So when I started drawing Sonia, I’d tried drawing her as close to her cartoon design as possible, but because I am using a style that aligns closer to the modern Sonic style, it didn’t mix that great.
I tried to alter the design a pinch which led to more alterations as I kept going, and after a long, long time of discontent drawing, I got frustrated and just decided “Screw it. I’m just gonna hafta make a new design from scratch, aren’t I???” Which kinda bites because I’ve seen a lot of people adapt her design into their style nicely, but I guess it be like that sometimes.
Outfit: When I was making her new outfit, I had some key phrases I kept in mind: Sporty, feminine, and 90s-esque. Sonia’s whole thing is that she’s the girly one among her siblings, so I wanted to preserve that idea, but at the same time, I wanted her to have an outfit that she could easily fight and smash robots in. Sonic Underground was made in the late 90s and I’m putting her at 13 years old, so I wanted to keep those ideas in mind as well when putting together her appearance.
Seven+ concept drawings later, I’m really happy with what I came up with.
I tried to preserve her clothes’ old palette at first, but the red and purple blended too much with her fur and quills. I want to be able to squint at a distance and separate each hue from the other without undermining the way the color combination blends, so I took the old clothing palette and made it more pastel. This way, she has a balance between dark and light hues separating her body from her clothes.
Bracelets: I took her belt from her old design and converted it into her bracelets (they match on both wrists)
Quills: I tried to keep her quills as close to her original design, and I really like the shape a lot. I couldn’t make her quills brighter than the rest of her fur without it looking tacky (seriously, other artists, who do you guys do it???) but maybe I’ll give her highlights in the future or something. For now, though, I like the way her fur palette looks. :)
Not gonna lie; I really love how Manic looks in the original cartoon, so his palette and clothes remain largely untouched. All I was gonna do was alter his quills. That’s it.
Then my brain gave me other ideas.
So anyway!–
Quills: The only thing I wasn’t big on with Manic’s design was his quills. Bless the animators who had to draw them and keep him on model, and BLESS EVERY PERSON who has made fan art that keeps his grassy hair. You are all amazing. *presses F*
I simplified his quills by making them more of a mohawk. That way, he still looks like a punk, his silhouette still contrasts from Sonic’s, and it’ll be simpler to draw multiple times. I gave him extra cowlick strands as a nod to his old grass hair.
Goggles: I decided to swap out Manic’s hoverboard for extreme gear since I wanted to tie the world building in with what exists in the games. Because of this, I wanted his aesthetic to lean a little closer to the Sonic Riders character designs. Ergo, I gave him goggles.
Gloves: I was gonna leave his gloves alone, but I decided to experiment with fingerless gloves last minute. They make Manic’s design look a little more hisown if that makes any sense.
Medallion: Despite continuously saying that I probably won’t be bringing in the magic instruments, Manic looked out of place without his medallion, so I kept it in. It’s probably not magical in any way though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ok I’m on vacation rn so no art BUT here’s few little things about some characters in my sonic au.
Also it’s late at night and I’m tired so sorry if there’s any typos!
Starting with chuck and I guess sonic as well. Both of them actually stim a lot. Mostly by tapping their feet rapidly when thinking or sometimes they’ll do it without realizing. (This actually happens a lot in the old comics with them interacting which I thought was cute.)
Another thing about chuck is that he didn’t invent the power rings, but instead makes them by getting water from the lake of rings where they live. It’s a sort of technique that is passed down from generation in the hedgehog aka Prower family. Chuck learned it from his dad and he then taught sonic. Chuck likes to add designs that fits the persons likes and personality in power rings they wear. And he and Nigel have their own unique ones chuck made when he proposed.
Sonic hates water. A lot. Not as much as he did when he was little though. No one knows why he is so scared of water. He was so scared when he was little of water to the point of crying if his mom and dad or uncles and aunt go swimming in a lake or beach. And bath time was nearly impossible it was a team effort to get him clean. Driving static and Maurice to exhaustion and covered in claw marks when it was over. Sonic is a little more relaxed around wages even sitting in super shallow water but will refuse to swim and mostly only takes showers.
Because Sonic’s mom, static is a cheetah he got a bit of cheetah dna in him. He did absolutely get her powers but he also got more. For one, when he was a newborn he had spots and even cheek marks of a cheetah that slowly faded with time. He also has sharp teeth and claws. Much sharper than any normal hedgehog. Maurice thinks being part cat might have something to do with his fear of water but static likes water so who knows. He also “chirped” like a cheetah when he was a baby to call his mom. Static will randomly chirp to make sonic instinctively chirp back to embarrass him.
Sonia and Manic are twins that are half hedgehog and half porcupine. They’re dad is actually a donor so they haven’t met him but are willing to see him. Manic has zero powers (unless you count pickpocketing as a power) and Sonia has super strength. Working together they love to cause mischief and ruckus in the villages. Manic doesn’t usually pickpocket because he wants to he actually does it sort of instinct. Sometimes he’ll accidentally steal something and not realize it until he gets home. So before they leave a store or something aleena tells him to empty his pockets to double check. And Sonia LOVES pretty princess things. She asks aleena a lot to do her and manics makeup, manic does not mind wearing makeup at all. And finally Sonia and manic are not their real names. Their real names are actually Aria and Chasen. Both with music meaning behind them, since Aleena loves music and even has sound powers.
I’ll post more later im falling asleep I hope y’all like them!
Finally read IDW chao race and I needed to draw Manic chao. He’s very affectionate and huggable but keep an eye on your wallet; he learned from the best, after all.
