So how do you make horrific monsters into cute little shelf-sitters, rather than nightmare-makers. Sometimes they come out just wrong, in which case they sort of haunt you. Not ideal. For example, take a look at this first sculpt of Winnie-Go. Winnie-Go is a Wendigo (or Wednigo) usually described as an emaciated deer with a skull for a head and nappy patches of fur. Ribs exposed and either empty or glowing eyes. Cute, right? Here is the first pass:

Not a horror, exactly, but lacking the charm captured in Woody’s face I think. After some further exploration and some critical feedback from the kiddos, this is the revised and final Winnie-Go head. I predict that this challenge will persist throughout this project!

Some of the key takeaways (and things I have learned from decades of character design):
– eye size is not an automatic cuteness enhancer
– nose height in relation the eyes is critical and can throw everything off from being a cute little face to being a horrific warthog.
– mouths can be cute, but sometimes the absence of a mouth is cuter.
– horns, antlers, teeth, can be cute, but they have to feel like a hug. Not a stab.