Cocked! - Evolution of a Transformation

Every once in a while somebody will send me a message requesting insight

into my creative process. Well I don't know where my ideas come from
or how exactly I got to be where I am artisically, but I can provide this,
and this is just about the best we're likely to get for the moment. This is the complete
conceptual evolution for "Cocked!", a transformation image starring myself
becoming a fine feathered friend, as far back as I've been able to trace it.
I provide this particular evolution because I know it's an idea I had been devolping
for at least several years, and had been a fantasy of mine for as long. It is hoped
that this will be a valuable insight into the growth of this idea from doodles to finished art.

Apparently in a birdy mood that day, this image shows me experimeting with bird legs and hind quaters as well as a more fleshed out cockatoo transformation down near the bottom. This is the basic pose I would base much of the subsequent devolpment of this concept on.

A few days later I try again, this time with me in place of a more generic human(this approach has broken many of my
artistic blocks, especially and most recently in the case of Minnie Mouse). Apparently intended to be a rooster rather
than a cockatoo, you can also see me becoming a spider, which dates this to spring 2004. I'd still like to become a cockatoo and any talented artist out there who'd like to draw this is more than welcome!

Trying again, this time with a whole pack of Minnie Mouse transformations in tow. The integration between the beak and muzzle, a key concept for me, is awfil here and I didn't try to address this idea again for almost a year.

Scribbled this version on the same page as my popular "Exam" sequence character poses. The primary innovation here was the placement of my hands between my legs allowing the fingers becoming feathers to poke out from behind in a bizzare parody of a cheesecake pose. the beak / muzzle issue is better addressed but the pose is still kind of flat and I wrote "no." next to it. In the interim I had drawn "Galludryn" and "Along Came Polly" (both Phase Nine) and my approach had improved but I still wasn't happy.

Never one to let a delicious fetish alone, I tried again a few days later, this time with a more dynamic crouching pose allowing the feathers to splay out more dynamically between my legs, becoming displaced phallus imagery. Finally I was happy with the image and proceeded with the actual sketching and inking process.

Close up, untouched scans of my original art. Notice the use of pencil strokes to differentiate the fur from feathers, and my approach to the second peice. My overall rule is "draw until you're satisfied", which sometimes results in images with 'extra' bits that I couldn't fit in the main image. In thisa case I wanted to show my goaty tail splitting and stiffening as the individual strands of fur stiffen into feathers and feathers pushing out from between my fingers (an idea that still makes me shiver in delight). The third "detail" is pure logistics as to how a hoof could break apart into claws on the rooster's feet; I'm very pleased with the results there. The ink is applied right over the graphite to clarify.

The final image, digitally cleaned, colorized, and arranged as it appears in Phase Ten.