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Donovan Bradford Blog Entry |
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March 1, 2024, 12:00:15 AM March 1, 2024, 12:00:26 AM 3/1/24: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's character from my anthro WWII storyline is a twofer: Sgt. Thomas "Harrier" Harricks, and Flight Lt. Donovan Bradford, in a garrison cap (top drawing) and in a peaked cap (bottom drawing). These are two poorly developed British characters from the previous reboot. Donovan (he prefers going by his first name) is a laid-back pilot but now stays on the ground, whereas Harrier is short tempered and unpleasant. There'll be more about them later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. Regarding their design, Harrier underwent a last-minute drastic design change based on my mistaken memory that HE had been the pilot; I suddenly decided to change him from a rat into a bat, making him only the second non-rat character in the rodent half of the story (Papillon is the other). He's passing as a rat, which is why the pointy tips of his ears are clipped off, plus he wears gloves and avoids shaking hands because of how bat hands are constructed. (This is something I only JUST realized about Papillon recently, his fingers are his wings! He effectively has no hands! I came up with the idea of him having prosthetic hands operated by his thumbs, and this led to more plot development. Harrier of course deals with a similar complication.) Also, I just noticed I really borked up the British garrison cap in my original design--it has earflaps buttoned in front like a German field cap--so my older Liam Morgan portrait will need to be tweaked. TUMBLR EDIT: Harrier and Donovan both date to the first attempted reboot, and both severely lack character development (similar to characters like Evans and Beaudry); here to be thorough I'm looking to dust them off and flesh them out sometime. This section will be divided among the characters to avoid repetition. Here is Flight Lt. Donovan Bradford's original description from the old character list (2002): DONOVAN BRADFORD: 1st lt.; the Trench Rats' contact among the British fighting in Germany. Indispensible in assisting them with contacting the Americans and the outside world. Very affable and easygoing, slow to anger; witty and charming, very gentlemanly. Tolerates Harrier's constant griping with ease. Reports to Ellroy and sometimes to the French forces as well as the Americans. A flying ace, but now spends most of his time on the ground. Prefers to be called by his first name. Current storyline Donovan's rank has since changed; he's in the RAF, which apparently has a rank called "flight lieutenant" (which seems more the equivalent of captain in other branches, but I wanted something with "lieutenant" in it). Ranks are kind of over my head, so I try not to overthink it much; he's now a flight lieutenant. I'm also not so sure he's an "ace" anymore, as I believe he's a bomber pilot rather than a fighter pilot like von Staden, though again, such things are a bit beyond my understanding. In any case, those are the corrections. (The "Ellroy" referred to is Major Titus Ellroy. This part here is super awkward, I just typed up how he's the American contact of the European forces and not Donovan's CO, when I then looked at the character list and...he's British and he literally IS Donovan's CO! Turns out I was mixing him up with Major Dupries (the actual American character). Oops. 😅 Guess I'll have to get around to him sometime soon.) I don't know as much about Donovan yet as about his good friend Sgt. Harricks, AKA Harrier. I do know he befriends Harrier early on, and gives him his nickname after seeing him fly, though Harrier goes to great lengths to disguise his identity as a bat--even the tips of his ears have been clipped--so Donovan honors his secret, and even pulls strings getting him in the British army and obtaining him a desk job, as Harrier's wings make combat difficult. I suspect Harrier may have been some sort of petty street criminal or laborer who helped Donovan out at some point, possibly by flying. Donovan is a bomber pilot whose aircraft is downed; he parachutes out in time, though I think the parachute malfunctions, and again, Harrier swoops in to help out; he's long admired Donovan and his job, seeing as, passing himself off as a rat, he has to refrain from flying, himself. Donovan is injured, yet survives. For some reason, however, he's declared unfit to return to duty as a pilot, and so settles for a liasion role to the American forces, mainly the Trench Rats. (Perhaps he introduces them to Lyndsey Skye?) Harrier takes this harder than he does; Donovan is like, "Eh, what can you do," although he does try to encourage Harrier to seek a more active role utilizing his own ability to fly. He's Harrier's biggest cheerleader, although Harrier is too full of doubt to oblige at first. Donovan may have had a previous relationship with LC Lyndsey Skye before she joined the Trench Rats. If so, the two appear to have parted on amicable terms, as they get along well, and Donovan never expresses any jealousy when Skye later gets involved with Burgundy Rat. He and Harrier are familiar, at least in passing, with Sgt. Liam Morgan; like the Trench Rats, they never even realize Morgan's been turned by the Waffen-SS, nor American corporal Anna Julian's role in things. They're as stunned by this information as the Trench Rats are when it finally comes out. Aside from this, I'm afraid I haven't much more info available on him; unlike Harrier, he doesn't have a sudden new plot development to flesh him out. Perhaps some more will come to light at a future point; until then, check out Harrier's entry for a bit more. [Donovan Bradford 2024 [Friday, March 1, 2024, 12:00:15 AM]] [Donovan Bradford 2024 2 [Friday, March 1, 2024, 12:00:26 AM]] |