Okay, the plan was originally to wait until June to post this, but… I got it finished early, and with all of the health issues I’ve been having lately, I came to the conclusion that it would likely be more prudent to put it up now.

If you’ve been paying attention to my journals, you may recall that I mentioned a while back that I had a very large project in the works. Well… that’s a bit of an understatement. The project I was working on was, hands down, the single largest artistic project I have ever undertaken in my entire life. I would say it’s become a work of passion. I’ve been working off and on, piece by piece, over the past TWO YEARS to complete this. Which means I started when I still lived in Vancouver, and I’ve had it in the background the entire time during my citizenship fight, my move to Washington, my time working at Macy’s, and through all of my recent health problems.

It started in early 2014, as I was still being initiated into the Sonic fandom, particularly the Archie comics. It occurred to me that 2016 was going to be Sonic’s 25th anniversary, and that it would be a pretty big milestone for the franchise. And then I came up with an idea, to capture all 25 years of the franchise’s history in a massive piece of artwork based on a layout like a timeline– with Sonic himself running through the whole thing. I realized very quickly that I was going to need the next two years to get it done, to give myself enough time to juggle other obligations and concerns too. I set up the background first, with that familiar checkerboard motif, and I divided the drawing into 25 sections, each of which got colored a distinct hue. Of course, Sonic was the first character placed in the picture– I had to use him as a point of reference to resize and position everyone else. You might recognize some of these characters from sketches I submitted to my sketchbook back at the beginning. There were certain characters for whom I also knew I wanted to show their evolution over the span of 25 years– Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Robotnik/Eggman, Sally and Nicole, Antoine and Bunnie, Rotor… also, Evil Sonic/Scourge. So I came up with the visual device of having a distinct colored glow for each of them, to demonstrate they were changing. And I did research so that almost everybody else here appears as they did in their first official appearance (though, in some instances, I did have to be a bit more flexible as to what I considered a character’s “debut”). And somewhere along the way, I got the idea to sprinkle in a few of the more memorable quotes and catchphrases, too. Yeah, some of them may be a little cringeworthy, but I firmly believe it’s the stuff like that which really gives the fandom its distinctive feeling.

There are over 150 separate characters in all, and every single one of them was sketched out, linearted, and colored individually by me, before being placed in the master image. Most of these could be finished over the course of a day, if I had the time for it. The single largest piece was Eggman in the Egg Viper– that one alone took me two weeks to finish. And every time I had a little downtime, I had a list of characters who still needed to be added, and I whittled it down a little more, until it was finally finished.

A big part of the concept I initially had in mind was, I wanted every Sonic canon and continuity to be represented. That means the SEGA games, the Shogaku Ninensei manga, Archie, Fleetway, the Sonic OVA, AoStH, SatAM, Sonic Underground, Sonic X, Sonic Boom, and even the short-lived French comic Sonic Adventures (yes, Princess Alucion’s in there). And I wanted to have characters from different continuities getting the opportunity to interact with each other– hence, you have Tekno and Shortfuse running into Bark and Bean, and you’ve got the rebooted Archie Freedom Fighters joining the main Boom crew for that final rush. And of course, all seven Chaos Emeralds are represented, too– each being carried by the character who retrieved it in the final level of Sonic ‘06. I have to say, though, my absolute favorite part of the project was coming up with the “evolutions” that actually showed a complete character arc, as was the case for Tails– he starts off in 1992 as Sonic’s little sidekick, being chased by Robotnik, and over the course of 25 years, he develops into a smart and confident character in his own right, confident enough in himself to turn the tables on Eggman. I absolutely loved being able to demonstrate that character arc in a single image.

So, Sonic fans– no matter what games or continuities you like the most, this one is for you. It’s time to celebrate our favorite blue hedgehog’s silver anniversary (it’s no use!).

Complete character list, by year:
1991 - Sonic, Robotnik with Buzz Bomber, Crabmeat, and Moto Bug (Sonic the Hedgehog)
1992 - Tails (Sonic 2); Anton, Eimi (Shogaku Ninensei); Rotor, Antoine (Archie)
1993 - Metal Sonic, Amy (Sonic CD); Mighty, Ray (SegaSonic the Hedgehog); Breezie, Von Schlemmer, Wes Weasely, Robotnik with Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts (AoStH); Uncle Chuck, Muttski, Bunnie, Sally, Robotnik with Snively (SatAM/Archie); Porker Lewis, Johnny Lightfoot (Fleetway)
1994 - Knuckles (Sonic 3); Fang (Sonic Triple Trouble); Sally with NICOLE, Geoffrey St. John, Lupe, Dulcy, Naugus, King Acorn, Evil Sonic (SatAM/Archie); Princess Alucion (Sonic Adventures)
1995 - Charmy, Vector, Espio, Heavy, Bomb (Knuckles’ Chaotix); Fiona (Archie); Shortfuse, Tekno (Fleetway)
1996 - Bark, Bean (Sonic the Fighters); Tails, Knuckles, Sara (OVA); Mammoth Mogul (Archie)
1997 - Tails Doll (Sonic R); Julie-Su, Jules, Bernadette, Elias (Archie); Ebony, Pyjamas (Fleetway)
1998 - Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big and Froggy, E-102 Gamma, Eggman, Tikal, Chaos, Omochao (Sonic Adventure)
1999 - Manic, Sonia, Sleet, Dingo (Sonic Underground); Mina (Archie)
2000 - Sonic [with the SOAP shoes]
2001 - Shadow, Rouge, Maria (Sonic Adventure 2); Dr. Finitevus (Archie)
2002 - Cream, Cheese, Vanilla (Sonic Advance 2)
2003 - Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Omega (Sonic Heroes); Sally with NICOLE, Rotor, Antoine, Bunnie (Archie); Chris Thorndyke, Bokkun, Bocoe, Decoe (Sonic X)
2004 - Emerl (Sonic Battle)
2005 - Black Doom, Doom’s Eye, Cmdr. Tower (Shadow the Hedgehog); Blaze (Sonic Rush); Cosmo (Sonic X); Nicole (Archie)
2006 - Silver, Elise, Mephiles, Eggman (Sonic ’06); Jet, Wave, Storm (Sonic Riders); Scourge (Archie)
2007 - Marine (Sonic Rush Adventure); Shahra (Sonic and the Secret Rings); Sally, Antoine, Bunnie (Archie)
2008 - Werehog Sonic, Chip, Prof. Pickle, Orbot (Sonic Unleashed); Shade (Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood); Ghosts (Night of the Werehog)
2009 - Amy (Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games); Merlina (Sonic and the Black Knight)
2010 - Eggman (Sonic 4: Ep. I); Cubot, Yacker, Yellow Drill, Orange Rocket, Cyan Laser, Pink Spikes (Sonic Colors); Iron Nicole (Archie)
2011 - Classic Sonic/Modern Sonic (Sonic Generations); Mecha Sally (Archie)
2012 - Honey (Sonic the Fighters re-release)
2013 - Deadly Six (Sonic Lost World); Sally, Nicole, Antoine, Bunnie, Rotor, Eclipse (Archie)
2014 - Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Sticks, Eggman, Perci, Dave (Sonic Boom); Razor, Relic (Archie)
2015 - Zooey (Sonic Boom); Gold (Archie)
2016 - Super Sonic!

3/20/16 - EDIT: Wow, guys, I’m, uh… I’m kind of overwhelmed here! Thank you all so much for all the positive feedback! Obscurity is pretty much par for the course for me, so suddenly getting so much of a response is really refreshing! My inbox right now is the fullest it’s ever been in the 10+ years I’ve been here! ^_;; With as long as I’ve been working on this project and all the real world chaos I’ve had to overcome, I’m soooo glad all of my work has been appreciated. =)