Yeah... Not that it's not a good vectorization, but I'm not sure it will help achieve the looks of the old illustrations...
Oh yeah, the old Sonic 2 box-art doesn't have black outlines, they're coloured, and much much thinner, that's a fairly easy fix
Theres another Greg that has paid tribute to this one. http://longcriercat.deviantart.com/art/Sonic-and-Knuckles-426046892
I love the Sonic Vs Knuckles art, but I'd have to be a bit picky about it being S&K boxart. (Luckily this was only a sketch so I suppose I can get away with some criticism :P) I'd argue that tails should be removed for the boxart, at least when a proper image is released, and replaced with the traditional angry, arms flailing Robotnik (maybe in his Mushroom Hill boss machine?) I could nitpick about the trees and mushrooms not fitting the in-game style all day, (I'm sure whoever cleans it up will take all this into account) but I would also throw out there that you shouldn't forget some action in the background. The current sketch seems rather plain and the mock-up above, while pretty cool imo, leaves a lot to be desired for a hypotheical "finalized" boxart. That being said though, its fucking amazing we even have this opportunity to begin with. I've thrown my two-cents out there, but I'll patiently be awaiting people's interpretations as they come in. :P
Definitely the Sonic vs. Knuckles one. The Labyrinth one looks very generic and the Metropolis one has Sonic the Assface on it. That fan-made tribute of Greg's S&K piece a knothole resident posted looks great.
That's a pretty good attempt, but I can see the shading going everywhere in some places. Also, it lacks certain details like Greg's usual blueish shading in the eyes and, judging by the sketched outline, I'm not sure if his intent was to make Knuckles' eyes reach that far near his nose, even if it looks better like this. EDIT: Regarding the trees and mushrooms not fitting, I believe they're based on the Mushroom Hill concept art, which in turn was just Wood Zone's being reused (much like Metropolis and Flying Battery's).
Not bad, but I wish an actual airbrush artist would give it a go and make it in the same style as an authentic Martin piece. Deco-style airbrushing is a dying art, but such artists are still out there.
Another nice attempt, but there were mistakes in the sketch that would no doubt have been fixed for the final version, like Sonic's left hand, or Tails' odd tail and fingerless hand. By the way, I was just thinking that this could have been a cover for Sonic 3C/+/whatever they were going to call 3&K combined, rather than S&K alone (or perhaps Tails was originally supposed to appear in Sonic 3 part 2 because really, why not).
To be fair imitating Greg's art will be quite an ordeal. His art was full of detail and shadings so it will take a ton of work and much more to do so.
Here is a color rough/prelim of the first sketch cover design. It should give you a better idea of what the image would have looked like if taken to completion.
Oh, very nice! Thanks for sharing that It's a real shame that the picture was never completed, because it looks great.
Wow, even that looks nice. It just so would happen that potentially the best piece Greg Martin did would never get finished and remain unseen for so long. Still a few things that needed to be fixed up though - Sonic's got a deformed hand ,ails has a fingerless hand and only 3 fingers on the other, Knuckles' far cheek is really angular...
