How would you redesign Sonic the Hedgehog?

Critique would be great, if you would be so kind

 

I think you just agreed with me, but I'm not sure. :specialed:

I'll rephrase: It looks fucking stupid on animals with human hands, that have evolved like humans.

I cared about this when I was 6. If a 6 year old can point out something very wrong with a common design choice in most Western crap, there's a problem.

Really, I don't understand why this is so god damn popular. Every animator that does Western material does this and it is seriously the most obnoxious thing to me. I hate seeing it, I'm tired of seeing it. I believe the only reason it's an intentional design choice now is because of tradition, in fact, I'm pretty sure most of the time, animators only make that choice because Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny did it. One thing I like about Sonic is that while it has some of the obnoxious qualities of both those characters (Black eyes lol) at least they have five fingers. I mean, seriously. When I was a kid, I could look at most characters' hands, and my own, and say "Hey, there's a finger missing!" so I thought this would be common sense in today's animation world, but obviously not.

Just my opinion I guess. I'm probably the only person on this whole fucking site in this whole fucking fandom on this whole fucking internet that hates Bugs Bunny or anything like it.

 

That's because it's Japanese. One thing that's very frowned upon in Japan (and in many cases, actually illegal) is the depiction of four-fingered people, as slaves in J. history had a finger cut off - it's all about symbolism. I know Disney has to pay an awful lot just to keep Mickey four-fingered.

Of course, you could always do what Oddworld did - given that Abe was a four-fingered slave, they did the honourable thing and removed one of his fingers. The sacrifices a slave has to make.

 

Ok, Vulpine, I'm neither saying that I agree with you or against you. This shall be a given here.

When it comes to animation the one main reason why characters (even humans) are depicted with four fingers is for simplicity in order to make a character easier to animate. Yes, it seems pretty silly when you think about how you could keep all five fingers AND keep the hands simple, BUT that's been an easy trick for animators to make their work easier.

Not saying I agree with them either, but then again, it is a Lazy Artist trope so that may explain why I don't exactly agree with them.

It's more oft than naught a style held from way back in the '20s for retro appeal or simplicity.

 

First off, eastern crap is just as bad. I don't like how characters can close their eyes and give a 20 minute long dialogue in the middle of a firefight and leave unscathed. Or how somehow the power of teamwork is suddenly a new idea.

Secondly, you make the false assumption that most animation studios use the 3 finger hand because of tradition. This isn't so. They do it because it's cheap and it saves money. Less fingers = quicker drawing spread out over several thousand frames and you wind up spending less on the animation because it took less time to produce.

 

I learned something new today. :specialed: How sad that SEGA Would have gone that route if it wasn't offensive in their country. But then again, it's SEGA. Quality isn't exactly something to expect, and I shouldn't be surprised. (Also apologies for odd posts, my shift key is sticking.)

I was actually told by someone on an art site I was arguing with a couple years ago that the reason for giving cartoon characters one less finger was because it gave them less to animate. I remember telling them what a horrible basis for argument that was because that just made them sound lazy. I Guess it turns out that I was right.

 

You do realise you're talking about 1991 SEGA here, right? Because I personally thought the MegaDrive games were of a very high quality.

 

Yes, I know that, and so did I, so I'm surprised they would make a choice like that.

Tried to make a joke about it, but it obviously wasn't funny. Oh well. Carry on.

 

I don't see how you as an individual justifies every six year old noticing the problem.

Besides, 4 fingers keeps cartoons from being able to flip people off. :specialed:


Looks fine to me.


Then again maybe we're on to something.

 

I love KidNotorious' designs, though. I mean, I wouldn't like them to REPLACE the designs used, but as a "what-if" they work really nice.

It's quite like "what if Sonic was created in 2005"?

 

This is a good thing?

On a more serious note, I would like to see how Sonic would look if designed in 2005, without any previous influence. I'm imagining something along the lines of whatever Sly Cooper was trying to do. I think that would be the natural thing for Sonic to copy if designed in that period.

 

I thought it had to do with how Yakuza members typically have a finger cut off.

 

Yeah, the Yazuka thing is also suspected to be why Diddy and Dixie Kong grew extra fingers and toes in Gamecube-era Nintendo games. It doesn't just affect Sonic. It does seem like certain characters get a free pass if they're either evil, made-up creatures, or the real-world counterpart wouldn't have 5 digits though, so Sonic could've probably still gotten away with it.

Fang most definitely has only four digits per hand in every official depiction of him I've seen though. Might be a conscious choice to reinforce how questionable his morality is, but it seems surprisingly dark for something born of classic-generation Sonic.

 

I believe that in some situations readability and aesthetics take priority over logic. Batman wouldn't be memorable without the cape or bat ears yet normally they should get in the way of crime fighting, and what's the point of giving Jessica Rabbit realistic proportions if you could just hire a real actress? Volpino said that I didn't give my designs four fingers, in actuality some of them do. In the case of Oz, if I gave him five toes, he wouldn't have flippers. Interpret that as you will.

 

On a side note, I just now noticed that your Mephiles design has gloves, and reminds me of the whimsical yet evil nature of Mr. Dark. Was this intentional?

 

I could see all those characters in a game running off of the UBIart Framework (the engine that Rayman Origins runs off of). While I'm not a fan of some of those designs, they have tons of character.

 

I want THIS Sonic. Oshima's own Sonic; the definitive Sonic, if you will. The only Sonic I've ever seen that's able to pull off the edgy and cute look simultaneously, and the only Sonic I've ever seen that can manage to have bendy limbs but do it in style. He looks like a complete hardcore dude; almost like Mickey Mouse or Felix the Cat's answer to Arnold Schwarzenegger. He's full of attitude and full of personality, and he has a can-do look on his face. Its just perfect.

 

I believe the edited picture in the second post is how I would redesign him. Nice work!

 

I do very much like Oshima's design over Uekawa's, certainly. I still enjoy both, though. I find them both appealing as Sonic. I can't help but smile when I glance at my green-eyes Sonic plush from Infinite Bits '09.

But yeah, I absolutely agree with Azukara on this one. Oshima's Sonic pulled off both cute and tough beautifully. He simply sported many more expressions that I get from Uekawa's Sonic, and therefore had a much stronger semblance of a personality as well as an attitude. Sometimes he looks mean and determined, other times he looks curious and inquisitive, and other times he just has a nice cartoony smile going on. I guess when it comes to Sonic in animation and artwork stills, I prefer something a little more juvenile in a cartoony sense and less teeny-bopper Fonzi superhero.