TMNT: EVOLUTION - Splinter

Created in Adobe Illustrator in December 2010

EXPLANATION:
TMNT: EVOLUTION is a hypothetical series that would air on Nickelodeon (in a similar vein to Iron Man: Armored Adventures) in the wake of Nickelodeon buying the rights to the Turtles. In this nonexistent cartoon, our beloved heroes in a half shell have been re-imagined into high school students. They must deal with hall passes, homework, and science experiments while fighting the forces of high school bully Oroku "Shredder" Saki and the nefarious Principal Krang.

CHARACTER BIO:
Splinter serves as one of the high school's art teachers, with his specialty being the Art History courses he teaches once a semester. When he found the four mutated turtles in his sewer home all those years ago, he called upon his knowledge of history and named them after four great Renaissance artists.
Splinter's other great love is the martial arts, which he learned from his former owner. He passed his knowledge on to his adopted sons and, upon their request, helped get them enrolled at the school where he teaches.
Often, Principal Krang will threaten to fire Splinter, but so far they have been nothing but empty threats.

REFERENCES:
- demoncherrystock's "steampunk stock6" was my basis for the body [link]
- xNickixstockx's "Rat Paw" was my source for Splinter's right hand [link]
- Kathy-Ophelia's "rat 12" was used for Splinter's head [link]

When I decided to do the TMNT: EVOLUTION series, I had very few ideas right off the bat, but one of them was "Splinter teaches art history" because that helps explain why the Ninja Turtles are named after Renaissance artists. Also, come on, doesn't he look great in a vest?
I had so much fun with this one and I was able to keep a straight face through a lot of it, but for some reason when I put Splinter's head onto the body, I lost it because the initial sight of Splinter in a vest was just hilarious to me.

The little insignia on Splinter's vest is straight off his robe from the 1987 cartoon. In fact, there's really nothing from the 2003 version of the character, unfortunately. I was pretty much aiming for pure nostalgia on this one. I also shied away from using the pen tool for this one, instead using the brush tool (it just felt like it "fit" Splinter better).

Don't miss the rest of TMNT: EVOLUTION:
Wave 1:
Leonardo: [link]
Raphael: [link]
Michelangelo: [link]
Donatello: [link]
Oroku "Shredder" Saki: [link]
Principal Krang: [link]

Wave 2:
April O'Neil: [link]
Casey Jones: [link]
Baxter Stockman: [link]

Wave 3:
Splinter: [link]
Bebop & Rocksteady: [link]