Showcase: ArtWatch: 7 years of Christmas Art

[Roareye Black]

Well, the festive season is as good as over for this year, we’ve all spent Christmas stuffing ourselves silly with Pringles and the KILLER GIANT TOBLERONE, overdosing on the ‘amazing’ selection of festive TV programs and after listening to Noddy Holder remind us that its CHRISTMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS for the billionth time we’ve been left puzzling the big question this holiday season: just who did kill Archie Mitchell? (it was Marine the Raccoon by the way). But just because its now Boxing Day, doesn’t mean its too late to celebrate the greatest festive Sonic fan art the last ten years SEVEN YEARS (because there’s apparently no Christmas fan art pre-2003…) has to offer.

2003 – ‘Lights of Giving Stars’ By Mayshing

A gorgeous Sonic/NiGHTS crossover art piece by Mayshing,  this image has aged really well considering it was drawn six years ago. The modern character designs mix perfectly with the retro colouring style of MegaDrive era art to create a stylish composition that shows off Mayshing’s exceptional talent.

Mayshing @ DeviantART

2004 – ‘My Christmas Snowflake’ by KojiChao

You can’t really present a compilation of Sonic fan art without a mention of mega fan-artist KojiChao, as some of you may know KojiChao’s art is SO GOOD that she has previously been hired to draw official style Sonic art for a video gaming magazine. Dating back to ‘04 this beautiful piece depicts a perplexed Shadow holding out a glowing snowflake, the drawings here are so good that you’d be forgiven for thinking KojiChao worked at SEGA.

KojiChao @ DeviantART

2005 – ‘Sonic Christmas’ by Spongefox

I absolutely adore this piece for it’s sheer simplicity, have you ever seen a cuter image of Sonic? No fancy digital techniques here folks, Spongefox has embraced the age old tradition of putting pencil to paper and created an image that’s sure to cause your inner child to well up with nostalgia.

Spongefox @ DeviantART

2006 – ‘A Silver Christmas’ by Jofamo

Ah Jof, the artist who got me into digital artwork way back in ‘05, it’s safe to say that this guys artwork holds a special place in my heart and has always been an inspiration to me, his Krimbo ‘06 wallpaper featuring Silver in his Christmas Rivals costume is no different. This piece shows great imitation of Uekawa’s typical cel shading style and makes a stylish festive wallpaper, awesome.

Jofamo @ DeviantART

2007 – ‘Merry Christmas’ by Faezza

Sadly, Faezza appears to have left the art community for undisclosed reasons, that doesn’t stop his Xmas ‘07 artwork being truly fantastic though. Just look how mesmerising this piece of art is, the lighting in the image really helps promote a wintery feel and is enough to put anyone in the festive mood.

Faezza @ DeviantART

(You can still check out Faezza’s gallery by clicking the ‘Gallery’ button on his page)

2008 – ‘Christmas ‘08′ by Twilla The Hedgehog

While it’s not uncommon to see a piece of Christmas fan art with a tonne of characters thrown in it is uncommon to find art pieces like this that are actually good, thankfully Twilla’s is one of the better pieces. By keeping all the characters who aren’t Sonic or Chip contained in only a section of the image, Twilla has managed to create an image featuring many characters that doesn’t look cluttered. The simple festive costumes she’s created are a nice little addition as well.

Twilla-the-hedgehog @ DeviantART

2009 – ‘Merry Christmas to Everyone’ by Minto the Fox

Another charming traditional piece to mark the final Christmas of the noughties, Minto’s fantastic artwork draws this decade to an end with some beautifully coloured characters. I’m in love with this shading technique, it can be difficult to colour cartoony drawings traditionally without resorting to either block colours or realistic shading techniques but Minto seems to have found the perfect balance between the two and the final result is eyewateringly good.

Minto-the-fox @ DeviantART

Well, thats it for our (late) Christmas ArtWatch, be sure to check back soon for our look back at the greatest Sonic fan art from 2009.

~ Professor J

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