April O'Neil vs. Foot Soldier (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

Always a good time to celebrate the month of April, I'm sharing a recently acquired original inked artwork of April O'Neil from my collection!

This inked drawing (approximately 8x10 inches) comes from the talents of vintage toy designer and sculptor David Arshawsky. Its history is a little unclear to me, but according to an old ebay listing, it might have been created between 2012-2014, originally intended as the first draft for one of David's commissions. Apparently, David ultimately reworked the concept to change some elements for the final product. Wish I could see that final piece, but this is the original unused draft/drawing, which looks pretty complete, in my opinion! Can't imagine the concept getting much cooler than this, with April having triumphed over a Foot Soldier while all four of her Turtle friends look on with pride. Being a clear nod to the vintage Playmates action figure line on which Arshawsky did so much work, April has claimed the robotic ninja's "Turtle Shell Biter" as her trophy.

Earlier this year, I was fortunate enough to acquire this piece through a trade with another TMNT collector who is also a fan of the Arshawsky style!

I noticed the back side of the piece has some erased pencil markings on it, so I scanned it and played around with the digital contrast to reveal just a bit of an even earlier concept for an April O'Neil drawing.