The Sonic fan community has been churning out creative types for years, especially artists – and Sega noticed! Back in 2008, the humes-in-charge held a competition for fan artists to depict their favourite scene from any Sonic game, with the top twenty pics ending up in the Sonic and the Black Knight game.
A competition for great artists, covering the whole Earth? It should be no surprise that three of STC-O’s own artists took part… and won! See what they thought of it – and download their winning pics for your desktop!
Adamis
“When I heard about the contest, I was very enthusiastic. I had quite a few ideas: Sonic against Nack in Sonic Trouble, Knuckles against Super Mecha Sonic, Super Sonic in Doomsday...but I also thought that a lot of people would draw these scenes, as they're quite famous within the fans.
I decided to work on something from Sonic CD, as it's one of my favourite Sonic games. The thing is, there are not a lot of memorable scenes! The chase between Sonic and Metallix would also have been drawn by lots of fans. And then I watched again the (awesome) intro and the idea popped in my head: Sonic on a rock, watching the landscape near Never Lake, with the Little Planet above it.
I used watercolors and pencils to get a certain feel on the picture. Digitally colouring it would not give it the feel I wanted for it. The painting took me around two hours I think!
I was (and still am) happy with the result. I've framed it and it's hanging on my wall, next to my bed :) "
Jin Chan Yum Wai
"When I heard about the Sonic and the Black Knight art contest, I knew exactly what I going to draw! I decided that it had to be a scene from Sonic Adventure. It was pretty much the game that made me a hardcore Sonic fan. To this day, I can still remember when I went to play my friend’s brand new Sega Dreamcast for the first time and he whipped out Sonic Adventure. After that one sit down with the game, I went out and bought a Dreamcast and Sonic Adventure!
The reason why I chose to draw Super Sonic vs. Perfect Chaos was because I knew that I could do something extremely dynamic and eye-catching, plus it was the first Sonic game where I ever unlocked Super Sonic.
When I received the e-mail telling me that I was one of the winners, I couldn't believe it! I chose to draw a scene in which I thought a lot of people would draw, plus I know from just looking at DeviantArt that there are heaps of artists who I consider better than me. I am honoured that I am one of the winners and proud that my artwork is featured in a Sonic game."
Zak Simmonds-Hurn
"I didn't find out about the contest until a few days before the deadline, when I saw a number of people post and then quickly remove their entries from DeviantArt. I spent a couple of days procrastinating about which scene to pick (Anything post-Sonic and Knuckles wasn't really considered).
In the end I chose the climactic moment of Angel Island Zone from Sonic 3. I loved that scene when I first played the game; I just thought it was an awesome image. I roughed the drawing out in my sketchbook using a blue pencil and then went over it a few times with a mechanical pencil to tighten up the lines and poses. On this occasion I inked over the original drawing in my sketchbook. I then scanned it in and coloured it with Photoshop, going back to change the colour of the scenery lineart to make the characters pop out a bit more and add a spot of depth.
I'm really proud of the finished result, and as a Sonic fan for over 17 years I was chuffed to get my copy of Black Knight through the post and actually see my own drawing in a Sonic game!"
