I don’t know anything about either of these two characters. I was surprised to learn that Liza was an established character when I thought she was just a random background character in the Journey to the East story Arc.

In looking up reference online I saw an old panel where [...]]]> Sketch 5  of 5!

I don’t know anything about either of these two characters. I was surprised to learn that Liza was an established character when I thought she was just a random background character in the Journey to the East story Arc.

In looking up reference online I saw an old panel where she had the little rings around the shoulders like Espio’s original design. I think its a bit of a downer that the redesign of Espio lost this unique detail but it paves the way for Liza to better stand out.

For the first four sketches I was using some Prismacolor grays on them this time around  I didn’t have the markers with me when I finished the drawing so I thought this one being the last and containing two characters I’d throw some color on it.

This actually presented a lot more trouble than I anticipated mainly because I couldn’t find decent enough reference on the both of them. So details like their spikes and stuff, they may be wrong.

I like drawing Julie-Su so far because it gives me the challenge of drawing another echidna  and that her tuft of hair is not entirely ridiculous and unSonic like.  I try to keep in mind, whether this is successful or not so far, that I dont want to just draw Knuckles as [...]]]> Sketch 4 of 5!

I like drawing Julie-Su so far because it gives me the challenge of drawing another echidna  and that her tuft of hair is not entirely ridiculous and unSonic like.  I try to keep in mind, whether this is successful or not so far, that I dont want to just draw Knuckles as a girl. I try to mix Julie-Su up by adjusting her face so she doesn’t have the low eyes like Knuckles and I like pushing her quills further back on her head. I don’t want to go nuts about it though and it end up changing the original design choices of the character.

I had known about Sonic Chronicles for over  a year before I discovered they had new echidna designs. I firmly believe that IF there has to be other echidnas (and I personally LOVE the idea of a character really being the last of his kind) and IF there has to be other hedgehogs they should not be copies of Sonic and Knuckles. Amy Rose and Tikal are excellent examples of this! I was pumped to see that Bioware actually had a lot of imagination when it came to this. I like the gray echidna badguy, Imperantor Ig? I love that he has a tall or a long appearance and all the simple but flowing choices of his quills and fur are great. He isn’t Knuckles with a beard.

Shade was also intially exciting in that she isn’t Knuckles with a beard. Her quills do something entirely different from the established echidna look. I commend Bioware on their abilities to create unique echidnas!

The Last of their Kind Trivia-

I think it sucks when a character is created and a story is established to be the the last of their kind and then fifteen minutes later the female version shows up or, you know, a whole new planet of them shows up. I’ve got a few in my mind but can you add to this list?

(NOT) The Last of their kind-

1. Knuckles the Echidna

2. Superman

3. Jen (Dark Crystal)

This guy is tough to draw,  I looked up reference and I cant determine what shape his body is supposed to be.  Someone draws him big and perfectly round, someone draws him wide like the Kingpin, Spaz draws him with some strange but interesting pillar legs.  I also can’t determine what shape [...]]]> Sketch 3 of 5!

This guy is tough to draw,  I looked up reference and I cant determine what shape his body is supposed to be.  Someone draws him big and perfectly round, someone draws him wide like the Kingpin, Spaz draws him with some strange but interesting pillar legs.  I also can’t determine what shape his head is supposed to be. I think I ended up with a mixture of sorts that I find appealing but there is still much more that could be done to make sure I get a satisfying design that would allow him to exist in the Sonic style and  could be drawn again and again from all angles.

If I remember correctly, and I’m not looking this up online to verify so someone let me know if this is right or wrong, I think Mogul’s first appearance was in the special Battle Royale issue? I think he had the Fearsome Five or Destructix or whatever they were called to do his bidding. I didn’t like him at all when I was a kid. I think he is really really gross on his own but his hole in chest actually makes him worse.

I like Mammoths though, as a kid I LOVED dinosaurs (I still love dinosaurs), and I hated prehistoric mammals except the wooly mammoth and the sabretooth tiger.  Oh, and I kind of liked this one animal that was like a prehistoric Armadillo, it had a club tail I think like a Ankylosaurus  which probably really helped me like it. I dont remember its name, someone help me out with that too.

I think its great that Mogul is a mammoth and I firmly believe in his potential as a character and the possibility of him having a satisfying visual design. I have some vague notion that he is kind of like Marvel’s Apocalypse in that he is ancient and powerful and I like this too.

Dr. Robotnik, Spaz was a master of drawing this particular design, especially in issue 25. I drew this sketch and then was checking through number 25 for reference and I realized I totally missed the shapes and proportions of what I love about Spaz’s Robotnik.

I think on the Sonic Archives covers, Spaz’s [...]]]> Sketch 2 of 5!

Dr. Robotnik, Spaz was a master of drawing this particular design, especially in issue 25. I drew this sketch and then was checking through number 25 for reference and I realized I totally missed the shapes and proportions of what I love about Spaz’s Robotnik.

I think on the Sonic Archives covers, Spaz’s old style would be Sega Dr. Robotnik is superb. Its a nice return to what I find satisfying about the shapes of the american Robotnik from where he progress’s through issue 39 and then into 50. The Volume 13 cover compared to the actual panel really highlight the differences, its super cool to see him redo that scene.

In fact, its super cool what he is doing with all those covers! I’m thrilled at how well he is pulling off the old Sonic style. When I first saw that stuff on the shelves  I thought it was old art being released for the first time.  I also enjoy getting to see characters like Geoffrey St. John and the main freedom fighter cast as if they were genuine game characters. Looking at those covers really really makes me wish I could draw Sonic comics in the old style. Look at how cool Sonic looks on Volume 1!

I’ve heard that the archive covers will change along with style of the videogames. We’ve gotten a few pieces of art like that for the normal comic covers,  personal favorites of mine are 138 (the color, the color!), 140 (because those Dingo’s look great), 148 (the cover is the most exciting part of the comic!),  and 149 (the silhouette of Shadow is awesome).

Oh hey, I’ve tried looking around online but if anybody knows if Spaz has a site or loads art anywhere, especially sketches and stuff you should let me know. I saw he has done some art for a few Olivia books. Damn, how that guy has got the ability to really knock out some impressive digital stuff.

I have a real special spot in my heart for Metal Sonic. As I’ve said before in past posts, my first issue of Sonic the Hedgehog was number 25 which featured Metal Sonic and I never got to play Sonic CD as a kid so I dreamed for years of what [...]]]> Sketch number 1 of 5!

I have a real special spot in my heart for Metal Sonic. As I’ve said before in past posts, my first issue of Sonic the Hedgehog was number 25 which featured Metal Sonic and I never got to play Sonic CD as a kid so I dreamed for years of what the game was like with the super cool Metal Sonic design.

Although I’m not a fan of the Olympic Mario Sonic team up games, I do think they created some fantastic character promo images and I think its a very exciting to have Metal Sonic as  a character choice.

I’ve also included a scan of a whole different type of sketch in [...]]]> Hey great, thanks a ton for the responses and I’m looking forward to drawing this stuff up. Some fun characters have been chosen so this ought to be a blast! I’ll post up scans here to show them off as I complete them.

I’ve also included a scan of a whole different type of sketch in progress. I’m working towards a future where I could draw some Marvel Adventures comics.  I’m way out of practice in drawing super heroes and I’m currently in the middle of finding how I would want to be drawing the Avengers. Here’s a start-

The Avengers line up changes all over the place. Where I’m currently working from the team includes Invisible Woman which I think is pretty fun.

I did the art for the Off Panel gag strips in the back of the book for both Sonic 213 and Sonic Universe 17. You can probably still pick these up in bookstores and comic shops. PLUS! The next issues should be out [...]]]> I should have posted this last month when the comics first came out!

I did the art for the Off Panel gag strips in the back of the book for both Sonic 213 and Sonic Universe 17. You can probably still pick these up in bookstores and comic shops. PLUS! The next issues should be out in just a couple of days and those will have more of my Off Panel artwork in them!

Personally I’m super excited about the current Sonic Universe arc with a story based on the GameGear game ‘Tails Adventure’. I never played the game myself until I got this assignment and went to do some research. The Battle Kukku Army is the coolest! I was thrilled that I got to draw Speedy!

And Bean the Dynamite! He quickly became one of my favorite characters when I first played Sonic the Fighters. It’s important to note that I think of him being a lot like Oilman from Megaman.

Here’s the pencils for my first two Off Panel strips.

http://www.myspace.com/darkhorsepresents

I did this at the end of last year, its amazing that its been 6 months already.

You’ll also be able to find [...]]]>

The story I illustrated for Dark Horse Presents is now up online! It’s about an ethnically diverse team of gun wielding atheists blasting anything supernatural. It’s 8 pages and you can read it here-

http://www.myspace.com/darkhorsepresents

I did this at the end of last year, its amazing that its been 6 months already.

You’ll also be able to find two other stories done by Periscope members in previous issues.

28 contains an original story cooked up by Jeff Parker and Ben Dewey!

34 has an videogame style adventure story written and illustrated by Ron Chan!

And there’s more Periscope stories in the works. Soon it will all be Periscope!

I was going to write about the difference’s in the way Kirby is marketed in America compared to Japan but fortunately someone already did a perfect job of it.

See the difference here!- Cute = Angry