Rad Elephant! The diet seems to be working well for him :D The slim look looks great for this character!

The beauty of imagination! Cliche and stereotypes are wonderful tools for cartoon, but what if you break those and mess with nature a little? The result can be fun

Weight watchers gone horribly wrong...

Does Murphy know Karen Carpenter?

I that! "Hey, could you pass the ice tea and four leaf salad?"

Though it's a little sad...maybe the irony is what's hardest. Karen wrote some amazing and positive music while tourturing herself.

Let's hope Murph can learn from this and keep it safe!

It's an aweful story. Todd Haynes directed a film in the early 80's called "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story" that's been banned by Mattel and Karen's brother by a lawsuit.

But it's about Karen's tragedy told by using Barbie dolls to symbolize the facade of glamour in entertainment, especially with popular women. The Karen Barbie eventually was filed down to basically the nuts and skeleton of the doll by the end of the story.

In real life, she suffered tremendous pressure from her family to be physically 'right', causing anxiety and dillusions of imperfection. So she took it out by extreme measures and died from the complications of anorexia.

Karen's music and bright spirit will live on, though...

That's right! Richard was into uppers (the film pointed that out which probably didn't fly well).

"We tend to reach for anything strong to pull us through the madness we may find ourselves in"----very well said!

I'd hate to be under Dumbo when he needs more 'lift' INCOMING!

Now this is a really cool concept! I don't think I've ever seen such a slim pachyderm before.

I love how he's flipping the peanut as he would a coin, too. Very nice. :)

Thanks, Soba! The peanut was last minute, but it 'turned' out okay. Get it? *duck gets rotten tomato in face*

I wondered about the bigger head, but the effect makes his body more skinny. Kind of 'forced perspective'...

Great job Chad ! The slim body frame of this elephant guy looks pretty revolutionist :P. Cute face you did for him, too !

Cool, thanks for saying that! I know what you mean; trying different ideas like a meat-eating cow or a slug with arms and legs is very different and worth trying out.

I like his face, too. He's very positive and a little shy looking. Thank you!

...a meat-eating cow...
That's brilliant ^.^ !

Thank you! I had fun with trying a cute and calm face. The little wrinkles in his forehead help give him more emotion I think.

LOL - now he needs to get his nose and ears done! Slimming up like that draws more attention to those... umm.... features?

Awesome! I thought about that, too. It does make his body look even smaller and a little odd...so I kept poor Murphy like that...there was a moment of thinking about making his flesh super baggy, but that would be less cute and more disturbing.

Hehe Thats really neat

Thanks

He he needs to eat more look at him he's wasting away

I think he was tired of being tubbeh and wanted a change. BUT if you'd like to donate some food, send it to:

Murphy Elephant
1969 Jefferson Erp Lane
Toontown, CA
96969

Thanks!

OK, a health-conscious elephant... now THAT is a character concept that I think I'm falling in love with. The kind of person who has a res fuzzy sweatband and white tank top on while doing their daily mile on the treadmill... the kind of person who holds onto (and occasionally wears) an old pair of pants that's 30 sizes too big... the kind of person who has a picture of themselves as overweight from three years ago taped in the top right corner of their mirror with the words "Never Go Back!" written encouragingly underneath it... and there's gotta be a "junk in the trunk" joke SOMEWHERE in there. Brilliant work as always, Chad. If you need me, I'll be coming up with more bad jokes for my own amusement.

Okay, so this needs to be seen. Murphy in a tank-top and headband, jogging and listening to an iPod or something. Or better yet, one of those old radio headphones with the massive cups and giant antenna...

Why are ducks so cool and smart (and modest), Duino?

Genetics? Breeding? The fact that we always look dashing in green? (Feathers, that is.) How about all of the above? Although how we got so modest, I don't think I'll be able to tell you... I reckon it's one of those few things I CAN'T do.

DUCK POWAH!!

hehehehehe!! This is a slender defender of pachyderm splendor! Fine Fine Stuff, feathery friend afar!! *hugs da ducky* :D

*eagle hug* Thanks, C! "Slender defender of pachyderm splendor" is AWESOME! *duck breaks into a beatbox to tha eagle's rhymes*

"Don't question his gender/or he'll put you in a blender/he'll put the funk in your trunk or give you a fender-bender!"

Something like that...

I lost 1200 pounds on the peanut diet! It's weird!

Call 1-800-94-Murph to start your Peanut Diet plan today!

he thinks he's so cool flipp'n that peanut

*flip* You could say this elephant works-out for peanuts! Yeah, I know...

aww, he's rather cute. ;D

Thank you!

Elephants are large but not necessarily fat, I like this a lot!

Thanks, good observation! They are an interesting creature. Riding one is an experience (Wild Animal Park in SoCal back in the late 70's)...

cute trunk