Deleted Character Appreciation: Rina and Rada

[Akril]

When I first discovered Rina and Rada, the "spinster ratels" in the January 1990 draft of the TLK script, I fell in love with them almost immediately. Their personalities are the complete opposite of what you'd expect of a species renowned for its incredible boldness and ferocity, which I thought was downright adorable. I decided that I had to draw them and spread the ratel love.

This is the scene where a seriously injured Zazu (a tickbird/oxpecker in this version), trying to escape the hyenas after Scar kills Mufasa, ends up tumbling into Rina and Rada's burrow and is gradually nursed back to health by them. To quote the script:
[quote]Rina tries to blanket Zazu with a leaf while Rada wrings her hands with concern. Zazu has become the son they never had. (pg. 43)[/quote]

Rina and Rada were fun to design, though it was bit of a challenge to find a perfect balance between cute and intimidating (not to mention feminine and non-feminine, because of their age). Real ratels have short, pale fur on their heads and backs, which fit the aged look of these two very well (I also made Rina's hair a bit wavy to create an authentic "old lady" hairstyle).