The Goat Guys

This is a drawing I did of the band The Goat Guys for my friend Rie's birthday. Their musical group is a fictional band from Francesca Lia Block's book Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys (from the Dangerous Angels series, also known as the Weetzie Bat series). Ms. Block's characters always have interesting ways of dressing and acting, so I figured doodling these folks would be a lot of fun. I was right!

Originally I was going to draw them with their instruments, but decided I kind of suck at such things. I also had the idea that I might draw them with their "Goat Guy" costume additions, but I realized I didn't like what those items did to the characters' personalities in the book, so I didn't particularly want to represent them like that. I just drew them how they naturally are.

About the characters:

Raphael Chong Jah-Love is the band's guitarist, and he sings. He often wears John Lennon-type sunglasses, but I decided not to draw them since the other boy in the band is described as almost always wearing sunglasses and I didn't want it to seem too repetitive. In the book, he was given a pair of goat-fur pants that made him a bit too wild.

Cherokee Bat is the band's tambourine player and backup vocalist, and she also likes to dance. She is the beloved of Raphael, and even though she's blonde and pale she incorporates American Indian influences into her aesthetic (she even sleeps in a tepee--questionable behavior, but it's how the character is written). In the book, Cherokee was given some goat-hoof-shaped shoes that hurt her feet, but she danced in them anyway.

Witch Baby Wigg-Bat is the band's drummer, and since she was described in the book as liking to wear "an assortment of whatever she can find around the house," I really kind of pulled her outfit out of my butt. I do know she likes to wear cowboy boot roller skates, though. Since this is a pencil sketch, you can't tell that she has cool purple eyes. Witch Baby's almost-sister Cherokee gave her a pair of wings for her birthday that she wore while drumming in the band.

Angel Juan Perez is the band's bass player who returned from Mexico on Witch Baby's birthday (which was nice because she finally stopped burying herself in mud that day). He loves Witch Baby and he is described as being very graceful. In the book, he wore a pair of goat horns that had been stolen from the band's friend Coyote. They gave him a headache.

I tried my best to capture their personalities in this drawing, but I was also rushed and tired when I drew it, so it probably could have been better. . . .