One really great way to come up with new and unique characters is to take a trip to your local musuem. There was a really nice African Art exhibit at the Telfair Musuem in Savannah and I ended up spending two days drawing all kinds of  neat stuff. One day I'll have to scan the initial sketches I did too. For now here are some of the characters I came up with as a result..  There are 4 all together....