TMNT: Leo's Inner Child

Wanna know the story behind this? It's kinda long, but I think it's worth reading.

One day I thought: "Might as well practise some proportions." I took a sheet of paper, sketched a skeleton and drew a turtle. Then I thought: "Damn, his hip's jutting out waaay too much. How can I justify this? Oh! I'll draw him holding a child." So I drew a turtle child on Leo's hip. All the time I was thinking: "Why's he holding a child? I don't want any implications of mpreg and time travel's not my cup of tea... Oh, I got it. The kid is Leo's inner child! Go me."
Having finished a nice sketch of a naked turtle and his inner child, my heart sank. "What kind of proportions is this? Leo's legs are too long. But I don't wanna redo them! Okay, who has long legs? Adults. Let's make him SaiNW." So I spent an eternity finding a decent reference of Leo's scars and added them in the picture. Then I thought: "The little one seems like he's trying to grab something... What could SaiNW!Leonardo's inner child be trying to grab? Ooh, Donatello. He reminds Leo of his younger, childish days, yes, that works."

So. There you go. This is how a picture develops itself. From a proportion practice to a symbolic depiction of a turtle's lost childhood. Don't you dare saying I think too much.

The background was shamelessly copied from here.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles © Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird