Sonic Style

****YOU MUST READ THIS****

Step One: This is for all those people that give phoney excuses like "I can't draw Sonic style!" It's really much easier than it looks. Now, if you've looked at any of the other tutorials I've done so far, you should know the first step is always sketching your character out in a ball and stick style. Always. It's the quickest, simplest way to jot down your idea while still paying at least some attention to proportions.

Step Two: The head and face are key to drawing Sonic style. To begin with, sketch your head as a circle, just like a human head. Use the same lines going across the face to estimate where the nose and eyes should be placed. This time, however, instead of dividing the head into two parts we'll keep it circular (that's what makes it so simple!) The line going across the face transforms into the top of the muzzle. Be sure to add some shape to it, but not too much. You'll only have a part (or two, depending on how the face is turned) that exceeds your circle and that's the cheek. Don't make it too prominent or it looks weird. Also, there should be a part that gentley rises right where the *nose is. The **eyes are relatively big while the iris is smaller. Lashes range in number from one to three. I've drawn in some eyebrows, too, although most original Sonic characters don't have them.

* A note about noses - for girls, the nose is small and cute: nothing more than a little oval. For guys, the nose is much longer and prominent.
** A note about eyes - Personally, I hate drawing eyes that are conjoined (like Sonic's or Amy's) so I usually draw them as being seperate using broken lines.
*** A note about ears - Ears are super simple! Essentially, they're only triangles with smaller triangles in them. You should, of course, round the corners to give it a more natural look but that's literally all there is to them!
**** A note about hair vs. quills - There's a huge difference between hair and quills! Quills actually join with the head and are less detailed that hair (which often requires highlights and lines for individual strands to make it pretty).
***** A note about anatomy - Sonic characters tend to have a shorter trunk and longer legs. You can draw them in traditional style, with no figure and skinny arms and legs, or like a human body (that's how I tend to draw my charries).

Step Three: Most Sonic style characters wear gloves. To be honest, I can't think of one that doesn't wear them! Simple gloves are the easiest to draw - it's just like drawing a hand with a cuff around the wrist. Naturally, the more elaborate the glove, the harder it'll be to draw but usually there's not much to them. Shoes and boots, on the other hand, are a different story. They're jumbo-sized and can be difficult to draw (for me, Shadow's shoes are a pain) but if you base them on real shoes you'll only need a couple of pointers - everything is bigger! The toe, in particular, is much larger than it should be. Keep it simple and sporty or completely elaborate. There doesn't seem to be much in between (and nobody likes a dull shoe anyway).

Step Four: Colour away!

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Face Tutorial: [link]
Hand Tutorial: [link]
Upper Body Tutorial: [link]
Female Body Tutorial: [link]