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Sonic 20th: Archetype
Published: 2011-07-15 17:28:03 +0000 UTC; Views: 292800; Favourites: 7105; Downloads: 4296
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Description
Sonic the Hedgehog, still running since 1991~I finally finished the Sonic 20th anniversary image which I started back in May. It was meant to be done for the 23rd June, but real life went and got in the way and after missing the deadline I sort of took my time over it.
I wanted to try something big and ambitious this time, and one of my first ideas was to draw something from each of the main games... but I decided on something different in the end. Because for me that's not all the Sonic franchise is about.
I became a fan of Sonic through Fleetway's Sonic the Comic. And ever since then it's struck me how diverse the series is. It's not just about the games, but the cartoons and the books and the comics and everything else- and almost every one of those spinoffs has its own distinct universe and story. Sonic the hedgehog spans so many different worlds and universes and concepts that there's pretty much something for everyone. And yet at the heart of it all is still the same little dorky blue hero.
And that's a large part of what I love about it.
So... I decided to bring together as many of those universes as I could in one image.
The foreground represents the games, while each background panel is based on one of the non-game official universes. I didn't include them all, since there are so many different publications- that would've been near impossible. There are probably some I don't even know about. So I just concentrated on the 'main' ones, i.e those I could find out enough about to actually draw, and the ones I thought were distinct enough from everything else to be classed as an alternate universe of their own. (though admittedly I did cheat a bit with the Sonic manga.)
I tried to get a bit of each universe's individual art stlyle into the image, be it physics-defying quills or ear placement or colouring. There's a fair bit of artistic licence used though, especially where there isn't any official artwork or what little there is doesn't match the description in the text (i.e novels)- or where the style changed a lot through the course of the series (Fleetway/Archie). The Modern Super Sonic and Shadow are in my personal style.
~
-Sonic the Hedgehog games- Modern and Classic- 1991-present
-Sonic Manga, Mega Drive Fan Magazine- 1991
-Sonic Manga, Shogakukan no Gakushuuzasshi/Corocoro- 1992-1994
-Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog & its spinoff series- 1993-present
-Egmont Fleetway's Sonic the Comic- 1993-2002
-Sonic the Hedgehog novels by Martin Adams- 1993-1994
-Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebooks- 1993-1996
-Sonic the Hedgehog, cartoon (SatAM) - 1993-1994
-Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, cartoon- 1993
-Sonic the Hedgehog OVA/Sonic the Movie- 1996
-Sonic Underground, cartoon- 1999-2000
-Sonic X, cartoon, comic & novels- 2003-2007
(can you tell which is which?)
~
Honourable Mentions- these aren't in the image, but still deserve a shout out. I haven't included them because I either couldn't find a copy to get an idea of what I was supposed to be drawing, or I didn't think I could make them stand out next to a similar universe I did include. Sadly I didn't have room for everything.
- That Infamous Disney Adventures Comic <.<
- Stay Sonic novel by Mike Pattenden- 199?
- UK Sonic publications: Sunday newspaper strip, Annuals- 1990s
- Ladybird Children's Books- 1990s
-Sonic the hedgehog novels by Michael Teitelbaum- 1993-1996
- Sonic Adventures: Dans Les Griffes De Robotnik, comic, 1994
- Dash & Spin; Super Fast Sonic, Corocoro Comics- 2005
-Various one-off comics and books
- It's semi-official but we can't forget STC Online
....And I know I missed some. @_@
Keep being awesome, Sonic. <3
*offers cookie to anyone who actually read this through*
Edit: Updated the honourable mentions list!
Edit 2: ....holy... a DD? o____O I don't know what to say!
Edit 3:
(pssst... I don't really post to DA anymore, but I'm in a few other places where you can find more art with less watermarks.
www.weasyl.com/~swirlything
www.furaffinity.net/user/lurky…
teapoweredart.tumblr.com/
I also have this image and my other two anniversary pics available as prints on Redbubble! www.redbubble.com/people/swirl… )
Related content
Comments: 766
Awesome job! I can understand why it took so long to make with that level of detail. Presents medal.
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Ta for the cookie 
Big thumbs up for inclusion of Jonny, BUT... one thing could be improved...
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.
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...Needs more Cap' Plunder
Seriously though, awesome stuff. Keep it up!
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Thank you!
I've got nothing against next gen Sonic myself, I wanted to keep the modern vs. classic debate out of this drawing as much as possible. It's about celebrating the series as a whole- I would have included all the characters, but it wasn't really possible to do that without it being a horrible clutter. So I just chose what I thought would symbolise the modern games best and be most recognisable.
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I simply cannot describe how fantastic this is. Love how each panel represents Sonic's impact on comics (Archie/Fleetway), cartoons (AoSTH/SatAM), anime (OVA/Sonic X) and of course, the video game industry.
When I stopped caring about the franchise after SA2, I always knew that one day, he would make it back on own his two feet.
Now, Sonic's making a slow, but sweet recovery with Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations and in some ways, Sonic 4.
This is amazing and keep up the good work.
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I may not be much of a Sonic Fan anymore, a dabble here and there as I go along artistically, but I have no words for the truly, TRULY EPICAWESOME displayed here.
Other than I've definitely found my new wallpaper for the rest of the year <3!
[
~
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Sonic the Hedgehog, you can't touch what you can't see! Sonic the Hedgehog, he's gonna set Mobius free~
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now that does represent the sonic's generations! Hurray for your great job and our blue hero!
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Awesome <3
I'm a fan of SonicX...If only because Shadow was pure ownage in that, and Dark Sonic was sweeeeeet XD
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This is an extremely detailed piece. Excellent job!
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where is the white hedgehog from in the 3rd slide from the right?
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That is Cinos, who appeared in a series of Sonic novels published in the UK during the early/mid 90s.
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THEY ARE ALL EQUALLY SONIC!!
None are better than the others. All have their charm.
And it's beautiful to see all the major and minor incarnations of Sonic with their place here.
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Thanks. That's exactly what I was trying to show with this drawing.
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OMG Thalia this came out amazingly! D8 I just... I have no words! All I have is squee. *0* ♥♥♥♥♥
bwee Johnny bwee /)(\ *slapped*
ALSO ZONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC AAAAAAAAA the zone cop not the robot teehee. SO MUCH LOVE FOR THIS~
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Aaaaa thanks Car >w<
...of course now it's finished I don't know what to do with myself oDo
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Draw more Johnny! oDo *slapped*
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....how did I know you'd say that XD <3
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o3o
Draw more Zonic, too! 8D *shot*
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He was really fun to draw actually
Moar Zonic moaaaaaaaaaar! oDo
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... That's just MASSIVE. All of the expressions and poses are intense.. and the painting is so well done.
That Scourge slide is my favorite. This is just insane man.
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Actually Stay Sonic was based on the Disney Adventures thing, and STC was based on Stay Sonic in turn.
And I don't know what some of the panels represent. But the whole thing looks terrific!
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I think so. It's a little hard to pin down exactly what was based on what these days.
I tend to just say the Kintobor origin story stemmed from the comic and everything that uses it was based on that in turn.
And thanks!
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Indeed, it might be that both DA and SS were based on material supplied to them by Sega, rather than one inspiring the other. But STC's backstory was definitely drawn from Stay Sonic - Nigel Kitching said so.
What are panels 2 and 4? They're the only ones I'm not intimately familiar with (and I feel sad to admit it, although having said that I've hardly seen any of Sonic X - I'm sure I'd have loved it if it had been on air ten years before it was). I'm guessing one's the manga, the other Archie? Who's the purple guy? The flying dude? The man with a Sonic jacket?
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Ah, I stand corrected then!
You're right- panel 2 is based on the Sonic manga, and 4 is based on Archie.
The purple hedgehog is the Super form of Scourge the hedgehog, one of Archie's villains (originally an evil Sonic from another universe, but developed into something else entirely. I thought it was fitting since the STC panel has Super Sonic.) The human in the jacket is from an illustrated story in the manga- an alternate backstory basically, where Sonic was the mascot of a test pilot and came to life after the man died attempting to break the sound barrier. A version of that story was in the SA2 Birthday Pack book as well.
By the flying dude do you mean the third character on the Archie panel? That's Zonic the Zone Cop.
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Sonic the Comic would be where my love of Sonic truely begun and I hold it as a fine piece of comic material. Archie Sonic is growing on me as of late and the games, though hit and miss have birthed a memorable franchise overall. Great showing of all the Sonic universes.
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Wow, this is great!
Although I think that Antoine should have been in there somewhere...
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Thanks! I wish I could have included all the characters, but I only had so much space to work with without it getting cluttered.
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Yeah, I figured that it was probably because of that. I'm just used to seeing Sonic, Sally, and Antoine together. I'm not used to seeing Bunny unless Antoine is in the pic too...
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Welp. Found my new desktop background for the next little while. Also, I'll take that cookie.
*Walks away nomming cookie with "wallboard" picture for desktop*
...'Nuff said.
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And you finally finished and done with the checkered aspect of the piece; I really adore the dedication and time you poured into this, and I am surprised to see I've actually missed some renderations of the blue madhog; gonna have to see if I can find and dig out this new material~ 
STC, StH OVA, Sonic Underground, and AoStH are by far my most favorite in the bunch~! 
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Don't talk to me about the checks XD
I'm always surprised by how much Sonic stuff the UK especially had. I still find surprises in charity shops sometimes.
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To me... Sonic underground is the only good one. >_>
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i really love this. it's an awesome representation of sonic and does great justice to his 20 years, better than most of the other anniversary pics i've seen 
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That is amazing! You did a beautiful job! 
And yay! Cookie for me!
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I'm glad that you went through the process of showing off so many and so much that keeps us intrigued, my friend. Indeed, many of the scenes shown are so familiar to me, even though I mostly follow the Archie comic and a few details from the games these days. I grew up on Sonic as well, starting (ironically, maybe) with Sonic 2.
Your span of style in this is superb as well, as each scene emanates a certain special glow all its own. I admit that I can't tell all of these apart, but I definitely remember about 6 or so panels.
Oooooh, I may get a cookie?
^_^
Anyway, tis very well done, and a fantastic anniversary effort as well; thank you very much for such a grand share.
May you have great fortune upon your creative endeavors!
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Novels? He's been in novels? I never knew...
The one in the second background strip (the one with the human and the jets in the photo) is vaguely familiar, mainly from a fanfic I think I read...but I still, I don't know much about it...it was actually an official Sonicverse?
and that third-to-last background panel(the one with the white hedgie and the lizard-dude) is completely unfamiliar to me...
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Yep, although they're a bit hard to find these days.
The second panel is based on some early Sonic mangas, I didn't know they even existed until a friend linked me to scans recently. And the one with the dragon guy is from one of the novel series. It was only released in the UK as far as I know and isn't that well known generally.
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wow...I'd like to read those novels...but if they are UK exclusive, I probably won't be able to. :/
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They do turn up quite cheaply on ebay sometimes, at least.
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