He's always... smiling...

"Gijinka". Or basically Humanized versions of characters/things that aren't normally human.  I've dabbled into this myself, but the most successful outcome of this idea had been when I took that ever-smiling creepy looking clock from Disneyland's "it's a small world" (whom I fondly call "Glockenspiel" after the type of clock he is) and made a "What if...?" human version of him. Thus from here on, I'll be referring to the clocktower as a "He".

At first this was just me trying to figure out why the original face is so... creepy. He has "dead eyes", or eyes that look straight forward unfocused at anything.  So I tried drawing what he'd look like with his eyes focusing slightly inward, giving him a much more approachable look.



I became infatuated with every new sketch, making this simple study into a slow development of a character. He developed more personality every time I drew him.

Then "Epic Mickey" came out. You know? The video game where the first boss battle you encounter is the "it's a small world" clocktower?? Yep. Loved that.


Unfortunately, my fellow students and friends found a love/hate relationship with this, as one good friend found when she returned to her desk to find this smiling at her:

 "I don't know if I should be flattered, or frightened..." was her rather uncertain response.


Eventually I found myself drawing him as a human, experimenting until a form fit well enough. And along with this came more "What if...?"s with a more... unwilling subject. Disneyland's Haunted Mansion!

I think they'd be best bros yo'.

Well this little infatuation of mine comes and goes. And as it does, more things come into play. More... characters~

Head count so far: Glockenspiel, Mansion, Castle, Matterhorn, Space, Splash, Temple, and a slight idea of pirates. There's a few more of these in the works. And they'll all find their way to my sketchbook eventually. But until then, I'll slowly work out the characters one small group at a time.


Keep sketchin' everyone!


~Mark