Sonic 20th: Archetype

[DeviantArt]

Sonic the Hedgehog, still running since 1991~

I finally finished the Sonic 20th anniversary image which I started back in May. It was meant to be done for the 23rd June, but real life went and got in the way and after missing the deadline I sort of took my time over it.

I wanted to try something big and ambitious this time, and one of my first ideas was to draw something from each of the main games... but I decided on something different in the end. Because for me that's not all the Sonic franchise is about.

I became a fan of Sonic through Fleetway's Sonic the Comic. And ever since then it's struck me how diverse the series is. It's not just about the games, but the cartoons and the books and the comics and everything else- and almost every one of those spinoffs has its own distinct universe and story. Sonic the hedgehog spans so many different worlds and universes and concepts that there's pretty much something for everyone. And yet at the heart of it all is still the same little dorky blue hero.

And that's a large part of what I love about it.

So... I decided to bring together as many of those universes as I could in one image.
The foreground represents the games, while each background panel is based on one of the non-game official universes. I didn't include them all, since there are so many different publications- that would've been near impossible. There are probably some I don't even know about. So I just concentrated on the 'main' ones, i.e those I could find out enough about to actually draw, and the ones I thought were distinct enough from everything else to be classed as an alternate universe of their own. (though admittedly I did cheat a bit with the Sonic manga.)

I tried to get a bit of each universe's individual art stlyle into the image, be it physics-defying quills or ear placement or colouring. There's a fair bit of artistic licence used though, especially where there isn't any official artwork or what little there is doesn't match the description in the text (i.e novels)- or where the style changed a lot through the course of the series (Fleetway/Archie). The Modern Super Sonic and Shadow are in my personal style.

~

-Sonic the Hedgehog games- Modern and Classic- 1991-present
-Sonic Manga, Mega Drive Fan Magazine- 1991
-Sonic Manga, Shogakukan no Gakushuuzasshi/Corocoro- 1992-1994
-Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog & its spinoff series- 1993-present
-Egmont Fleetway's Sonic the Comic- 1993-2002
-Sonic the Hedgehog novels by Martin Adams- 1993-1994
-Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebooks- 1993-1996
-Sonic the Hedgehog, cartoon (SatAM) - 1993-1994
-Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, cartoon- 1993
-Sonic the Hedgehog OVA/Sonic the Movie- 1996
-Sonic Underground, cartoon- 1999-2000
-Sonic X, cartoon, comic & novels- 2003-2007
(can you tell which is which?)

~

Honourable Mentions- these aren't in the image, but still deserve a shout out. I haven't included them because I either couldn't find a copy to get an idea of what I was supposed to be drawing, or I didn't think I could make them stand out next to a similar universe I did include. Sadly I didn't have room for everything.

- That Infamous Disney Adventures Comic