Hey gang! To be frank, I've been running out of stuff to tease lately. The bulk of the remaining work for Friedrich's is pretty much top secret, so as I plug away in the background, I've been thinking of things I can post in the meantime.

I've gotten a lot of requests in the past to show off older sketches of the Friedrich's characters and locations, so I figured now would be a good time to start revealing some of that! In this post, we'll take a look at some of the early designs of Friedrich, Bernard, and Clara!

BERNARD

Why start with Bernard? Well, it's because he's the first one I drew! A good while before deciding to work on Friedrich's, the idea of doing my own take on FNAF rattled around my brain for a while. One idea I always liked was the idea of making Bonnie a massive, hulking monster, comically abandoning the "kid-friendly-but-scary" design that FNAF was known for. This sketch from around Oct 2023 is the earliest I could find showing that concept.

He's got a bit more detail and his legs aren't so wimpy, but this is the first iteration of everyone's favorite beefcake, Bernard! (Fun fact: I totally lost this sketch before starting work on the game, and only found it a couple weeks after releasing the demo)

Once I started planning the game, I did quick outlines of the character's mechanics, as well as a sketch of their heads. Here's Bernard's:

(Transcript: Will rapidly run around building, appearing on a nearby camera at random and moving towards the office as fast as possible. Will grip the doorframe, use lasers to send away. Will attack after some time at door.)

He's rather sinister looking here. Maybe it's the gums.

Next was a full-body sketch, alongside his jumpscare. Despite being more recent, this Bernard looks even less like the final design. His feet are freakin' huge.

This was pretty much the last time I'd draw Bernard fully before putting him in the game. If you're wondering how he changed so much between this sketch in the game, I believe it had to do with how I sketched him when planning out the room locations.

As you can see, he's got a much simpler shape here, and that ended up appealing to me a lot more.

FRIEDRICH

Friedrich was an interesting case. At first, I just wanted him to be a silly, cartoon version of Freddy. Here, you can see his head and mechanics.

(Transcript: Moves in stages thru vent (4 stages). When in right place 3rd stage, use cam lasers to reset. Enters office on stage 4, will distract and play music until eventual jumpscare)

After designing the other characters, I went back and realized that Friedrich was kind of boring. Every other character, despite being cute and cartoony, also had something slightly off-putting about them. Friedrich needed something weird too.

I played around with the design a bit, and decided to give him sunken eyes and plenty of teeth. This made him look more like Garfield, but also a bit creepier! Also, he has big stupid chipmunk cheeks in this sketch. What a dork.

CLARA

Clara's first appearance was also in the mechanic planning phase. As you can see, she's pretty much the same, but she had a neck? Or maybe that's just the bib? I have no idea. I kinda wish I finished this sketch.

(Transcript: If you slack on pizza-making, Clara will enter the kitchen and start making pizzas. When in kitchen, high chance to start a fire. Fire increases temp, die at 120°. Can be stopped by making pizzas. Sprinklers extinguish fires but agitate animatronics.)

The next sketch is pretty much the Clara you know and love. Other than her smaller beak, Clara was simply perfection and I dared not iterate further. (Also, no idea what her hands are doing in that jumpscare. She's supposed to be ripping off her face, but like, c'mon man)

What about Felix? Endoskelett? Alan Fritter? Well, this post is getting long, so I'll be saving those crazy critters for another time. Hope you guys found this interesting, I'll definitely show more in the future if you guys want!

Alright, I have to go un-teach Bernard instant transmission, as he's been using his powers exclusively for evil. Until next time!