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Decade-Later Redraw: Howdy! by LordDominic

Decade-Later Redraw: Howdy!

LordDominic

A (sort-of) redraw of Teresa "Tex" Coyatawne's first appearance from 2014.


Right from her introduction, Tex has always been Skunk Boy's girlfriend and partner in crime. Her adorkable redneck charm just makes her the perfect partner for him, and her handiness means she can fix most of the things her fat dopey boyfriend breaks around the house--and being an outdoorsy redneck type, she's not afraid of most critters and can easily handle a pesky skunk if the need arises! They complement each other well, with her outgoing, confident and adventurous nature pairing well with Skunk Boy's awkwardness... even if she's just as big a dork as he is, she manages to hide it far better.


I've never quite settled on how the two met, but I'm sure it has something to do with Skunk Boy working at a fast-food place, and I get the feeling she just sorta eased into his life by being a regular during lunchtime as well as just generally being present in other aspects of his life, often running into him at the grocery store and the like.


What exactly brought her from Coyote Canyon (which is the sort of vaguely American Southwest town her family hails from) to Hartford (the vaguely American Northeast/Midwest city Skunk Boy and many of my other characters call home) isn't something I've ever really gone into detail on, but it's possible she was just on a vacation or road trip and/or visiting a friend or relative in the area for a while. Being an adventurous sort, that's entirely possible, she might have just wanted to spend the summer up north around the lakes or something, and wound up meeting someone there she wanted to settle down with... even if that someone was a half-skunk manchild. It would definitely be in character for her to decide to stop into a burger place on the road while traveling, and that burger place just happening to be where Skunk Boy worked, and her finding him interesting enough to maybe stop by again the next day.


I had also considered that maybe the two had met online and chatted often before she decided to move up north precisely because of their connection, but I actually prefer the more "old fashioned" reasons a bit more. Perhaps I could combine the two, with her realizing she could drop in on her internet buddy in real life when she was in the area for her own reasons, and the two just hit it off with the aid of that previous connection and familiarity.


I say "sort-of redraw" because I didn't attempt to match the original drawing one-to-one like I could (and probably should) have--she left her rope in the truck this time, and I didn't draw her full-body, opting instead for three-fourths because that's how the vast majority of my art has been the past year or so. She's now waving cheerfully against the pleasant outdoorsy backdrop of one of my photos from May 2023.


It's quite interesting to see how far I've come (and gone) in terms of art in the past decade--I now actually make semi-effective use of shading, the coloring is far more advanced, and the proportions seem a bit better. However, a lot of the laziness I've picked up over the years is on full display as well, and overall I would definitely say I was having a lot more fun with art a decade ago than I am now, even if the old art had a lot of wonky proportions at times.



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The exact "anniversary date" is a bit iffy--Tex was originally an adopted character design (something that I personally think comes with a little bit of baggage in terms of "ownership" but she's gone through so many changes over the years to be virtually unrecognizable from the original design) so I often mention April 15 as the anniversary since that's when I sent the 50 DA Points (anybody remember "DeviantArt Points"?) and made the transfer of rights/ownership/whatever official. However, the properties for my first drawing of her date it at April 22, 2014, while the oldest existing upload on Weasyl is dated May 28, 2014.


I guess now is as good a time as any to ramble about adopted character designs/adoptables, as for a very long time I felt like the fact that the design didn't originate with the artist came with some weird baggage in terms of ownership, but if the terms of the sale completely transfer ownership of the design (ie it's not some sort of "closed species" where you have to abide by terms even after the sale or something, which seems more like a licensing agreement than a sale), it's probably nothing to really worry about. Also, given just how common adoptables are even outside of the DeviantArt ecosystem, and just how much use people make of them (with some, even in my small friend group, going so far as to use adopted designs as fursonas), it's probably not as shameful a thing as I may have thought in years past. 
I suppose the best way to think of it would be like a Lego set, sure, you purchased the set from someone else and didn't design it yourself, but what you do with it afterwards is 100% your own effort--you put in the effort to build the set, you can customize it by rearranging or adding pieces, and so on.


As for why I chose an adopted character design to pair with my main mascot/sona vs. one I created myself... Not really sure, to be honest! Her design really just clicked with me, and something about the fact that she's not something I 100% designed myself made it feel a bit less "selfish" somehow.


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    That's a lot like life, you don't own or design a partner, but sort of adopt each other and evolve into a slightly different person as you go because of the other person. I think Tex would look back and be quite happy with where she and her skunk were and where they were going. I don't know who her original creator is but with they way artists like your self become emotionally attached to their creations ( something which at first greatly surprised me and an empathy which I now find indicative of a level of human decency ) it must be a bit like having a child get married, they are always going to be your child but you are no-longer their next of kin, they have to make their own life. If one of my children (their all children whatever their ages) finds a partner who treats them with respect and in the process they make each other better people, which seems like what you have done with Tex and Skunk Boy - well job done.

    Terrible thought! If grand kids come along changing a diaper on an angry struggling baby can be a bad experience..... but one with skunk genetics !!!!!! THE 3 diaper change shrinks in my memory.