There is always hope

For the entire Tennyson family, they all have dark-brown skin-tones (Gwen is sort of more "golden", Ben is a deep earthy brown, and Max is a softer copper). One of the big visual changes I made with Grandpa Max is giving him a beard and a shorter hair style; I wanted to show the texture without it looking "scruffy", he's still very much clean-cut with his appearance!

I gave Gwen much thicker hair, with wavy curls that are darker red and shine a bright orange (I like to imagine that when she's older, she cuts it even shorter, and just lets her natural texture grow). I changed her outfit slightly, just for the fun of it; she has a short-sleeved pale powder-blue shirt under a camisole (that is a little long, making it almost a mini-dress. not seen are her white denim shorts). Other background things I had in mind; she's a year older than Ben, and maybe an inch-and-a-half taller than him, which she never lets him forget... but they look a lot a like, which means people not in the know mistake them for siblings (when they're still in the annoy-each-other-phase, this bothers them. but the time they're in highschool, they don't mind). Despite the year difference, they actually share a birthday, so they've got that rivalry BUILT IN. After having so many adventures over the summer, they mellow out on antagonizing each other (thank goodness). Gwen in particular learns how to relax and not try so hard to hurry and grow-up

For Ben, I kept the "direction" of his lengths of hair, but made it longer, and styled it as very thick curled locs (when he's older, he pulls his hair back into a ponytail. if I ever do a redesign for Kevin, when he's older I'd actually give him a short punk-buzzed undercut to be different than his long hair as a kid). I also decided to make Ben more chubby; I think it is nice to see main characters who aren't all cookie-cutter skinny, and it isn't just a joke or something they have to stop being (he is indeed still chubby when he's older). Gwen tries very hard to fit in at her school, while Ben has gone in the other direction; if he's gonna stand out, then at least he's getting attention, right? So he's the class-clown, which isn't always appreciated by the teachers. Making people laugh is also a good way to defuse bullies, but that doesn't always work either. So, Ben has unfairly been labelled a trouble-maker and a target for jerks... well, now he's going the be a hero! In fact, several different heroes! He's a little over-excited to use the Omnitrix for fun in the beginning, but eventually learns how think things through, becoming very responsible and clever (while still keeping his sense of humor). I gave Ben a black and gray baseball pattern shirt (not seen are his classic green pants)