Getting the attention for drawing Peppino is nice, but secondary to the compulsory need I feel just to draw him because... like I can just play in the space of making extremely weird expressions. I think it might be because the game's own style has its' characters drawn in stupid or ugly ways that aren't, uh, strictly on model. Like a lot of the title cards will play with an absurd style for laughs. And I think it gives you a permission to mess with it a lot more than any other IP I liked.
Also I think the ugly, Western cartoon aspect has just been so liberating. I do not need to make things pretty or cute to appeal to anyone. A lot of pressure has seemed to be taken off in that way...