Hi all, and welcome to another blog post. In today’s post we’re going to be talking about Momo himself, and a few of his dinosaur friends.
So as some of you will know, the inspiration behind Momo came from several sources but I would say my main source of inspiration was the wonder Yoshi, of Mario fame. Today though I am going to talk about some of the other characters, introduce you to them, and talk about their origins.
Doctor Dactyl
Doctor Dactyl is the second character I remember really developing with any enthusiasm. His name came first, and the character was designed around the name. I opted for purple purely because I like the colour purple. The first story we meet him in, Doctor Dactyl’s Weather Thingy-ma-jig, is the first book I wrote and it went through several iterations to get to the final release version. Doctor Dactyl himself is, of course, based on a Pterodactyl. He is intelligent, but absent minded and forgetful.
Meredith
Named after one of my wonderful nieces, Meredith is Momo’s best friend. She is very loosely based on a Parasaurolophus. She’s as happy and as eager to help people as Momo himself! She has a younger sister named Claudia whom she loves very much and often takes her out on adventures.
Malcolm
Malcolm, the big wooly mammoth with an even bigger heart. Malcolm is another character who was developed in the early days – and named by my brother after I proclaimed I was struggling to come up with a name! Malcolm prefers things slow and easy.
Lolly and Poppy
Originally only one character, after I came up with the name “Lolly,” “Poppy” just followed naturally – and so they became a brother/sister combination. They are a mischievous little pair – and based on the Compsognathus dinosaurs. The inspiration for these again comes from video games to an extent – Tomb Raider 3. I just thought the little critters chasing you and trying to nibble your ankles were cute!
It’s fun to come up with new dinosaur characters, sometimes the inspiration will just arrive completely out of the blue. Sometimes I need to search for it. It is then a fun challenge to turn the dinosaur into something suitable for a children’s book illustration!
So who is your favourite character from the Adventures of Momo? Let us know in the comments!
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