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GeckosFancies — Life is one big adventure.
Published: 2012-04-02 04:11:45 +0000 UTC; Views: 1830; Favourites: 88; Downloads: 11
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Description
There are no obstacles, only different types of spring boards. If you can’t swim, walk on water.For ’s contest which ends like now.
I have so many reasons why Sonic’s character inspires me, I couldn’t cram it all in one picture, so I settled for the biggest ones.
For those that aren’t complete Sonic geeks: one early character outline for Sonic says that despite the fact he can’t swim, he loves the oceans more than anything in nature. I just love the notion he would gladly trade his safety for the thrill of being there; that he would view his ”handicap” as nothing but another fun challenge, maybe even consider the risk part of the beauty of it.
...And here, he’s with friends; if he lost speed, they’d hold him up. I picked the South Island crew because another thing that inspires me about Sonic is his loyalty to his friends. These guys were the first bunch of them, and we don’t really see them anymore. But the aforementioned outlines also say he keeps coming back to South Island, making it the closest thing he has to a home - so it seems he goes back to see his first friends, no matter how many he gains around the world.
(I went more stylized than usual to get a similar feel to the Screensaver group pics which all contained some of these animals, though I didn't want quite that style.)
Letraset Promarker, ShinHan Art Touch marker, black Staedtler fineliners, Staedtler color and watercolor pencils, Derwent ”Inktense" pencils, Pentel white gel pen. I'm a bit BLEH right now that the scanner killed some of the richness of color, but I can probably fix that with more digital editing later. Just won't muck around with that until after judging is over.
Flipped after scanning; realized that made the layout /motion work much better. Mental note for next time.
Clockwise: Cucky, Ricky, Sonic, Pocky, Rocky, Pecky, Picky and Flicky (c) Sega
Art (c) me
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Comments: 26
Thanks for your comments
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I still absolutely adore your stylization; Sonic's big brown eyes are the best. <3
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I like the dark eyes; you can call them black in one moment and brown in another for effect
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Yes! That's an excellent point!
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This is so awesome, considering it's Traditionl art!
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I've got a lot to learn! But it's encouraging to hear it looks good ^^
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Love this, it's so cute! And I really like your reasoning behind it.
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OMG adorable!! Its so great and your coloring on the pic is AMAZING! I love it!! <33 do you take requests?
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Sorry, I have enough to draw already 
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Oh now this is simply wonderful. From all the little details (like that message in the bottle or the flowering splashes along the surfaces of the water) to the fantastically handled twisting angles of the wave to the very story concepts behind the picture...wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. ^_^
The fantastic depth and vibrancy of your colors at this point practically goes without saying at this point, but I feel compelled to point it out once again, especially as regards the shifting tones of the water. It DOES mean it takes a moment to piece together just what is going on with the wave, but only just a moment, and once it registers, the image reads beautifully. Again, your glimmering water effects are also really well-done, and the sky itself feels perfectly pleasant too, but it's that twisting wave that most grabs my attention, and I love it.
Sonic and the South Island crew also came out well. I do feel Sonic's pose feels a little cramped, but otherwise he looks fine. His openly-cheerful expression is actually quite welcome; in the context of this scene, I kind of love how it shows Sonic letting go of his usually-determined "cool guy" image to just let loose and have fun with his friends, and it works very nicely. Likewise, our little animal friends are all clearly having a blast. You do a really good job handling the variety of body-types on display, and giving each one his or her own special way to interact with the scene; I'm especially fond of Rocky's contented floating and Ricky riding shot-gun on Sonic's head (though I have to mention, you seem to have forgotten to list our wave-riding Rabbit's name X3; ). It makes for a very nicely realized shot of friends at play that just warms the heart. <3
All that, and you bring your usual magnificent character insight into play? Fantastic. I had never considered the idea of Sonic taking his lack of swimming ability as a challenge to find his OWN way across the water, but you make it sound perfectly believable and compelling. I also very much appreciate the logic by which you chose to feature the original South Island animals, and how that relates to the way in which, for Sonic, friends ARE family. It's a really interesting take on the character that I sincerely love, and I think it ties in with the image perfectly; each complements the other just right.
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There's hidden messages and new adventures around every corner! 
Agreed on all crit points; in general this is rushed due to time restraints. XD It was kind of "fix his face or fix his pose" and then, yeah, face wins. Bad faces sink a picture. Snicker
Sooo glad you like the wave; it's my first time really drawing any and I felt kind of crippled. Also the first time I draw any of these animals (save Flicky) and the first time I cram that many characters in one pic, so lots'a firsts.
But at the bottom line, I worked like a monkey on this thing, so I'm VERY happy you like it.
Oh, the rabbit is Pocky; he's listed.
His expression here was something I flip-flopped on a bit while drawing, but I wanted to focus on him just kicking back and really enjoying himself, being too caught up in having fun to be ”cool”. 
And yes, on the family thing. That's a pretty important aspect of my interpretation(s) of his character. He really does view his close friends as his family; the only family he considers himself to have.
I recall reading somewhere that Naka stated Sonic doesn't really "see" obstacles or problems. In that case, he wouldn't see a "problem" in the ocean, either, or try to avoid it (it would seem OOC for me that he'd avoid ANY places that aren't, you know, toxic or something) and that got me thinking "so what would he see, then?"
The challenge + bigger adventure is what I ended up with. That made me think on how I view my own "weaknesses" and it's getting me to start viewing things differently myself.
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That's what makes life fun: trying to find them.
And yeah, I'd say you made the right call: ideally, pose AND expression should be good, but for me as a viewer, I'd pick the former over the latter every time if I could only have one of them be good.
Wow, really? This is your first group-shot of this scale? I confess, I would NOT have ever guessed that without you telling; you really do have a place for everyone here, and everyone here feels like they're in their proper place. Monkey Work really paid off, it seems.
Pocky, y'say? Huh. Wonder how I misplaced that. X3; Ah well, my bad. Anyway! Again, I think you made exactly the right call on the expression, tying it into the unifying themes of Family, Openness, and Trust that flow through all facets of this picture. The friends-as-family thing is crucial to my interpretation of Sonic too; it is, in fact, one of the things that so strongly attracted me to the SatAM universe, the "patchwork family" element all the characters shared. This is slightly different, of course, since in SatAM Sonic actually has and knows his "real" family whereas in the SEGA 'verse their existence has yet to be even implied beyond the simple fact that SOMEONE had to give birth to Sonic. XD; Still, it's that trust, that Bond, which is the crucial factor, and in a way, it binds ALL versions of Sonic together, IMO.
Glad to hear it's having a positive effect on your worldview, too. ^3^ I wish you only the best in pursuing that idea further as time goes by.
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Maybe nobody had to give birth to Sonic? Maybe Amy Rose has no parents? Maybe Cream and Vanilla look so alike because they're actually clones?
ALIENS MADE THEM ALL.
Mystery solved.
On a slightly more serious note, that's something I like about SatAM as well; the patchwork family theme is one I could always really relate to. I like the thought of the red thread for all adaptations, too, though I'm wondering how SoUnd fits into it.
(It would be an interesting twist to the SoUnd story if the triplets got to road's end and found out they're not related after all, that they're not even related to the Queen, just regular orphans. After all, the bonds they tied throughout the show weren't ever based on "being related" so much as "being in this together" and they might as well have been unrelated if not for the "finding Mom" plot aspect.)
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"ALIENS MADE THEM ALL", as we've discussed, is eerily close to what Archie more or less went with for Mobius' origins, so... XD;
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This looks very creative, fun and is nicely coloured.
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I like the fish too :L it was included all the way from sketch level XD
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Wow, sicken charmig bild. Jag gillar verkligen alla detaljer och rörelser du har fått med här.
Lycka till i tävlingen med!
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Tack ska du ha!
Jag var lite rädd att det skulle bli för mycket rörelse; att det skulle bli rörigt, men jag tror det blev rätt OK.
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