It was announced last week that Robert Downey Jr. has agreed to voice Mr. Peabody in DreamWorks Animation's adaptation of Mr. Peabody and Sherman. Today we have a very early look at the character thanks to a piece of concept art.Peabody and Sherman appeared in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show in their own separate shorts "Peabody's Improbable History." In each segment, dog Peabody teaches "his boy" Sherman in the ways of history, using the WABAC time machine to witness historical events.  No word yet on who will voice Sherman, but Rob Minkoff (The Forbidden Kingdom) has signed on to direct from a script by Jeffrey Ventimilia and Joshua Sternin (Yogi Bear).  Hit the jump to see the image.Via Cartoon Brew:How about those DreamWorks eyebrows, eh?Here's some background on the characters:

Peabody is a genius who adopted Sherman for company. Sherman is a naive but fairly bright, inquisitive, earnest and energetic lad who's always one step behind getting his friend's dreadful puns. In appearance, Peabody is a small white dog with floppy ears. Sherman is always in need of having his hair combed. He wears a white tee-shirt and dark shorts. Each character wears a pair of oversized horn-rimmed glasses...

Each episode of "Peabody's Improbable History" begins with the dog's greeting, "Peabody, here." The premise each week was to introduce Sherman to real history. For that purpose, Peabody has constructed the WABAC (pronounced "wayback") machine. The WABAC is a take-off on early computer acronyms such as UNIVAC and ENIAC. The WABAC is a time machine used by Peabody and Sherman to travel back in time and witness various historical events. [Wikipedia]