Thief Designs

I'm finding it hard to get the particular look for the thief so I thought I'd refer to my inspiration of the character - a vulture. That got me thinking maybe I could try other birds too.
Nope. Vulture suits it best. These are most of the designs I've gone through so far most just modifications of its predecessor. The hardest part is going to be the neck joining the rigid head to the overly flowing torso.
I like strokes for arms and legs. Details like fingers can appear only when he needs them. He's an efficient thief after all and he loves his job to the point where it's an art he enjoys.
I just thought that design modification in the bottom right corner was funny so I added this page in too. Right now I'm thinking; what is it that makes the UPA style so beautiful to me?
Yeah this might be pushing the vulture thing a bit too far. That neck thing really just won't work. He has to stay an 'inspiration' from the vulture design and not an 'imitation'. I don't really think it's that super important in the film as long as the audience feels a slight connection I'll be happy.

Thief Film Development

Ok so finally I can start uploading development of the films I'm working on right now...

These are sketches of the interior of my 'mansion' where the thief will prance about stealing everything around him. I want this look for my backgrounds but am still working on how to achieve it with the way I'm imagining I'll be animating it. Look about the sketches (click on them to see them much larger) and you'll see I've got a lot of other things developing there too. I'm sorry I've got a pretty messy way of developing my ideas.