is this a better marmot?

The Maximum Leader didn't immediately get that my earlier cartoon was supposed to represent The Marmot's Hole, and I can think of a couple reasons why.

1. A cartoon marmot doesn't really look all that different from a cartoon squirrel (cartoon animals aren't always drawn representatively, either: Stimpy doesn't look much like a cat!). Marmots are generally much larger than squirrels, but certain varieties of marmots, such as the so-called "yellow-bellied marmot" found out in the western states of the US, have puffy cheeks, fat asses, and long tails-- a bit like cartoon squirrels. I can see how this would throw a person off. A marmot's snout, however, is a bit longer and tapering, proportionately, than a typical gray squirrel's, so I probably introduced some confusion by drawing this marmot's face looking almost directly at the viewer, thereby foreshortening the facial features. Then again, not all marmots have long snouts. Behold!

2. The ML, in looking at the previous drawing, didn't see the marmot's hole-- which means, further, that he didn't perceive the picture had a foreground and a background; I'd intended the hole to be in the background. This is my fault for not introducing proper shading, but when you switch your Photoshop to "Web-friendly colors only" mode, you lose all the nuances, especially if you then save as a GIF, which I think I did. The ML saw the hole and thought it was a nut or something. As I looked at the pic through the ML's eyes, I realized that, yes, the hole could indeed look like a nut or something, sitting on the ground.

So a redrawing was obviously in order.

One solution to the "hole" problem is to frame the marmot inside his hole. But framing him too perfectly dead-center is no good; we need the aesthetic to be a bit wabi-sabi. I also decided that this marmot, with his razor-sharp Hoya intellect (SFS like a muthafuckaaaaaaa'), deserved better than a flimsy Chinese broadsword. Hence the lightsaber. And while red lightsabers may be cooler, blue seemed a better choice because the surroundings are all varying shades of brown.

Et voilà-- here's the new marmot and his hole.

So, Robert, can this go on my sidebar?

By the way... if you're interested, I've got a mug design fo' yo' honky ass. If you or other Koreabloggers would like me to design a mug & set up a CafePress store for you (or something)... let's talk bidness!

UPDATE: The Marmot's wife also thinks this looks too much like a squirrel. So... back to da drawing board!

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