#WHEW! how's that for some yapping LOL. I always joke that I have ''the rambler's curse'' because I ramble so often ^^;;

[dandyghest]

Taanishi! Hiya! I figured it might be a bit of fun to see some of the process of creating my weird little goober - the sabroonor! (tumblr post, toyhouse page)

I don't know if my process is very interesting, especially with this guy as I somehow managed to lock in on a design that I liked pretty quickly, but I'll try to share what I can!

I started out by making a pinterest board (two, actually, as I initially thought I would do the will-o-the-wisp category ^^;;) and collecting inspiration of some different critters and vibes that matched the theme. There are so many fun desert animals.... I'll have to do some more creature design at some point :c]

The main starting inspiration for this monster was Plains bison! This summer I got to visit Wanuskewin Heritage Park and saw bison in person for the first time (they've recently (2019) been reintroduced back into that area in large part thanks to the efforts of the local indigenous peoples)! Lii bufloo (bison) have an important history with Métis people and other Turtle Island Indigenous peoples, and these animals have been on my mind since the summer.

I've always been interested and awed at the way animals are part of and integral to their ecosystems (including humans!) and the way animals shape their environment, so learning about bison wallows was super exciting and really stuck out to me amongst all the other information I learned. I hope I was able to share some of my excitement using this design!

Here's my initial sketches that I made at the beginning of the month! (along with my first thoughts to a friend about the goober)

After that, I took to my sketchbook to work on the design a little more - I have an easier time sketching traditionally! After figuring out the general idea of the shapes I wanted to use, I switched back to digital and worked on some sketches to really nail down the proportions I wanted to use.

I experimented with some colours, and didn't feel like they worked well - I'd been trying to keep in mind that mammals can't naturally produce certain pigments (or so I've read recently LOL, not entirely sure if it's really true or not!) so I was trying to stick to warmer colours. Eventually I broke out of that rule and tried using some other colours from the Desert Oasis theme image, and turned the tail into a cactus (along with adding flower petals to mimic a cactus flower)!

On the 18th, I worked on the skeletal structure of the guy - taking inspiration from raccoons, bison, and armadillos! I had played around with some skeletal sketches earlier, but none of them really addressed (or worked with) HOW this guy curls up into such a tight ball. Took a little bit of finagling (and reference of this image and this image) but I got there eventually!

(I also figured out the name on this day - I just brainstormed some of my favourite features and what I consider its most distinctive features and put together a name using Michif words that I felt fit together well based on those features.)

After that, it was time for needlefelting! I hadn't felted anything in a couple years (except for a little heart for a doll/plushie I made back in May LOL) so it was a bit touch-and-go for the first day or two, but I was able to pick it back up again without too much issue.

I used the skeleton art to create the right proportions for the wire armature! I've already made a post showing some of the needlefelting process, but feel free to ask questions if you're interested in any of it!

Once the little man was finished (Thursday night), I quickly set up a little makeshift photography shoot outside on Friday afternoon before the sun went down, and put together the images on this lovely website. I'll spare you the tale of the woeful struggles I had trying to get the files to be a manageable size without looking awful LOL, but eventually I got the two gifs made! (This was also my first attempt at making a stop-motion animation, it was super fun to try out! I definitely want to do some more with it at some point ^-^)

I uploaded everything to toyhouse and compiled all the notes I'd made about his design, finishing the submission and handing it in about an hour before they closed ^^;;

Also a little bonus: Sabroonor is pronounced "sah-broon-noor" with a slightly rolled r in "broon". Kiiyaamayow ishaayow is pronounced "kee-YAH-mah-yow ish-SHY-yow" (Southern Michif is written using a phonetics system since it was not a written language until preservation efforts were put into place).