So I offered my services as an art guy and got a response from someone whose game actually sounded cool and fun to draw for.
The game is Jules and Verne: Race to the Center of the Earth
Very basically, it's a split screen digging race to the centre of the Earth with bad guys and treasures thrown in.
I was going for an explorer feel for Jules like Mungo Bean and Johnny Thunder from the Lego Adventurers sets:
Pith helmet and safari suit were a must.
This is what I "settled" on but have since changed the hair so it wouldn't interfere with some of the animations.
At first I was thinking top hat and suit for Verne. Kind of like a classy villain to Jules. It really wouldn't have made much sense gameplay-wise though as you're digging in the dirt. So I ended up going for olden days miner.
The two characters were going to have roughly the same body shape and size, so I wanted everything else to be as different as possible. The final one there really appealed to me.
To me, he's more labourer than explorer. Eyes squinty (because of his headlight) rather than wide open.
Here's how they look ingame. Tiny little cuties but they pack a punch.
I've animated all I need to for these two and exported them to be shoved right in. I've played what there is of the game so far and it's as fun as I hoped.
The deadline is midnight, the last day of Feb.
I still have enemies to draw and animate as well as things like tiles, title screens etc.
Will keep you posted.