*D* *M* Penguin again... Shape experiments and expressions

FIRST OF ALL here is that expression sheet I did for the old design of the penguin. He looks a little to exaggerated and human-like here perhaps, but here it is incase we go back to this design.

Anyway, moving on, I have been trying to make the penguin character look a little cuter my trying some different body shapes. The top left diamond shape is what Andy suggested last Thursday. I tried a few other shapes too. Here are the line and colour tests below. These were done in Photoshop

 

I showed my pictures to Mike, and he said they were nice, but he was still very keen on the concept drawing I did a while ago (See older posts). I then showed him the pictures below. He said he was more fond of these then the pictures above. I agree.

So I did a few more pictures along those lines. Here they are below

I really am not sure which direction to go in now. I'm going to send this post to Andy and see what he thinks. :D

EDIT: FEEDBACK

Mel:
♥ it. its very cartoony. im not sure if its what andy has in mind. If it was up to me i like the recent shape of the penguin as it will be the animation where it will truly come to life and simple to rig

Clym:
defo gna use those mouth shapes. Epic :D

Andy:

getting there, try taking the legs out and just doing feet that are attached to his main body, u cant really see penguins legs cos its all in the main body mass

Andy also linked me to an article to "Happy Feet".

I think that I can conclude that I am getting closer with the design of the penguin. I think the last images of this post are the ones to keep going with. I agree with Andy, the way I've done the feet is a little rubbish. Flat short feet will be better. Rigging the feet will be a pain, I expect, but I let the riggers worry about that. I'll make sure they are aware of that issue when it comes to it.

I should also watch Happy Feet again, because the penguins are very real and are animated beautifully. Might be good reference for how the feet should be too.