Inky Mickey

SPOILER ALERT!

If only Epic Mickey had an alternate ending like this...

My inspiration for this picture comes from... well, prepare for a little story:
When I was playing through the game the first time, I had created two save files: one where I did a test run with paint (which I called the Hero Route) and one where I did a test run with thinner (which I called the Scrapper Route). The more thinner I used, the more Mickey dripped with ink. At a certain point, if you break a gear that Gremlin Tiestow doesn't want you to smash, he says basically, "I thought that your dripping like the Blot was just for show, but now I'm not so sure." It got me to thinking... Perhaps when Mickey is being more mischievous and using more thinner, he is being influenced by the Shadow Blot's destructive tendencies.
One piece of concept art you can unlock is called "Inky Mickey", which inspired the title, and the drippings of Mickey's ears distorting their shape somewhat as he turns.
Also, one thing that sort of disappointed me with the game is that the "multiple endings" is only a valid description insofar as the various NPCs (ie: the various Petes, Horace Horsecollar, the Clock Tower, etc.) throughout the game have different endings. Mickey and Oswald still reconcile; the Wasteland is still restored; Ortensia is reunited with her hubby Ozzie <3... I was expecting an ending where Oswald is still hostile towards Mickey, where Ortensia is not restored, where the Wasteland is left in ruins after the Shadow Blot's defeat...
Or even something like this. A Bad Ending, where Mickey defeats the Blot... by BECOMING the Blot. By becoming the new terror reigning over the Cartoon Wasteland.

As you can see, that bit of ink dripping from his finger is based off of the final scene in the game (after the credits), and then it devolves from there into mind-screwery.
I admit, the head-turning is cheap, and not really as scary as what follows: Mickey's eyes SLIDING OFF HIS FACE. That was inspired by that hoax video Un Souris Andalou, also known as "suicidemouse.avi". I have not watched that all the way through, or with the sound on. Frankly, I don't see what's so spooky about it... apart from the eye stuff. An eyeless Mickey Mouse is rather disturbing, actually.

The chibi Shadow Blot addressing the Mickey Blot as 'Father' is based off of Warren Spector saying that every character wants something. Before I got the game, I though that the Shadow Blot would want to be loved by its father. And, since Mickey created the Shadow Blot by messing around with paint and a magic brush... yeah. I thought that the "good" way to defeat the Shadow Blot would be like how you defeated that one Shadow Blot on Mickeyjunk Mountain: by spraying it with enough paint, it turns happy and sweet.
But in this case, it's only cowering in fear before Mickey the eldritch abomination gobbles it up.

I think this turned out pretty good, actually. It's one of the few pictures I've drawn recently that I'm proud of. The tenth Mickey (the fourth one in the third row) was added on last, because the transition from "eyes beginning to slide off" to "gooey grin splitting through ink" was a bit too abrupt.

Comment if you , please!

Mickey Mouse and the Shadow Blot © the Walt Disney Company
Disney Epic Mickey © Disney Interactive Studios and Junction Point