Sonic Boom and other Stuff

My reaction was positive. Well, my initial reaction was "Why does Sonic have blue arms?" which was a pet peeve of mine when it came to Sonic art, however I quickly moved past that. This trailer caused me quite a lot of confusion, but.... positive confusion. Like the series is actually moving forward and taking risks again. The use of "Bangarang" confused me as well as I've never heard a popular song used for an actual Sonic game.

I really like some of the riskier Sonic games that stray from the "formula" because it gives light to new ideas. For example, I enjoyed Shadow the Hedgehog for it's cheesy-dark atmosphere, branching level and story design, and (imo) replayability considering I still find it fun today. That doesn't mean I only like underrated Sonic games, I also like the more popular Sonic CD for that same reason. It did something different: Time Travel and change of aesthetics based on your performance. While Sonic 06 is considered a bad game and after further studies I agreed over the years, there were certain elements to it that I really liked and I think should be looked at more, such as the kick ass music (which most Sonic games have).

A lot of older Sonic fans praise the classics as the pinnacle of Sonic's gaming history. This is a well founded belief considering I still play the classics and enjoy replaying them to this day. That said, those same fans don't seem to want to see any positive value in newer Sonic games. I'm not saying they need to, that's their right, however this more elitist belief spread to SEGA that only the classics were the enjoyable Sonic games, hence nostalgia rehashes like Sonic 4 or Sonic Generations, Sonic Generations being boasted as one of the most popular modern Sonic game for that reason. Nostalgia isn't bad, but it shouldn't limit you to try new things, which Sonic Boom appears to be doing.

Despite the character designs feeling a little off (Knuckles in particular) this new look is a breath of fresh air and I hope that SEGA tries something unique and fun for this game and an entertaining show.

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News about the Green Hill map (speaking of nostalgia lol)

So the finishing touches on the map are actually done. The Gmod and SFM versions have been tested, cubemaps built, all that. Only two things remain, one being a promotional animation (which I've been working on) for the map to show off it's cinematic potential and, of course, uploading the maps to their designated workshops.

I'm both excited and nervous, but more on the excited side.

After I upload this map and everything I'm going to do more drawings and stuff, possibly 2D animations even, but one thing I need to do is open commissions again with slight reformatting of how I do my work. The last time I opened them was a learning experience for me both in terms of time and artistic skill.

Some things I want to improve (besides the anatomy and detail which always needs improvement) are perspective, posing, lighting, and composition. For the sake of learning, I had an idea concerning backgrounds, but building them in 3D first using Hammer, SFM, and custom textures. What I plan on doing from there is either doing a quick cover over, a complete repaint, or even drawing the entire scene separately. A lot of artists render their backgrounds in 3D, but usually using more professional tools like Maya, 3DS max, or Blender since they tend to produce higher quality detailed renders, but I plan on painting in the extra detail myself, if not entirely repainting the scene.

I only plan on doing this for scenes with a lot of distinct shapes and clean edges, like with buildings, interiors, etc. Natural things like forests or something I'll probably still just draw.

Long journal, phew. But yeah.

Also, today marks me being with Chris for a whole year! Yay!