Sonic Fan J Art Thread

[Kellodrawsalot]

Your art style is pretty cute and you do a nice job with the poses.

The only nitpic I have is that your Amy's design screams for her to wear either shorts or a skirt. The leotard design feels like its missing a piece.

[Sonic Fan J]

19 hours ago, Kellodrawsalot said:

Your art style is pretty cute and you do a nice job with the poses.

The only nitpic I have is that your Amy's design screams for her to wear either shorts or a skirt. The leotard design feels like its missing a piece.

Glad you like my art on a whole, and yeah, on a whole I've gotten that a few times involving my Amy design. The only problem there though is that pretty much the primary complaint and typical solutions go against the thought process and decision to put her in a leotard in the first place. It's alright though since I mostly just draw her to make myself happy as I honestly never expected to like my design so much but I appreciate the feedback all the same. Thanks 

[Tornado]

1 hour ago, Scape said:

Okay, I didn't want to say anything because I didn't feel it was my place to, but I gotta say something.

No, you really didn't. There's no reason for you to pick a fight out of the blue in an art thread. The topic you raised has been broached in other threads where it was actually appropriate, so bump one of them.

[Sonic Fan J]

Here we go, first pic of February and I went all out. After a week's worth of work here we are

Yup, it's my Rosy again but this time I actually put together a complete background.

I hope everyone enjoys and as always if you'd like an avatar from any of my pics just let me know and I'll see what I can.

EDIT: So I went ahead and changed her expression to get an effect I was happier with after having the effect of the previous one pointed out to me and not being able to unsee it. Hopefully everyone enjoys the change.

Also, here she is separated from the BG with the new expression, the old one, and one other

Edited February 2, 2019 by Sonic Fan J
Changing and adding pictures.

[Sonic Fan J]

So not really an art piece but more of some insights into my Rosy redesign

A question I frequently get involving my Rosy redesign is why I opted for a leotard with the most common criticism being that it makes her look incomplete without shorts or a skirt. It’s kind of a long story in its entirety as to why and ties into the entire redesign on a whole but for the sake of brevity I’ll try to break it down by point by point.

 

Insight into a Redesign

 

 

 

Part 1: The Inspiration to Redesign
So first and foremost let me address the history points that made me want to try redesigning Amy.

· I’ve always preferred Amy’s classic design and wanted to see it brought back.

· While on a forum I saw a frequent complaint against Amy’s design was panty shots and a desire to have her redesigned to avoid them.

· On the same forum I had frequent arguments about rolling gameplay versus hammer gameplay with a common excuse for Amy not to roll being that she wore a dress.

· I was growing tired of the insistence that a hedgehog in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise should not be able to curl into a ball and roll, no less that a hedgehog should be deprived of their natural ability to curl into a ball to defend themselves.

The above points were the primary things that led to me wanting to redesign Amy to address my concerns as well as the concerns of others.

 

Part 2: Why a Leotard
Motivated to actually redesign her I needed something that would tie all of my thoughts on the matter together and also feel in character enough to be believable. A leotard proved the ideal starting place to me for the following reasons.

· The choice for a leotard had actually started long before any of the arguments that got me started as there had been a pic on DeviantArt with Amy in a white leotard that struck me in just the right way and stuck with me for a long time.

· As rolling was a major component of most of my arguments I found a leotard was an immediate visual cue that implied tumbling and acrobatics to which rolling and curling into a ball is a natural part of.

· As athletic wear a leotard is meant to be seen and to show off the figure in motion meaning that there would be no modesty problems like with a skirt.

· I found that a leotard simplified Amy’s design and silhouette and allowed her to better blend in with Sonic and Tails without being too busy. Or breaking SEGA’s need to have female characters dressed.

· Another benefit to the leotard design was the similarity to one-piece swimsuits which can be worn as a triathlon suit which fit for Amy being an adventurer going through numerous environments of which swimming was a part as well as running.

· Character-wise, Amy is supposedly a tomboy so a leotard would be slightly questionable on its own but I found her love of retro tidbits such as old cars and her go-go boots made 80’s leotard fashions something she would buy into.

· Originally introduced as an 8yo Amy is typically a little girl who is as a girly as she is tomboyish and I’ve seen many a little girl proudly run around in public after dance class in nothing more than a leotard so I found that to be something that a small girl like Amy would do as well.

· As a Phantasy Star fan back in the day I was aware that after the original all of the main heroines (Nei, Mieu, and Rika)
(Sorry I don't have a bigger pic)
wore leotards while adventuring and thought since Amy is supposed to be the main heroine of the Sonic franchise that it’d be a nice tribute to Phantasy Star.

So for the most part those are the primary reasons as to why I settled on a leotard and did not add shorts or a skirt to my redesign. The imagery of a leotard and everything it represents would be lost if I added garments that obscured it thus defeating the point of using one in the first place.

 

Part 3: Other Design Decisions
Obviously there was more to my redesign than just putting Amy in a leotard and all of those reasons tie back to making her look like rolling should never be a problem for her as well as making her fit aesthetically more with Sonic and Tails.

· For my redesign I brought back Amy’s original quills both because I prefer it and because it makes her look like a Sonic franchise hedgehog which makes it easier to believe that she can curl into a ball and roll.

· I changed Amy’s original back quill to a pair to match the other hedgehogs and also because I find the symmetry more aesthetically pleasing.

· With Amy’s eyes I opted to use her original shape as it felt softer and less aggressive which I felt better fit with her being cheerful and energetic.

· I changed Amy’s eyelashes from long and slender to a more bubbly, chubby, and blocky design inspired by the character Narugino Mikatan

from the anime Punchline (please don’t judge me, it’s a really good story) as I felt the effect was more childish and bubbly which better fit Amy’s personality and age.

· Another thing I brought back for my redesign was Amy’s original nose both for species consistency and also as I feel it balances out the weight of the head in the front with the quills in the back.

· Sticking with Amy’s modern hairband was to keep her design sleeker and less cluttered which was also the thought process for using her original bangle-less gloves.

· The white color of the leotard was inspired by the same picture that had put the idea of a leotard in my head in the first as the color contrast between the pink and white I found striking, but also to imply a certain degree of purity to Amy’s character as an optimistic Genki Girl.

· The puffy sleeves and collar of her leotard were taken directly from her classic design as again it was my preferred design but also to add some character to the design while making it easier to tell that she was wearing something. Additionally, the puffy sleeves tied into Amy’s girliness and brought that element back to her design.

· For my redesign I’ve taken to having her tail wagging to add a constant visible element emphasizing her energy and good cheer.

· Her shoes were inspired by her Olympic Game slippers for her gymnastic and swimwear as I both fell in love with the design and also because it tied back into the tumbling mentality of putting he in a leotard. The socks were added primarily to make her match Sonic and Tails and their aesthetic.

· Lastly, I chose to use her Rosy the Rascal name as I felt it better fit her playful and tomboyish nature as well as being a name that better implied that she would have no problems tumbling and rolling about as well as describing her constant disposition. Changing to using her Rosy name was also a way to differentiate my redesign from the Amy Rose that everyone normally thinks of.

-----

And that on a whole is the basic rundown behind the thought process that gave birth to my redesign of Amy into my version of Rosy. I hope this as brief as I could manage list of points helps answer any and all questions about my design process and why I actively choose to leave her “incomplete” by not adding a skirt or shorts.

Edited February 8, 2019 by Sonic Fan J
Adding left out content.

[skull902]

I think part of what people have been saying about it is a matter of what they see before finding out it's supposed to be a leotard.

I know you have your reasons, but I think coloring it and making it sleeveless would make it more believable as a leotard. I can't really blame anyone for thinking at first glance that it's just a shirt and underwear; the puffed sleeves I think inherently throw people off and white is a color that's commonly associated with underwear, especially in cartoons. So like, if you colored it green or dark blue and made the arm openings ruffled or something, people might be able to see it more clearly and since you wanted white in the design, leggings might also help get the idea across.

Even if it ended up looking like swimwear, it'd be a closer assumption to what you intended it to be.

[Sonic Fan J]

Appreciate the feedback and apologies for taking so long to get back to this. Anyway though let me get right to it.

So I actually had considered sleeveless or even more traditional long sleeves as well as other colors when I first started but as I played around with numerous concepts in my head and considered how it would look and work I never ended up trying any of the other sleeve possibilities. Now that isn't to say that I hadn't tried out other colors (hurray for digital art programs) and at first didn't think that white would actually work. It actually required that I change up my art style a bit from how I was drawing at the time to work as well as giving Rosy more of an ovoid shaped body so the white color didn't make her body look larger than it was. Suffice to say though since I hadn't wanted to use white in the first place being able to make it work for me was a rather elating experience.

So how do I feel about other colors on a whole? Well it's not that I'm particularly adverse to them and when I couldn't get white to work at first I actually wanted to try yellow, as it is my favorite color, but it as well as every other color I tried just didn't look right to me. The contrast was either too great or the color was too garish for my tastes. To an extent even Amy's classic pink color was a little too strong for me at times and I was fortuitous enough to have a solution to that handed to me when I commissioned someone else to draw my design and they used a much softer shade of pink.

Spoiler

by Spagoniia @ www.deviantart.com/spagoniia and www.deviantart.com/swhiistle

So from there I switched over to using the same shade of pink and hadn't even considered any further colors as I had achieved a level of softness I was quite satisfied with. From there though is where the problem with trying a different color comes from as the very muted shade I started using would need to be paired against equally muted tones but that would take away the brightness that white still brings to her design. Unfortunately I am a self-taught hobby artist so my grasp of color theory is limited at best without any familiarity with the terminology to make it easier to discuss it with others. So while having people mistake the leotard for a swimsuit would be alright addressing color balancing is a totally different problem. But, I am an artist regardless and this is my art thread so I decided to tackle how different colors and white leggings as suggested as an alternative would look and ended up putting together this color chart

 

So with this little display put together I've actually simply reinforced my preference for having used white. The primary reasons come down to feeling less busy to me, not being overwhelming, maintaining a sense of brightness without overriding the other of the colors, and minimizing the amount of colors making the design appear simpler than actually is. There is a certain cleanness to it no other color I tried manages to achieve in my eyes. Still though, as I said, I'm a self-taught hobby artist so I'm more than open to more feedback.

Meanwhile, as always if anyone wants an avatar made from any of my pics let me know as well as which color combination is your favorite.

[Sonic Fan J]

Haven't posted anything here in a while but strangely the piece I'm sharing today isn't Sonic related.

This desktop which currently graces my computer I put together to try and motivate myself to write a story for a story blog I'll be doing on Blogger.
Right now though I'm just looking to generate some interest and get some feedback (much as it scares this hobby artist) before I really get into things.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys some of my non-Sonic work.

EDIT:

I totally forgot to mention this, but I can't take all of the credit for this pic as although the character designs are mine and I did all of the coloring and line work my younger brother actually did most of the inking (I changed a few things here or there after the fact) as I asked him to due to preferring his inking style to my own. Of course the funny thing is that the line work is so fine that you almost can't tell the difference.

Still though, I have to give my younger brother his credit where it is due and it is definitely due here.

Edited April 7, 2019 by Sonic Fan J
Had to give credit to my younger brother for his help with this one.

[Sonic Fan J]

I'm back with a sonic related pic, hurrah!

Been a while (something like five months it looks like) but here we are again. Got a couple of hedgehogs and a giant talking egg. Enjoyed the way this one turned out enough to make it my new avatar even though I don't remember at all what my original intentions were. Oh well, I like it and that's all that matters in the end I guess. I hope everyone else enjoys as well (^_^)

[Sonic Fan J]

Haven't posted anything here in a while, but since I had time to draw something, even though it's not Sonic related, thought I'd go ahead and share it. Please enjoy everyone 

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

Your work is extremely good - both the anime-styled stuff and the Sonic CD styled stuff. Keep up the great work.

[Sonic Fan J]

And how about a Sonic related pic again everyone?

Yup, I went ahead and drew my Rosy redesign again.

I don't know if I mentioned it here before and am feeling to lazy to check, but as she's supposed to have the classic Sonic abilities and speed I decided to draw her running this time. I guess Sonic is here as a bonus, but please enjoy everyone.

[Sonic Fan J]

First pic of 2020 so naturally...

it's my Rosy sitting around. I couldn't think of a pose to draw and ended up with this strange one but I'm happy enough with it despite the plethora of problems. I also finally came up with an AU name for the AU I've been thinking up to drop her in to describe why she has Sonic's abilities. The secret is in the title, but that isn't for this thread.

Anyway, enjoy everyone 

[Sonic Fan J]

Surprise, surprise, it's Ray the Flying Squirrel.

So, if any of you remember @MightyRay (honestly, why wouldn't you?) then you know her birthday is in January. I've also seen her on twitter talking about possible leaving the Sonic fandom and I wanted to leave her with a good fandom memory and gave this pic as much as I could to celebrate her and her birthday.

For this pic in particular I decided to go with a clear blue sky as well to hope for the future of Australia where the fires are still raging out of control. @MightyRay has some links up on her twitter to some charities for those who can donate.

 

I hope she has/had a great birthday and that the future of Australia isn't as bleak as it looks.
Happy Birthday @MightyRay!

[Sonic Fan J]

And today's post isn't really anything special, but I threw together a more up to date reference for my Rosy

Some of the stuff in here is perhaps a bit superfluous, but it is far more up to date than my old one and has a lot more important info as well. Anyway, enjoy everyone even if it isn't really a major art piece 

[Sonic Fan J]

So, I've been having some more conversations about my Rosy redesign and a couple of ideas came up to address the difficult that some have realizing that she is wearing a leotard. As I was already in the midst of a pic I figured I'd experiment with it there and go fishing for feedback. So, please feel free to tell me which one you like most and I'll add it to a tally I'm keeping from everywhere I've posted it. In the meantime, please enjoy 

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

I think I like the third best. But if you want it to look like a leotard, you probably shouldn't have "puffy" sleeves and should instead have them be skintight.

[Sonic Fan J]

Thanks for your feedback @Monkey Destruction Switch. The idea for the puffy sleeves was originally to keep some elements of her classic design in use. I also did a lot of research to see if I could find leotards with puffy sleeves and turns out I could. naturally, knowing it was an option I went with it all the same. But I didn't ignore your feedback. I actually took it to heart along with some additional feedback and just my own thoughts and put together a bunch of different concepts.

I'll give a run down in a spoiler tag, but feel free to let me know what you think. Same to everyone else please.

Spoiler

Group A
            I. The original finalized version of my redesign. You can find the whole thought process behind it here >
            II. Same design, just with a little more detail including seams and the sort.

Group B
            I. As I was told that Rosy's leotard looked more like one without the collar I tried a different type of collar here plus the seam details from before.
            II. And here it is with no details other than a red chevron to add a splash of color and make it look more like a gymnastics leotard. It's the most popular so far, but turns out my biases keep me from liking it. Besides just favoring my original, I can't stand stripes and patterns so it has been driving me crazy since I first did it.
            III. And here I went with a no detail collarless look and also tried experimenting with no socks. Not my favorite, but it's a sample design nontheless.

Group C
            I. And here I just went full on with a traditional leotard. red stripes and on the sleeves and a necklace pattern in red round it out, but boy bare hands and noodle limbs look weird in my style.
            II. Sticking with traditional form fitting leotard sleeves but addressing the glove problem I used Modern Amy's bracelets here. A black necklace pattern adds some extra dimension to the whole and helps the garment pop.
            III. And this time with bare arms and a little heart pattern for some less obtrusive flavor.
            IV. And lastly no extra details to go along with some classic gloves. By this point I was just covering all my bases really.

Group D
            I. And this one was just a why not by this point. I make no claims on this design as it is my closest interpretation to the design by Orivarri that originally inspired me to do a white leotard. They used to be here on DeviantArt at nciryalis.deviantart.com but either changed their user name or shut down their account. I'd love to credit them properly so if anyone knows who they are now on any website please let me know. Thanks.
            II. And the same design but with no black in the eyes. It has a peculiar effect and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

And curiously, DeviantArt auto corrected it to Orivarri. I don't know if this correct though and am waiting for confirmation. 

 

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

I do think that the ones without the puffy sleeves are easier to interpret as a leotard. I'm not sure which one I like best, most of them have merit.

[Sonic Fan J]

16 hours ago, Monkey Destruction Switch said:

I do think that the ones without the puffy sleeves are easier to interpret as a leotard. I'm not sure which one I like best, most of them have merit.

I'm glad you like them as they almost came about completely in regards to your suggestion. I probably won't use them in the end though but it was fun trying out the designs ^^

[Sonic Fan J]

Been a bit since I posted here, though not too long in the grand scheme of things.

This spectacular mess of activity though is what I've been working on for the past couple of weeks. It's one of my largest pictures in scope that I've ever done and to motivate myself to see it through I chronicled the whole process on tumblr. There is obviously a fair bit about that I'm not fully satisfied with, but all in all I like how it turned out so please enjoy everyone 

[Sonic Fan J]

I've mentioned it before (not in this thread though) but I've commissioned a number of artists to do pics of my Rosy and a couple of them inspired me to try my hand at doing more of a painted look

I'll let the results speak for themselves, but my opinion can be summed up that the next time I want a painted look I'll commission someone. Regardless, I hope everyone enjoys the piece all the same 

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

Personally I think it looks very nice. I like the soft, pretty look it has.

[Sonic Fan J]

And I've got two pics since my last post here. The first one up is sloppy, rushed, done with nowhere near enough time, and came out disappointingly to my eye

The next pic though in contrast was made with more time and care, though I feel I was also veered on the safe side with it but am much happier with how it turned out.

Anyway, i hope everyone enjoys all the same 

[Sonic Fan J]

Todays pic is a bit of a long story but first the pic

So, over on tumblr and deviant art there is an artist with a really cute style who I wanted to see draw my Rosy so we ended up doing an art trade. This is her character, Coffuu who was really a lot of fun to draw. I should probably do more art trades as it is just to practice drawing different characters, but my time availability frequently sucks and I don't find myself with enough breadth of experience to really go all in on it. But I never know if I don't try I guess.

Anyway, you can check out Coffuu's creator on DeviantArt under the handle cometkittygalaxy or on tumblr under either loafyy or loafytoasty. You can also find her half of the art trade here!

Hope everyone enjoys