Who's Your Friend When Things Get Ruff?

This started as a doodle that I did at work yesterday. I was totally inspired this weekend by Todd Kauffman's Pufnstuf blog, and out of boredom, I started drawing Puf. I drew him completely from memory, and I was surprised to find that it came out pretty accurate when I checked later online. Which probably means that I have an unhealthy obsession with the show. H.R. Pufnstuf was my favorite tv show when I was a kid, and I still love it today.

I've always wanted to do something with an animated version, and to be honest I was super-jealous when I saw Todd had not only already beaten me to the punch, but he had an entire website devoted to it! Great stuff, Todd! So, this is my take on Pufnstuf. I gave him little fangs, an indication of some scales, and a little wisp of fire coming out of his mouth, because he IS a dragon after all. I thought in animated form we could make him a little more dragon-like but still stay true to the Krofft's original design, and keep him cute and cuddly and kid-friendly. Eventually, I'd like to take a stab at some of the other characters, especially Witchiepoo, but that will have to wait til I have a little more free time. I'm already being completely irresponsible by spending my morning on this. But I really love it and wanted to share it with you. Let me know what you think.
Here's the blue line sketch and the color rough, and just so you can see the progression, here's the doodle that it came from. I wish I could do a finished color version so you can see the FULL progression, but that will also have to wait. Not enough hours in the day...

*UPDATE 4/15/2013: I've added the final digitally-colored version to show the full design progression. For a better look at the final design, visit this POST.