While canonically, they Coyatawnes live in a little town called Coyote Canyon, located somewhere in my universe's equivalent of the American Southwest and I imagined it being like a stereotypical Arizona or New Mexico location, this photo I took in April 2023 somehow makes a pretty good background. It's actually a large clearing off the main trail, hidden by the woods, accessible by an unofficial trail clearly made by ATVs and it's probably technically trespassing to be back there... but there were no signs or anything (yet) so who knows? The dry grass and dead/dormant trees definitely gives it a sorta "prairie" vibe, like this sort of place could be within walking distance of the Coyatawne family home, near a river or lake or something.
I am putting way too much thought into my choice of background for a nothing character that only really exists so I could pursue that "Tex takes Skunk Boy to meet her family" idea if I ever got motivated enough to do so.
Despite the initial playful teasing and hazing I imagine Skunk Boy would encounter, such as Florence pulling Tex and Skunk Boy over and Florence proceeding to try to intimidate Skunk Boy and pat him down and stuff (while Tex is waiting in the car and stifling laughter the whole time), the Coyatawnes are surprisingly open-minded and accepting. Tex's mother is human (although very likely a were-coyote), and when introduced to Dominic "Skunk Boy" Mephitto, Laurence wouldn't be bothered in the slightest by him... *after* a little bit of the entirely expected "judgmental father" act, of course.
I really want Laurence (and the rest of the Coyatawnes) to work as characters, they seem quite fun and I have a lot of fun little ideas for them that I'd like to get working, like how Grandpa Joel is seen as a little "off his rocker" yet has all sorts of 100% canonically correct insight into aliens and other conspiracy stuff that's actually true, or how Florence's "hard-ass small-town sheriff" demeanor would immediately flip to being very sympathetic but dopey and awkward and apologetic upon realizing just how much he's scaring Skunk Boy with his fake traffic stop--and then getting upset with Tex that she didn't warn him her boyfriend was a skunk and he had to go behind him and could have gotten sprayed with how bad he was scaring the guy, to which Tex would laugh hysterically because the whole family is full of jokesters and pranksters and even in her orchestration of a prank on Skunk Boy, she had to make sure Uncle Florence was in for a surprise too.
----- When I was trying to get back into drawing, this one originally came out so poorly it killed my interest for another week. I managed to fix it (mostly) but I'm still not super happy with it, but unposted art is time wasted.
