Decided to take a break from my minecraft build to do this drawing of Tamias. The aim here is to work on emotional expression. To do this I fast forwarded to a point in the Chipmunk Kingdom story line in when Tamias Discovers that he and a past character Norman Lee are one in the same and draw the reaction to this painful truth.

The story behind this is a bit complex but the short version is that Tamias is actually Norman Lee revived. As a young chipmunk named Norman Lee he was imprisoned by the Inner Circle, a group that over threw the chipmunk kingdom's government and ruled the kingdom with an iron fist for several hundred years. During this time Norman grew sick and was unable to attend a mandatory Inner Circle function and was therefore arrested and imprisoned by Inner Circle forces. During his incarceration the Grand Bishop of the Inner Circle subjected him to unspeakable brutality to the point that by the time he was rescued by his older brother, Jerry Lee, Norman's soul was completely and utterly crushed leaving behind a souless shell of a body that was too sickly to heal. So as a last ditch effort to save Norman he was taken to the human nations and placed into cryogenic stasis. 350 years later Norman was revived and adopted by human guardians and renamed Tamias Orenberg.

Now here's where things really get nasty. Tamias has no memories of the brutal childhood past. But is always dogged by nightmares and flashbacks of those brutalities and phobias of various conditions, and situations including restraint, medical procedures, and dark places. He also bares physical scars of the violence on his chest and belly.

The evidence especially the scares on his body have sparked rumors of Tamias and Norman being one in the same when Tamias became the Chipmunk Chieftain. However he keeps denying the link citing that Norman and the Inner Circle took place 350 years ago and surely no chipmunk has ever lived that long.

But deep down Tamias denies the speculations with dogged passion. But the scares on his chest and belly, no memories of his childhood and the flashbacks, nightmares, and phobias, all suggest that maybe he is Norman Lee. But he adamantly rebuff what those things tell him. How could he, a chipmunk that became the Chieftain, Hakooji Incarnate, spiritual leader of Chipmunk Kingdom be Norman Lee? How could he, a chipmunk that reviles Abuse, and Torture with a burning passion, be the same chipmunk that suffered the worst of such brutality to the point of being rendered into nothing more than a beaten and broken shadow of his former self?

What would happen if Tamias was presented solid and undeniable evidence? It is a golden chipmunk rule to always seek out and accept the truth. And the point of this emotional exercise is to depict the rage, anger, shame, and anguish that would slam into Tamias like a brick wall when the truth stares at him from his office desk.

I will be doing more of these so called emotional exercises. I believe doing these type of drawings will help me really dig into the details and innerworkings of my characters and help me bring out there personalities when I draw them, rp as one of them, and write stories about them.