Thursday, April 04, 2013

Character from DreamWorks' "The Croods" sure looks familiar

On several occasions I've seen characters in animated features that look strikingly similar to something I've created before. Take a look at this one that appears in the latest animated feature from DreamWorks "The Croods".

Here's a poster image of Douglas which is something of a cross between a gator and a dog...


Here's a line drawing of the character...


Let's flip the image horizontally...


Compare it to this character I created as a class demonstration ten years ago in 2003 which was published in my school's schedule and also in my book Controlling Illusion and which is in the possession of one of their top visual development artists...


Just setting the record straight. Thanks for taking a look at this.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Someone at Dreamwork knows you or maybe studied in your school.

Charles Z said...

This happens every now and then. In the case of DreamWorks I see it more often. Friends familiar with my work and students usually bring it to my attention.

Unknown said...

You know Charles, a similar case is in Jak II. There was a species named the Crocadog but it's far different than you version of the hybrid. It was drawn by Bob Rafei.

Here it is:
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090411165316/jakanddaxter/images/4/49/Crocadog.jpg

What a coincidence that we're experiencing dog/crocodile/alligator hybrids this week being with Dingodile, Douglas and Jak 2's Crocadog.

Charles Z said...

I was thinking the same thing. Seems like crocodile / dog combos are suddenly in vogue.

Two of DreamWorks' top visual development / production design artists are friends and colleagues from days before and they own my book. Some DreamWorks employees are former students. Just about every similarity I see to a character concept I've done before comes from something that I published previously either online or in print.

It's all good. No harm done. It's validating to see similarities happen.

Unknown said...

It's mini Dingodile