be playing "cootie" himself with all the variants, silly and almost believable, too. He's got a lot to choose from...

And to think, the best Mother Nature could do was the duckbilled platypus!

Copyright 2011/2012/ Ben Bensen III

More Conceptual Cooties... Page Five!

Bug with a Cajun Influence...

At one point, this sketch had claws, but it looked way too much like something a Cajun would throw in a pot with seasonings and cayenne and cook till it turned red. The human legs do look silly, but it is part of the script where the people who are infected slowly turn into strange insects. The problem is that we just haven't hit on the right combination...

And, we may never, ha!

The main problem is one of locomotion. The writer has written into the script the ability of these bugs to hover, fly and levitate as it moves from one place to another, but he has no vision or concept of how this movement is accomplished.

"Show me something I've never seen before," he constantly says, but if you've never seen it before, how will you know... when you've seen it? It's a new take on the old adage, "I don't know art, but I know what I like!

It's a Face I Just Had to Draw...

Daily Reminder Art!

Well, I took the wrong Daily Reminder with me when I went to bring my mom to the doctor's office for more blood test. Happy to say, she is fit as a fiddle, but in the waiting room was this man who's profile reminded me of that actor that played along side of Fred Gwynne in the "Munsters" and"Car 54."

Guess I could look it up, huh!

Anyway, I thought I captured him pretty well, though I had to constantly move to get his unique profile, which I thought was pretty, um... unique!

Copyright 2011/ Ben Bensen III

More Conceptual Cooties... Page Four!

Beetle type platforms for the writer to see...

For a series of sketches, I was asked to approach the main insect as a beetle with a hard shell that would cover the wings.  Eventually, some bugs transformed from insect to humans, so I drew a few of those transformations which gave us all a good laugh. I find it hilarious when writer's and film people come up with the most outlandish things to artist to visualize and make sense out of. I guess I am one who doesn't have the ability to suspend my "disbelief" far enough to accept some of the silly and far out concepts Hollywood has foisted off on the movie going public. 

Still, it is fun to get paid to draw and create such craziness after many years of drawing smiling consumers consuming one thing or the other. 

 A woman lustfully holding a "whopper" with such anticipation to make anyone's mouth water. How many versions can an artist draw to show that phenomenon... Let me count the ways!

 

Copyright 2011/2012 / Ben Bensen III

Conceptual Cooties...Page Three

Another modified, qualified and funka-fied bug!

Well, these bugs attack people while they sleep kind of like bedbugs do, only these use the unsuspecting sleepers as their hosts to lay eggs inside their incisive bites.  Insidious little buggers!

In this version, I used the deer tick as inspiration because it seemed more believable than any other bug form except, maybe, worms. The head and the biting parts changed quite a bit, but this bug with a bat-like nose and tongue seemed to do the trick... for now!

At first, it had the head of a crawfish, ha! How bayou can you get?

Copyright 2011/2012/ Ben Bensen III

Sketchy Creations... The Insect Version of Mr. Potato Head! Page Two

Composite of three or four ideas...

The writer likes web feet, so I began to add webbed feet on the insects. I must have sketched about twenty or so concepts using frog legs, grasshopper legs, human legs, turtle legs, goat legs, etc. As I mentioned before, it's kinda like playing God, or Mr. Potato Head... or Cootie!

I pulled a mosquito hawk ( that's what we call dragonflies here in Louisiana ) from my car's front grill and it inspired me in the wrong direction, but in this sketch, I contemplated using that head for the final piece. I always found that their mouths to be pretty scary especially when you feed them another bug and watch how the mouth works to devour the prey.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the right direction for the project!

Copyright 2011-2012/ Ben Bensen III