Are Sonic hands too big?

[MetalSkulkBane]

I know, what a intriguing and complex notion worth deep through dissection.

But how long can we ignore this?

Jesus, his fist is larger than his torso.

It's the most extreme example, but not exception. If Rouge stood in front of white wall she could disappear by strategic hand positioning.

I know, cartoon proportions. But I feel like Mario or Mickey Mouse handle this slightly better despite similar body type. It's especially funny if you consider their noodle limbs, implying that half of those gloves is sponge or something.

[Natie]

In general they're fine as a cartoon goes. The old designs might of had been a bit better balanced with it but the whole point if the Adventure redesign style was to exaggerate everything. Looks better in the 2D art tho (as most things do).

 

Also not sure why you'd use Knuckles as an example as his big bulky boxing gloves are his design's whole point.

[Domino]

I remember people ragging on Sonic 06's character models for their freakishly large hands. They used to call 06 Sonic "Captain Sausagefingers." Clearly this wasn't a complaint about every Sonic design, though, so I guess the others weren't considered as silly-looking.

Personally, I don't think the character models prior to 06 had offputtingly large hands. The hands of the models they've been using throughout the 2010s haven't looked too weirdly large. (at least by comparison)

I think part of the reason Knuckles' current model looks so odd is because they made his torso so small. Back when he was introduced, he had a larger torso than Sonic, proportionally speaking. Now their proportions have been homogenized for some reason, so Knuckles' big boxing glove hands look even larger when compared to his small body.

[prettyinplague]

It's kind of a cartoon style. I don't really think that much about it because it's not meant to be realistic. 

[Diogenes]

Actually they should be bigger, the ideal Sonic design is at least 70% hands. In fact Sonic should stop running and instead use his massive fingers to scuttle around like a spider.

[Blue Blood]

 

But no, there's nothing wrong with the size of the characters' hands. They all look absolutely fine. The movie opts for smaller hands and thicker limbs, which is also since. 

[JezMM]

 

There's actually been some interesting discussion from animator and animation scholar Daniel Floyd of New Frame Plus in his various Sonic playthroughs over on Playframe, in which he cited the massive appendages of Sonic characters as being extremely difficult animation challenges. While he didn't play Sonic Boom, I'm pretty sure at some point he commented on the design's more humanoid proportions as almost certainly being done with ease of animation in mind.  Unfortunately the New Frame Plus episode that all his Sonic playthroughs have been research for is yet to be finished (though he has implied it's coming soon).

It definitely feels like the sort of thing they could gradually adjust if they wanted to with subtle tweaks each game if it would allow them to animate him a bit better.  At the same time though there is something to be said for the unique poses that giant hands force upon the characters, such as how Amy always holds her hands outwards to avoid clipping into her skirt, or Sonic tends to lean his wrists against his hips where another character would use flat palms.  I think it's a matter of taste as to whether this stuff adds character appeal or just looks weird.

[Razule]

2 hours ago, Diogenes said:

Actually they should be bigger, the ideal Sonic design is at least 70% hands. In fact Sonic should stop running and instead use his massive fingers to scuttle around like a spider.

Werehog had the right idea.

[Scritch the Cat]

I don't really care that much but if pressured to opine on it, I'd say yes.  Sure; these are cartoon characters and realistic anatomy isn't a priority, but some deformations seem like they have a point and others don't.  Sonic's head is gigantic compared to his body but there's a point to that; they want him to have a big head so he can emote.  Likewise a lot of his quills are on his head but also long enough that they can cover up his body when he balls up.  Sonic's feet are big to help emphasize running.  But I really don't see why Sonic's hands are big, and to be frank, it probably doesn't do artists any favors.  Hands are already pretty difficult to draw, and hands that obey no particular logic in terms of continuing the shape of the arms are even harder.

[Diogenes]

10 minutes ago, Scritch the Cat said:

Hands are already pretty difficult to draw, and hands that obey no particular logic in terms of continuing the shape of the arms are even harder.

That's why everyone wears gloves.

[Domino]

Sonic's hands and feet have always been large in comparison to his noodly arms and legs, though. I'd say it works well to convey the kind of posing and energy we've come to associate him with. The one instance of him having small extremities and thicker limbs is the pre-do-over movie design, and we all saw how well that turned out.

[Piko]

Too big? They're not big enough! If it was up to me, Sonic would be a giant hand!

[Blue Blood]

14 hours ago, Diogenes said:

That's why everyone wears gloves.

Everyone except Sticks. Her bare hands, and those of many fan characters or the Avatar in Forces, feel really off to me. I wish that they'd given her tattered looking gloves of a similar material to her clothes. 

[Salamander]

This reminds me somewhat of the debate over whether Boom Knuckles had too small a head; the edits which scaled up his head always looked disturbing and disproportionate to me, but evidently some people felt quite the reverse.  I've never had a problem with Sonic characters' hands before, but some of the examples posted above do look as though things have gone a bit wrong.  There's a balance to be struck.

At the end of the day... a lot of the design quirks of characters like Sonic, Mickey, Mario originate in a simple need to make their character design comprehensible in early basic animation; how do you distinguish their arms and hands when they pass in front of their body, etc.  Hence gloves, hence pink arms and overalls.  With a really good design, though, those necessary quirks become part of the enduring style.  It's fascinating, really. 

[PaulyBFromDa303]

7 hours ago, Blue Blood said:

Everyone except Sticks. Her bare hands, and those of many fan characters or the Avatar in Forces, feel really off to me. I wish that they'd given her tattered looking gloves of a similar material to her clothes. 

This is a hilarious point because what I'm about to say is like, a complete contrast to non-gloved characters like Sticks . . . And Sally Acorn.

In Sally's case, I like her better without gloves. I dunno. Something about this image makes me think some characters WOULD be better without gloves. And I pulled this image straight from Sonic News Network so it has to be somewhere

[Domino]

While I understand they were going for visual cohesiveness, I do think the Archie reboot may have gone a bit too far in reining the Freedom Fighter designs in.

 

Anyway, I think it's interesting that Dodon Pa also has ungloved hands.

Between him and Sticks, I don't think ungloved Sonic characters are really a taboo thing anymore.

[SonicFanForLife]

I think Sonic's proportions were the best from Sonic Unleashed through Generations. The higher polygon count in Sonic Forces was not worth the modern classic mash-up look they gave him. To me, his hands actually look too small in Forces, not to mention the shorter quills, lighter blue, bigger torso, and rounder shoes. Seeing Sonic with his Unleashed design in Mario and Sonic 2020 was a sigh of relief. I hope he has his Unleashed design in the next main Sonic game.

No, I don't think Sonic's hands are too big.

[Blacklightning]

It could definitely be much worse. At least the Riders look never really kicked off.

Knuckles I feel is an acceptable exception because "he's a boxer" has long been a defining part of his character, and just giving him really big hands with spikes on them is one of the best ways to emphasize the natural strength he displays through them without making him some kind of short stack dwarf or whatever the fuck that monstrosity in Boom was.

[Eurisko]

I'd never noticed the size of Knuckles's fists until now. Obviously I'd seen the extra sized 'knuckles' but Jesus Christ they are like boulders. LOL!!!