TMNT fans appeared to be happy enough with the character designs of the four Turtles after the recent release of the first Mutant Mayhem trailer, but it seems the Heroes in a Half-Shell could have looked quite a bit different (well, some of them).
Christian Haniszewski, who worked as Character Modelling Supervisor on the upcoming animated movie, has shared some of his early designs for the Fearsome Foursome to Artstation, and it looks like there was originally going to be more of an effort to distinguish the characters from one another.
Raph and Leo look pretty much the same here, but Mikey has more of a football-shaped head, and Donnie is a lot shorter and thinner than his brothers.
"Had a fantastic time working with the team at Nickelodeon on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem," Christian writes. "I was responsible for creating the visual development sculpts of Mikey, Raph, Leo, and Donnie and finding the look and style in 3D. I came in early during pre-production, and naturally, things will evolve for the better as things progress in a feature."
“After years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O’Neil helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.”
Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu and Brady Noon will voice the roles of Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael, respectively. The cast also includes Jackie Chan as Splinter, Hannibal Buress as Genghis Frog, Rose Byrne as Leatherhead, Ice Cube as Superfly, Natasia Demetriou as Wingnut, Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil, Giancarlo Esposito as Baxter Stockman, Post Malone as Ray Fillet, Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko, and Maya Rudolph as Cynthia Utrom.
Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs. the Machines) directed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which is produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.