Rocket Gets A Chubbier, More Scarred Look In New Guardians Of The Galaxy Concept Art

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Post by The Hero's Journey: The Cinematic Art of Ryan Meinerding.

In Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket Raccoon is shown to be a rather tragic character. The subject of all kinds of genetic tests and surgeries, Rocket wears many scars of a life of torture and experimentation. Most of these wounds are shown to be hidden beneath the character's clothes, but that wasn't necessarily always going to be the case. As we can see in this new concept art, the little furry hero was at one point possibly going to have a lot more outer-hardware.

This post comes from the official Facebook fan page of artist Ryan Meinerding, who is the Head of Visual Development at Marvel Studios. Looking at the design compared to what ended up in the final cut of Guardians of the Galaxy, you can tell that the production decided to go in multiple different directions with the character's look:

Rocket Raccoon

While both very much look like real raccoons (which wasn't always the case), the first difference you'll notice is that the final version of Rocket didn't have any kind of metal pieces near his mouth or any scarring on his face. He also wound up being a lot skinnier (the concept art version looks like it has been on more than a few successful dumpster dives), and the costume became much more orange. Lastly, Rocket's tail was pretty bushy, but nowhere near the level of the concept art at the top of the page.

As Meinerding mentions, it was ultimately a design by artist Charlie Wen that ended up being used for the movie. You can see an example of his artwork below:

Rocket Guardians of the Galaxy concept art

Many predicted it months before Guardians of the Galaxy hit theaters, but Rocket certainly did his part to steal the show in the Marvel Studios film. The character was both hilarious in his pessimism and also really filled with heart, and Bradley Cooper did a fantastic job with his vocal performance. We are beyond excited to see more from the character - it's just a shame that we have to wait until so long to see Guardians of the Galaxy 2. Written and directed by James Gunn, the sequel is set to be released on July 27, 2017

Eric Eisenberg
Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.