Little Nemo and SANDMAN Character Design development

I did some more research into dream related material and rediscovered an old comic strip called Little Nemo in Slumberland, it’s a very basic but creative and detailed strip dating all the way back to the 1900’s and created by Winsor Mccay. Following the dreams of a child, with re-occuring characters such as King Orpheus, princess Camille, and a troublemaking clown named Flip.

While it is a detailed style to replicate, I do like certain aspects on how the characters are designed. They have a nice old fashioned, clown like design with the swirls, the wavy hair and the mix of stylised faces and realistic proportions. This seems like something I want to apply to the design of the sandman in the sequence.

It was originally going to be a simple design, but I think I want something more fantastical.

Besides it does describe him as a candy coloured clown in the song, so why not give it a go?