I had decided to do a character sheet series with all my original cartoon characters, about 175 of them.  At first I took my endeavor seriously, trying to do it the "right" way, the way I thought professional animators did.  That was the problem.  Thinking this way just kept me from creating anything at all, or starting the "right" way but not continuing.  Why?  I was going dead set against my own nature, which is kind of helter-skelter, off in totally different directions.  I, like many a relative, teacher, pastor, drill sergeant (I was an Army Reservist) tried to do was get "straight" when I'm really "bent".

So I just did what artist Melissa Dinwiddie calls "playing in the creative sandbox".  It simply means "get messy, have fun and don't worry about being perfect--you never will be".  And that's when stuff got done.  I now have four sheets of original D.K. Upshaw cartoon characters, suitable for animated shorty-shorts, one-panel gag cartoons, t-shirts, mugs and other cartoon products, and maybe even for selling other people's products and for educational/informational videos.

Here are my perfectly imperfect character sheets.  Enjoy!