I’ve been ultra busy these days so I don’t get to blog as much. But the book is coming along well. There’s lots of new characters I’m adding to the missile mouse universe and I’ll be posting those in the coming weeks.
I came across some old folders of artwork I did about 10 to 15 years ago. In it were a bunch of Missile Mouse drawings. It was fun and painful to see all the variations and evolutions he’s gone through over the years. I thought I’d post the pictures here with a brief explanation of each drawing. Hopefully you’ll enjoy this stroll through time as much as I did.
1992: This is the first drawing of Missile Mouse I ever did. I was watching Chip N’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers after school and every drawing I did seemed to be some variation on the theme of rodent adventurers. I remember seeing The Rocketeer in theaters and LOVING it. And every Sunday I eagerly rushed for the funnies to see if Calvin and Hobbes would be a Spaceman Spiff adventure. This drawing was my attempt to take everything I loved at that time of my life and distill it into one character.
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1993: I can see some Stan Sakai influence in this drawing. I did this for my high school newspaper. I updated his spaceship and blaster design, but MM still looks pretty much the same as the original design.
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1994: Fearing he was looking too “cute” I can see I began to stretch his proportions out a little here.
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1995: I finally settled on colors for him. Proportions are that of a human. Also little technical details seep in like knee pads and the jet pack harness straps around the legs.
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1996: I was heavily influenced during this period by Dave Johnson and Masimune Shirow. MM exchanges cute for kick butt. Emphasis on technological details and physique.
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1997: Continuing with the ultra humanized technical MM. First time I can recall drawing him with out his helmet on.
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2000: For a few years I tucked Missile Mouse away and focused on other stuff. Then one day I thought I’d take a whole new approach to his character design. I believe I was influenced somewhat by the Stuart Little movie that came out in ‘99. Gone was the helmet, human proportions, and technical detailing.
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2001: These two illustrations introduced a couple visual staples that would stick with the design. The jet engine based rocket pack, and the snub nosed blaster, and the large hairless ears. Also, going back to the extremely cute proportions.
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2002: I decided it was finally time to draw a Missile Mouse comic. The plan was to make a short 25 page ashcan and take it to conventions and sell it on my site. My design theory was to take the technical cool stuff I applied to the character designs from the late nineties and apply them to the cuter designs I did in 2001. He went through a couple phases in this stage, but through that I nailed down a few other components: the belt buckle, the blaster, the jet pack, the boots, gloves, and suit.
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2003: I did a follow up short story and changed the suit ever so slightly by replacing the open collar with a round neck opening, complete with draw strings. It stood for several years and can be seen here, here, and here.
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Today: This is the design from the Guardian Prophecy in the Flight Explorer book, and is where the design stands for the graphic novel. I took away the draw strings and gave him an updated symbol akin to the tri-triangle design from the original 1993 design. I’m completely happy with this design, but recognize it could still change as the character and the universe grows. I found this sketch I did a couple years ago which might be a good direction for the future.
October 15th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
sweetness. Thanks for sharing the evolution. Even without enjoying the current MM, I find I don’t really the ultra-anthropomorhized version.
All this evolution material: an ‘emergency filler insert’ for the MMGN?
October 15th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
It’s very nice to know about the evolution of our little mouse!
I think I’ve been following him from 2001 or so? I think I saw him first in a post of yours at Optical-Resonance, the forum Sam Lui and EJ hosted back then.
Great update!
October 15th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
arkonbey - haha, no emergency filler. The book is full enough already.
October 15th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Wow bro… this is so cool to see your progress!! I love it. Good thing you kept all your old drawings of him. It’s really nice to see how you progress as an artist. I can see different influences and attention to detail as you go along. Very cool. I still say he’ll make a great action figure!!! It’ll be nice to have Missle Mouse and Agent Orange toys on the shelf!!!
October 15th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
really cool post Jake. So is the graphic novel an after-hours project at this point
October 15th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Rawls - totally!
Brandon - yeah, an after hours and hours and hours project.
October 16th, 2008 at 5:33 am
This is such a great post. Definitely enjoyed reading it. It’s really nice to see your process, and how the character has evolved.
Geo.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Jake, this made my day. Super cool.
Really looking forward to the finished book someday!
paul
October 16th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
[...] imaginations of any young cartoonist, Jake Parker has posted a series of drawings that chronicles the evolution of his character Missile Mouse, and in the process, the evolution of his drawing chops. Me, I can’t wait for the Missile [...]
October 16th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
He’s looking rather monkey-ish, no? Maybe whiskers?
Still, nice development!
October 16th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
On the other hand, Scotty, Mickey Mouse (also whisker-less) looks less like a mouse than MM, and yet there’s no doubt in my mind that either of them are mice.
Really fun to see MM through the ages, Jake. Makes me want to dig out my old drawings and see what I was into back in those days! Rescue Rangers definitely brings back good memories.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:31 am
Hoping not to incur wrath, may I say, I miss the c1996 MM designs.
Remember that one pic you did, Jake, of the buff MM looking at his watch?
Sometimes I wish MM still looked like that. There I said it, you happy?!!
October 17th, 2008 at 6:00 am
[...] • Jake Parker, who is working on a new book starring his Missile Mouse character from Flight Explorer, shares a lot of early sketches from the past 15 years or so of the character. [...]
October 17th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Awesome to see this progression Jake. You have definitely developed into a fantastic artist. I remember reading that 1997 Missile Mouse comic at Fox.
October 17th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Jake, its great to see not only the progression of Missile Mouse, but of your skills as an illustrator as well! I absolutely adore the colour images from 2003 - especially the one with adversarial sharks & whale!
October 17th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Great post dude! Love seeing all this kind’ve stuff!!
October 17th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
It’s astonishing that you’ve stuck with a character for so long. And so interesting to see him travel through your periods of influence. Fantastic post, and best of luck with Missile Mouse in the future!
October 17th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
While I can respect you for sticking with your ideas and making the comics that you want to make, I read the Missile Mouse story in Flight Explorer and found it… dull. There really didn’t seem to be any original ideas in there besides the character. All I could see was a rehashing of all the usual clichés (stereotypical evil villain, ancient prophecy, etc). And the plot was just so standard… It felt like I’d seen it all before.
Oh well, what the hell do I know? Your target audience is kids, not bitchy teenagers like me. Still… I really don’t see how this sort of thing is good for them. Sorry for being rude, but I think even an intelligent child could notice the clichés in this story.
Either way, good artwork!
October 17th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Love this post man. The evolution of characters always interests me. You should include this in the appendix of the book!
October 18th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Wow!! Well wouldja look at that! Sweet stuff Jakey!
October 19th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
A very interesting post. I liked the drawings in the episode in Flight Explorer, and the plot was OK, IMO. Looking forward to the book.
A hero doesn’t have to wear exactly the same outfit all the time - in fact, changes of clothing or weapons can make a good sub-plot. If he has a strong personality (which Missile Mouse has), he will be recognised even in disguise.
October 30th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I love it! Thanks for making the effort to chronicle it.
November 19th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Reason why is great to be a gay
You have a normal and healthy relationship with your mother. It was joke
January 9th, 2009 at 1:19 am
[...] the Missile Mouse universe. I figured it’d be best to start with the mouse himself. Since the last Missile Mouse post covered his design inspiration and evolution this post will focus on the character in [...]
May 21st, 2009 at 3:33 am
jake!!!
wow,man. you have been at this for a long time! it reminds me of jeff smith’s stuff. he had his bone concept in the works for years and years before he launched it. ironicly, he was working in the animation industry as well, when he made the leap to publishing. you have a killer concept and a solid, likable character.this is sure to be a hit,man! i can’t wait to see it published!i’m a fan for life!
October 16th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
I totally remember you missile mouse drawings from years ago. I still think about that Jimi Hendrix drawing you did back in the day. So talented.