Exclusive Content: Zootopia Doujinshi Rough Sketches & Storyboards (1/3)
Added 2025-06-30 17:42:23 +0000 UTCWhen Zootopia was released in 2016, I was going through my first heartbreak.
My partner—who had also been my creative collaborator—left me, and with that, I ended my first doujin circle, Turtle.Fish.Paint (I was the “Turtle”).
Afterward, I founded Bear Hand to begin creating a new doujinshi.
“Bear Hand” (熊掌) was considered a delicacy in ancient China.
In the Chinese proverb “You can’t have both fish and bear’s paw,” it carries a meaning similar to “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”
At the time, watching Zootopia felt like salvation. It filled an emotional void inside me.
Nick and Judy’s relationship was exactly the kind of connection I had always dreamed of—
they don’t touch faces, they don’t kiss, they don’t say “I love you,”
and yet every action between them is full of emotion and trust.
No romance film has ever made me feel the way their bond did.
I saw the movie five times in theaters.
After the DVD release, I played it on loop as background noise—countless times. I memorized every detail.
Eventually, after watching it so many times, I could barely “see” it anymore.
It was like chewing the same piece of gum for a year—its shape fell apart in my mind.
I felt a desperate urge to do something—anything—beyond just watching.
I think I was in a half-mad state.
Even though I had never drawn anthropomorphic animals before, I decided I had to.
It felt inevitable—like I had no choice but to create.
