I then started to draw Humphrey in different positions and scenarios...

After looking at Frogs and Newts I decided to create a character that was a mixture of the two. And to also draw upon my interests in folklore and mythology, I looked into marsh/bog dwelling creatures.

A Boggart is a mischievous imp that lives in marshland. It is often seen as a malevolent being. So I wanted to create something that wasnt evil or spiteful, but something that was cheeky and humorous.

This led me to create Humphrey Boggart (his name being a wink to the late, great actor Humphrey Bogart).

He is a mixture of elements of both the frog and the newt, albeit with heightened human

After having the idea to have a garden based character, I then thought that an even more interesting place to base my characters was in around a pond. As there is a wealth of possible scenarios for my characters to encounter. Not only that, but with Pond life, I felt I would be able to create characters with a more unique aesthetic. An aesthetic that made them instantly recognisable as pond dwellers.

So I started to look into the creatures one may find in and around ponds, and did some initial sketches of them, to see what characteristics they portrayed, and if i would be able to use any of these characteristics to embelish my characters.

After my initial idea, I came up with this character. He is an inquisitive earthworm named Garth. I wanted to come up with a character that would be simple to animate, and thought that this design would be fairly straight-forward.

However, after a while, I felt that this design was a little too plain, and that a more elaborate character was needed.

I did think the idea of having a character based on that of a real creature was worth keeping though. And I particularly liked the idea of

When I initially started to design my characters, I first asked myself where these creatures would be situated. As I wanted them to be associated with not only each other, but with their surroundings.

I first came up with a character named Grumpy Gus, a miserable old man living in an old peoples home. But with this initial character I found it hard to think a character for him to interact with.... My initial thoughts were to make a young child character to contrast with Grumpy Gus, but I ditched this entire idea as it was starting to become too similiar to the character design in the Disney Pixar movie, Up!.

Above are some rough, early ideas for Grumpy Gus and an initial idea for his young cohort, before I scrapped the idea.