The Topic of Designs and Re-designs

[azoo]

I don't feel like any of the characters need any sort of major redesign, although I would make some tweaks.

 

- give Tails an occasional pilot cap like that one from the OVA which was all nice and good and adorable

- make Knuckles' torso shape more downward triangular or something (also dat cowboy hat)

- make Amy's hair not so echidna-like, maybe an even shorter version of her classic do?

- Eggman without the goggles (for some reason he looks better without them)

 

But that's just small stuff that doesn't really matter too much.

 

My real complaint though is that the character designs don't get stretched around enough. We don't get very vivid facial expressions or movements in neither the 2D Uekawa art or the in-game cutscenes. They just kind of.. stand around and have somewhat generic expressions.

 

It really makes me wish that Sega would've used the way Marza animates their CG cutscenes as a standard for how the characters move and look in everything else as well. It fits so well with what they got..

[Blue Blood]

*Replied to an overly old post, this is what happens when you don't check the date*

Tapatalk is saying it was my post you replied to. Doesn't matter that it was old, would you be able to tell me which post it was and what you said?

[Bort]

i'm fond of unleashed's design. the curves seem a bit sharper at some points than the more recent revisions, though the attention to detail doesn't conform to the 'simpler but iconic' standard that's been in use recently. all the little details come together for an almost realistic style, and still conforms to both a cartoony aesthetic as well as more natural settings.

 

vertekins' analysis sits pretty well with me also.

 

i'd prefer them to revert slightly to this design, but they're going with the cartoonish decor, and i'm still not overly upset about it.

 

i did prefer a lot of the animations used in the game though.

 

seems like all of my posts likely have been related to unleashed, wtf. didn't think we'd still be talking about it 5 1/2 years later.

 

i always draw tails with a scarf, though.

[Amomynous]

I just thought you and Chaos controller were talking past each other a bit, because this model.

 

Not sure why, but I really dig Sonic's design in Wreck-It Ralph. It looks mostly like Unleashed through Generations, but has small hints of '06 thrown in for good measure.

 

Is not the same as the one used in the film.

It's the same bloody model. SEGA is very, very finicky about Sonic's design and would have donated the model to Pixar. Minor adjustments in the way that Sonic is lit and textured would of course be made to fit in with the Pixar style, but they're so incredibly minor they don't warrant a mention. It's the same.

 

 

Remember, it's Pixar animating him as part of a movie, not SEGA as part of a real-time game.

It's likely Sega gave them the latter one. It still strikes me as different to the models used in the last few games though- skinnier, with longer quills.

Even the ones the games don't strike me exactly the same; probably all from the same 'base' -not made from scratch, but differ in ways like textured vs rendered eyes and length of quills.

[Bort]

wreck-it-ralph is disney, not pixar.  it's the same team that did frozen. just throwing that out there.

 

sega gave them detailed spreadsheets of height and such to make sure everything synced up, same with nintendo and bowser. the team was free to make their own model based on various models for reference, so long as they conformed to the modern interpretations.

 

EDIT: oh goodness what have i done, perpetuating this topic from yesteryear

[Amomynous]

^and this is why people don't bring up year-old posts

 

As I was going to say.

I honestly think Classic Tails' design is the cutest thing in the entire series.

Just look at this little sucker how can you resist him?

[Mr. Hardstone]

I really dig the look of the Sonic '06 model, big hands and all! I don't know what it is about it, except to say he looks more 'badass' in the renders than he does in later renders. Maybe it has to do with the fact it was the first HD iteration of him too. He looked lovely in SA1 to my pixel-accustomed eyes, but by the time '06 came around his PS2 era polygonal appearance was looking a little angular, so maybe it's the same thing.

 

He does have a few design quirks which bug me though. The absolute worst one in my eyes are his shoes. Obviously I wouldn't want to redesign them per sé, but the red is too shiny. They look like a rigid piece of molded plastic which would have no 'give' to them at all. No idea what size/shape his feet are but they look impossible to run in. Less shiny, maybe more of a canvas-y textured look, maybe some creases too? No idea, but that's why I'm not a designer!

Another small one, it always bugged me how in his design in AoStH, whenever he would blink it was just his pupils which blunk. Weird looking.

[Nepenthe]

^and this is why people don't bring up year-old posts

 

As I was going to say.

I honestly think Classic Tails' design is the cutest thing in the entire series.

Just look at this little sucker how can you resist him?

 

The Achilles Heel of this design has always been the muzzle. It just really makes no sense to me. The top of the mouth should naturally suggest where the top jaw is, but it doesn't line up with anything because his nose curls around it to the middle of his mouth. And then he has a weird chin.... I cannot figure out the anatomy of how his mouth is supposed to work. I really feel it should be more like this:

 

[iDEATH]

 

The Achilles Heel of this design has always been the muzzle. It just really makes no sense to me. The top of the mouth should naturally suggest where the top jaw is, but it doesn't line up with anything because his nose curls around it to the middle of his mouth. And then he has a weird chin.... I cannot figure out the anatomy of how his mouth is supposed to work. I really feel it should be more like this:

 

 

Goddammit Nepenthe, now I can't unsee that

[Amomynous]

 

The Achilles Heel of this design has always been the muzzle. It just really makes no sense to me. The top of the mouth should naturally suggest where the top jaw is, but it doesn't line up with anything because his nose curls around it to the middle of his mouth. And then he has a weird chin.... I cannot figure out the anatomy of how his mouth is supposed to work. I really feel it should be more like this:

 

I do however ,agree with this, Classic Tails' mouth does often seem too high-up on his face.

[Mauro Fonseca]

The Achilles Heel of this design has always been the muzzle. It just really makes no sense to me. The top of the mouth should naturally suggest where the top jaw is, but it doesn't line up with anything because his nose curls around it to the middle of his mouth. And then he has a weird chin.... I cannot figure out the anatomy of how his mouth is supposed to work. I really feel it should be more like this:

 

It makes no sense because you're thinking tridimentionally. The muzzle has a shape, and the mouth's position is relative to the position of the eyes, not to the shape of the muzzle. Arguable if it works, though.

[Nepenthe]

Even in a two-dimensional drawing, it makes no sense to essentially place the mouth on top of a muzzle or "in relation to the eyes" when the muzzle of an animal is essentially the mouth area. They should be working in relation to each other.

[Mauro Fonseca]

as I mentioned, it's arguable if it works, but to say it has to work with the muzzle's shape is fairly restrictive. The Pink Panther's eyebrows work solely in relation to the eyes, not caring about the construction of the head.

[E-122-Psi]

I seriously dig Sally's new design. Not only does it look friggin' cool but 'le gasp, she actually looks like a Sonic character and who largely abides by the distinctive yet still fairly flexible character design standards without looking like her design has been ruined by them.

The only thing that REALLY bothers me about her new design is actually the same element that was consistent with her previous one, in that contorted her facial proportions to be more Cream/Tails like with oval doe eyes and a flattened snout. I think even within making a character more uniform with a base design, the face is something you leave unique, it displays their personality and is a key distinctive element (maybe a reason so many of Uekawa's recent designs with Sonic or Tails' facial design recycled look so derivative). If they kept her more akin to how Bates drawn her on the 256 cover, with her almond eyes and slightly bigger snout more akin to her original form, I'd say she'd look okay.

 

[Dantemustdie00]

Ben Bates seems to draw Sally a lot more better than all the artist, evenback when she had those giant man-brows he still manage to make her look the most Sonic-fied out of all the artist.

[E-122-Psi]

Ben Bates seems to draw Sally a lot more better than all the artist, evenback when she had those giant man-brows he still manage to make her look the most Sonic-fied out of all the artist.

He actually had a prototype design for Sally before this change. It was pretty much the perfect compromise of SEGA proportioning and the original Satam design. I don't get why he didn't use it.

[Your Vest Friend]

Because SEGA didn't want a compromise, by the sound of it. And nor should they be expected to take one.

[E-122-Psi]

Because SEGA didn't want a compromise, by the sound of it. And nor should they be expected to take one.

From what I heard however, these designs weren't mandated, Ian just thought they needed to be made more uniform. Not to mention, as shown above the new designs can still make leeway that actually makes them look more authentic than the ones before. Sally's facial design seemed a design choice by the artists, as did taking away Antoine's shirt and highlighted eyes, rather than SEGA telling them to do it.

[Briraka]

What do you think?

Cubot: Master Robotnik, your experement to put your brilliant brain in a metal body and hibernate for a hundred years was a sucess!

 

Eggman: Yosh.

 

Orbot: Hmm, indeed. Although, why did you put your grey matter in something as fragile as glass?

 

Eggman: Yosh.

 

Orbot: ... that... doesn't answer my question-

 

Eggman: YOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSH

YOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYSH!!!!!

 

Cubot: Oh my gosh! Master Robotnik's glitching out!

[Your Vest Friend]

From what I heard however, these designs weren't mandated, Ian just thought they needed to be made more uniform. Not to mention, as shown above the new designs can still make leeway that actually makes them look more authentic than the ones before. Sally's facial design seemed a design choice by the artists, as did taking away Antoine's shirt and highlighted eyes, rather than SEGA telling them to do it.

 

We've kind of heard different things. No, the designs might have been more Archie's thing, but Ian's also said that they had to fight to keep them in at all. I'd wager that the redesigns were sort of leverage for defending their corner, especially since we know that #252 and some others were originally going to have the pre-252 designs.

[TearForFear]

Cubot: Master Robotnik, your experement to put your brilliant brain in a metal body and hibernate for a hundred years was a sucess!

 

Eggman: Yosh.

 

Orbot: Hmm, indeed. Although, why did you put your grey matter in something as fragile as glass?

 

Eggman: Yosh.

 

Orbot: ... that... doesn't answer my question-

 

Eggman: YOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSH

YOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYOSHYSH!!!!!

 

Cubot: Oh my gosh! Master Robotnik's glitching out!

 

He must have taken lessons from Doctor Gero