Sonic Body Basics - Izzy Goldrunner

Before the tutorial starts, a brief note. This is a modelling workshop and as such, it will not show how to make one specific art piece, but instead pose different bodyparts from different angles using different techniques. As such, the work will be unshaded to show the structure of the work, and it will be up to you to practice this knowledge and apply it to your own artwork.


Making a body depends greatly on whether or not your character will have clothing. If the character is naked, a body is a bit easier and smaller than if they are clothed. For example, (Figure 1) Rutile here is clothed. Notice he has loose fitting clothing, so his body is basically a slightly curvy line like this: (Figure 2) With his clothing, the lines of his body change a little, like this: (Figure 3). Mind you, when you add arms and legs, the body will change greatly and not look so blocky.


For the unclothed body, we will look at Lyrox (Figure 1). His body is much more like the official Sonic body, except his body is longer and proportioned a little more like a human. Sonic’s body is very small compared to his head, while Lyrox’s is about like a humans is. Lyrox’s basic shape is this shown in Figure 2. Looking at Sonic and Knuckle’s bodies, they are much the same way. The basic idea is to look at shapes. If you look at Figure 3 his is the shape of the clothed body (and really, a good shape to go off regardless). Figure 4 is a good shape for unclothed bodies. Just think of an oblong square for clothed bodies and oblong ovals for unclothed bodies.
A good note: For the in-shape male body, the top half will always be a bit wider than the bottom half. For tutorials on a more realistic body, go here (link to your realistic body tut).
Play around with different styles too. Everybody’s body is different. If you want a flabbier looking guy, double the size and make the bottom of the oval more flat. If you want a well built guy, make the top part firmer and the bottom less thin. And don’t forget to make room for the legs and arms.