Monterey Bay Aquarium
tannertan36
if i look back, i am lost
blake kathryn
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
YOU ARE THE REASON
#extradirty
No title available
macklin celebrini has autism
trying on a metaphor
shark vs the universe
occasionally subtle
🪼
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
d e v o n
roma★
DEAR READER
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
祝日 / Permanent Vacation
dirt enthusiast
seen from Mexico
seen from Cambodia
seen from Brazil
seen from Pakistan
seen from Bangladesh
seen from United States
seen from Chile
seen from Nigeria
seen from Tunisia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Germany
@need4bluespeed
Day 4: Ocean
Simple idea, simple execution
Context ig: Sonic is scared of the ocean and talking nonsense so Shadow kisses him so he calms down and the kiss is so damn strong his art style changes
Who cares about canon interactions I want my sonadow cringe and romantic 🗣️
Blasting my Mexican beams onto Shadow T Hog 🖤❤️(ft. multilingual Sonk hc💙)
pa-pa-para-paranoia
part 2
Drew Manic in my style. 💚 He’s my fav ‘Sonic Underground’ character.
Go follow my main blog(which I will be gradually only sharing/posting nerd stuff to) before I slowly stop using this one.
Turning my main blog into my Sonic and nerdy/gaming/horror genre blog.
@honeycombtripe
Rouge The Bat, official president of the Sonadow Fan Club within the Saga.
With special sponsorship from SEGA.
shadows doom morph is a worm to me
arts and crafts at cream's house
Kind of personal post. A while back I did some vent-art about growing up in a hoarder house, and oftentimes surrounded by unsafe(or unstable) adults. Every detail references a real experience from my past. I planned on combining it with photography to add more to the story, but never got around to it.
When Sonic 3 came out a friend of mine got me one of the little figures available at some theaters. I wasn’t sure where to keep him, so I just threw him in the little room.
I kind of like him there. Sonic was one of the only positive things I could truly escape with while I was going through my worst years.
Having my little PTSD addled hog sitting in the middle of all that chaos, brightening up the place, and adding more color to the otherwise dreary palette…it fits. Feels right. I think I’ll keep him there.
Thanks for always being with me through the scariest times, Sonic and Shadow.
critter
they've been married for 10 years.
Sonic Textposts 6
More textposts here
50 years is no joke
turns out the desire to obliterate tails is hereditary
Do you have any advice on designing a Sonic OC? Loop is so cool and unique, and I feel like when I try it comes out feeling more generic
(Love all your art btw)
hey thanks so much! that’s very sweet of you 🩵 i hope you’re ready because you’ve activated my trap card by putting “character design” and “sonic” in the same sentence. here we go!
this is based on my own observations of the sonic style and my previous experience designing characters.
designing a memorable character is equal parts shape language and design philosophy. my advice boils down to this: figure out what your character’s most important traits are and do everything in your power to make that as obvious as possible. but how do we do that? here’s some methodology.
in a cartoony style like sonic’s, shapes and silhouettes play a huge role in how characters are perceived. look at canon character designs and take note of what elements are consistent across the style and unique to the character.
sonic is the blueprint! he’s got a combination of round and pointed lines with the areas of interest being head, hands, and feet. these are the areas you want to pay attention to. he’s fast, so he’s got spines that shoot back and shoes that stick out in color to draw your attention when he’s on the move. see how much is conveyed with such a simple design? it’s all in the shapes! (protip: the easiest way to make a character feel less generic is to choose a body type that’s different from sonic’s. 90% of sonic characters look like this— anything that goes the way of big, vector, a robot, or even tails in some cases is going to automatically feel more unique).
think about what kind of character you’re creating. are they cool, with an ego? a rival type? consider having them mirror sonic’s silhouette, like shadow or jet. spiky shapes like triangles are great for that. are they kind and soft-spoken? rounder shapes will create a more welcoming vibe.
loop is primarily made of two kinds of shapes: rounded triangles and rounded rectangles. by building everything from one or two shapes, their whole design has consistency. triangles and rectangles on their own can be blocky and sharp, but the roundness of these shapes softens their edges and shows loop’s personality: someone who’s bubbly, but exciting too! (also i didn’t outline it in this image but even the light trails are rounded rectangles!)
sonic characters are also LOUD. everyone has one or two traits that shout who they are. figure out what ability or trait you want to stick out and make that the most important part of their design. for loop, it’s their skates. tails can fly, so his tails are exaggerated (but he’s also cute and younger than sonic, so he’s got big eyes and cheek fluff!). big is big! charmy can also fly, but he’s got a bit of an aeronaut vibe to set him apart. blaze is a pyrokinetic princess, so she has elegant clothes, while her hair and the fluff around her wrists and ankles evoke fire-like shapes. jet is brash and cool, so he’s bright green and has cool clothes to match his gear. you can use the traits of the type of animal you’re basing your character on to accentuate these elements, too. species can tell us a lot about a character!
here’s even more examples in the form of IDW characters (and Gemerl). try examining them for yourself!
ok, so you’ve looked at shape language and decided what your core characteristics are. once the building blocks are in place, it’s time for ✨details✨
now, just because sonic characters tend to look simple doesn’t mean there’s not room for detail. what matters is how you apply it. details can be as little as a buckle on a shoe or as complex as a fully outfitted combat cloak. the key to executing this effectively is to have the details compliment the larger elements, and ultimately, help us understand who your character is.
tails’ details come largely in the form of his fur shapes. he’s so fluffy! big has stripes and a detailed belt and sandals to solidify the fishing vibe (i’d also call his gloves details here). the stripes on his pole even mimic the stripes on his fur. blaze has jewelry and a gem on her forehead, as well as pointier eyes to contrast sonic’s. surge has metal bits all over her clothes to catch electricity and give her a punk look. you might be noticing something: some details provide a look as well as a meaning. the more you can weave your details in with purpose, the stronger your design will become.
let’s take another look at loop. pretty much every aspect can tell you something about their character.
since the most important part of loop’s design is their skates, they have the most concentration of detail. i wanted them to look high tech and cool in a skate-y way, so i tried to mimic rollerblades with the plasticy elements and bold stripes. this shows that loop has a lot of capability while also looking cool! i made their gloves big and floppy to make it seem like they’re just a bit of a rookie, with the simultaneous purpose that they’re heat-absorbent to prevent loop from getting burned by the skates. they wear athletic clothes because they’re always ready to do something exciting. they’ve got cute bangs and a big ponytail (whose shape i intentionally picked to mimic sonic and other characters, with three elements each) because they’re cute and kinda feminine. with their hair tied back, they’re ready for action, but with a bang covering their eye they’re still pretty loose with it. the markings around their eyes put emphasis on their eyes which makes them seem cuter.
the rest is just design philosophy. because they’re a ringtail cat and i wanted to hammer home the “ring” motif, they’re covered in stripes and even have a little ring design on their clothes!
a little disclaimer: i definitely don’t come up with all these details before designing a character. they’re things that come naturally as i draw them and explore the design. so i guess, draw your character a lot and don’t be afraid to experiment and change things up :)
the last piece of advice i have regards names. sonic characters often have names that describe what they “do” or what they “are.” blaze. shadow. sonic. silver. jet. even amy rose is a cute name for a cute girl. the name is the final icing on the cake, the ribbon that ties it all together. who is your character, and what do they do? but that’s just a suggestion. at the end of the day, you can call your character whatever you want. no matter what you choose, just make sure their name is a special one!
PHEW that was fun. i hope that was helpful! i feel like i always have more to say on the subject, but i think this goes over my main ideas while providing a lot of examples. lemme know if you have any questions, and happy designing! y’all better show me your OCs!
A final design for my Sonadow fankid !!! I'm so happy!!! I love my dear Redolence!!! He will still use his cane and leg brace on rough days, that has not changed. I adore him. It took MONTHS to come up with a look I actually love this much. My last attempt resembled someone else’s fankid far too much, and also wasn’t really speaking to me. But this?!?! Wonderful. I am so so so so so happy with this.
