posted January 24, 2006 08:30 PM              

kurisu - I never realized the back hand and foot were bigger. What I hate the most is the round head making the spike row look so remote. I know the actual source of this design came from the title screen of Sonic 1, but the artist missed the real spike design. The eyes and pose are a direct Sonic 1 title screen copy. As for kids liking this design, I don't think that was the case. All we Sega fanboys had an ad of this Sonic on the wall because there were no other Sega ad available! How can you ba a Sega fan without a Sonic picture on the wall? I have hated that Sonic since day one

posted January 26, 2006 06:59 PM              

BANNANAMOUTH.

Interestingly, there were a few examples of Sonic actually looking on-model. I can name one, which was the Sega Kids poster (which was b/w for COLORING FUN) which came with Wacky Worlds. I so want one again. Sonic was painting and looking not like a freak, while Tails was conducting music. It had color ads on the back and a mailing thing to join the Sega Kids Club and get a Sonic shirt. I was never allowed to. AAANGST.

Yeah, I can be really specific when I want to be =P. Personally I hated the original US Sonic-mock. It just didn't look much like he was in-game. Still, that happened so MUCH. Awesome Possum was the same way. He gots a widdle facial mask that exists in the level title cards and in the actual game. Boxart and main title screen? PAH.

posted January 27, 2006 09:57 AM            

Honestly, any jabs at Sonic Team or anyone doing art are just opinions. Sure, they are not hear to defend themselves, but as long as the "hate" posts are creative like this and not too tactless, especially with humor... I laugh, at least.

So, if we can all take everything with a grain of salt, that's cool. I don't have any more cover art to share... and I needed a laugh this morning because I was sick last night

posted January 27, 2006 04:14 PM              

I noticed some of you were planning to make mock-up box arts based on Mr. Senn's drawing, and I thought this might be of some use to you guys - it's a recreation of the logo used on the "official" box arts that's almost exactly proportionate to those logos and is reasonably high resolution. It's not perfect, but it's the best I could do with such a low-resolution image as a base. My image is a 24-bit alpha-transparent PNG, so image quality is not an issue.

I love that cover design, by the way, kurisu. It's totally awesome.

Base pic:

posted January 28, 2006 02:09 AM              

quote:

---

Originally posted by kurisu:
I would like to add, however, that despite the BANANAMOUTH and lessons to be learned from the Flatfish, I do like the new Sonic and Shadow & co. The way I would draw Sonic would be the old, "classic" way, but who knows... maybe I'll start drawing this new way... with the mouth in the spot where the mouth actually goes!

---

I know you keep saying you like to draw Sonic the ‘Old’ way, to me it’s not SEGA’s ‘old’ way. I find your style is very similar to that of the Archie comic sometime during 1993/1994. Were you inspired by these comics/ base your Sonic art cover on their design?

Now where have I seen that Sonic style and pose before?

posted January 28, 2006 09:07 AM              

quote:

---

I noticed some of you were planning to make mock-up box arts based on Mr. Senn's drawing, and I thought this might be of some use to you guys

---

posted January 29, 2006 08:40 AM              

^ That's one of the best pieces of Sonic art I've seen in years.

posted January 29, 2006 12:53 PM              

At leased my image of Sonic served a point, to which Chris still has yet to reply. Chris, if you reading this, then please can you reply to my last post, and also the post in the storyboard topic.

posted January 29, 2006 01:23 PM              

MeX

posted January 29, 2006 07:13 PM              

quote:

---

Originally posted by darkshadow:
How is hot linking from sonic hq saying''Ooooi, hotlinker , noooooo!'' helpfull
Here is the image you were trying to show.

---

While Spaz is undoubtedly kick-ass, that is mostly due to the fact that he, like Chris, got Sonic pretty much spot-on.

As the imagery from Sonic Jam shows us:

and incase you want to know how to do that:

posted January 30, 2006 02:23 AM              

quote:

---

Originally posted by darkshadow:
How is hot linking from sonic hq saying''Ooooi, hotlinker , noooooo!'' helpfull
Here is the image you were trying to show.

---

First off I was hotlinking to TSS (The Sonic Stadium NOT Sonic HQ, and since I work there I'm sure they won't mind.

Secondly you can see that image clear as day, there's not a 'hot link' logo.

posted January 30, 2006 09:24 PM              

That one. Sorry, should have posted it with the images^^

posted January 31, 2006 05:32 AM              

The French Sonic-online website also offer these in PNG but, unfortunately, they're all watermarked. If anyone interested, I can download the torrent, convert all images to PNG and re-host them.

posted January 31, 2006 07:35 AM              

The referance images are in BMP format. Just about any graphics viewer in existence should be able to handle that format. Whatever default paint program your computer came with should be enough. I just converted them over to GIF for the sake of saving space and bandwidth.

posted January 31, 2006 02:56 PM              

However, I converted all images of the torrent in PNG, thus saving a lot space (more than GIF could do, as they were already palette-based) and I now can offer them to download: http://dioxaz.free.fr/download/art/sjam_images.zip

It's 46.4 MB "only"
(note that I still have 400 MB free on my web account, so if anyone interested in hosting any X-treme related info, I'm here).

posted January 31, 2006 03:18 PM              

I was going to use PNG, but I'm still not clear on the compatibility issues with PNG. I know Firefox can fully support PNG images, but I'm not sure about IE and Netscape and figured it was best to just go ahead and use the GIF format.

Photoshop is pretty good about getting a decent compression for black and white GIFs without loosing much detail, so I just went with that.

posted January 31, 2006 04:37 PM              

thank you Dioxas! As one of the people who has great difficulty with torrents I find things like this very considerate and very cool, cheers mate!

The characer artwork and Sonic the Screensave box art was worth the download time alone.

MeX

posted February 01, 2006 01:36 PM              

quote:

---

I was going to use PNG, but I'm still not clear on the compatibility issues with PNG. I know Firefox can fully support PNG images, but I'm not sure about IE and Netscape and figured it was best to just go ahead and use the GIF format.

---

thebeast - You're welcome. Since, I don't have download speed restrictions by now on this 'free.fr' account, I thougt it was a good idea to host that Sonic Jam art package.

posted February 21, 2006 07:58 PM            

It's just a "hi-quality" scan of one of the Sonic designs that the marketing team wanted to use
I found it digging through a 1996 backup of the sega website

[edited February 21, 2006 by SANiK]

posted February 22, 2006 05:10 AM              

quote:

---

Originally posted by Xeniczone:
that is a rip from sonic 3d blast not sonic xtreme the sonic xtreme one is much darker and he eyes aren't messed up looking.

---

While I've heard that the image *was* used to promote 3D Blast / Flickies' Island in some parts of the world, this magazine scan from Sonic CulT shows the image on a concept X-treme box - one that seems much later than the previously-shown designs, as it uses a later version of the ESRB's "RP" stamp in the bottom-right corner than the other boxarts do, as well as having a proper background.

Compare it to the image SANiK posted and to the other X-treme boxart; you'll find it matches SANiK's perfectly (except in colouring, though that's likely due to it being a dodgy scan / print, as everything else is exactly the same).

posted February 23, 2006 01:51 AM              

quote:

---

Originally posted by Xeniczone:
What this may be is a earlier test or a europein cover because europe always has different covers then america. But that wouldn't be right becuase europe didn't use the tall cases.

---

By the way, I've got a transparent version of the image SANiK posted: http://www.sonicresearch.org/art/albums/Sonic/Other/sonic3dblast_sonic01.png

As transparency was added afterwards by me, many artifacts remain. Note that I also mistook this as a Sonic 3D Blast artwork when I put it on the Sonic Art Archive.

McAleeCh - this image is not the one we see on the first cover shown by kurisu, it's a bit different.
It's more likely this one: http://www.sonicresearch.org/art/albums/Sonic/Other/sonicxtrem1.png

This was given to me for the Sonic Art Archive and ripped by Rlan from a low-resolution scan, which explains the somewhat blurry look. Curiously, "my" version doesn't have that motion effect.

EDIT: my apologizes, too, for misinterpreting your previous post. I thought you were talking about the fisrt cover art shown in this topic and trying to compare it with "SANiK's artwork".

posted February 23, 2006 04:13 AM              

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dioxaz:
McAleeCh - this image is not the one we see on the first cover shown by kurisu, it's a bit different.
It's more likely this one: http://www.sonicresearch.org/art/albums/Sonic/Other/sonicxtrem1.png

This was given to me for the Sonic Art Archive and ripped by Rlan from a low-resolution scan, which explains the somewhat blurry look. Curiously, "my" version doesn't have that motion effect.[/B]

---

Ehe, my above post was worded slightly incorrectly.. ^_^; I apologise, and can see how it could be misinterpreted.

I wasn't meaning to infer that I thought that the image you and SANiK posted was used on *all* the boxarts, just that it was the same as the one on the boxart I posted, since Xeniczone had said that it was a 3D Blast promotional image and not X-treme.

The reason I said to "compare to the other boxarts posted" was just so that people would compare and see that it isn't the same image as on those ones, but was a direct match with the one SANiK had posted, meaning it *was* used for X-treme promotion at some time. ^^;

Guess I should have waited until a time when I was more awake to type out that original post, since the wording is kinda confusing. Again, apologies for that!

Xeniczone - As for the possibility of the boxart I posted being an earlier/European boxart, it's unlikely IMO, for the following reasons:

- For starters, the US ESRB rating in the bottom right corner discounts it being a European boxart; and, as Dioxaz said, it uses a white backing for the SEGA Saturn logo.

- Secondly, as I already stated, it uses a much later version of the ESRB rating logo than the other two boxarts, meaning it must have been at least mocked up at a later time than the two revisions of the other boxart that we have.

Odd, though: the X-treme logo and Sonic were both re-done for this boxart; however, Sonic was posed in the same position, and the X-treme logo is very similar to the version of the other boxart with the "3D effect" on the letters. Obviously they weren't happy with the originals, but to re-create them so similarly doesn't make sense if that were the case..

posted February 23, 2006 05:26 AM              

The X-treme box in that article, according to Sonic CulT, was one of the most frequently used ones in magazines and toy store catalogues, so I doubt it was just a mockup made by the magazine themselves. You never know, though..

Until further information arises, I'll assume it's genuine SEGA PR material - if nothing else because I've just annotated all of the boxarts to try and provide some chronological order as to how the marketing people developed the look:

These are arranged in what I believe to be the chronological order of the boxart designs; you can sort of see my reasoning in the above annotations:

1. Earliest Boxart. Reasoning:
- Only boxart NOT to feature "SEGA" seal
- Logo uses incorrect font in this revision
- Stiffly-posed Sonic render with proportion issues (fingers, anyone?)
- Rarely used in magazines / toy store catalogues / online (source: Sonic CulT)

2. Second Boxart. Reasoning: Boxart is same as (1) apart from:
- Addition of the "SEGA" seal.
- Logo redesign including attempted 'fixing' the "O" of the font, showing the initial font mistake was realised - therefore unlikely to be earlier that (1).
- Commonly seen, mostly online (source: Sonic CulT)

3. Third Boxart. Reasoning:
- Logo seems to be developed from (2)'s (uses same / similar "X-treme" text, and uses 3D effect idea), so unlikely to be earlier than (1) or (2).
- SONIC font is completely fixed in logo.
- SEGA seal is present, so unlikely to be earlier than (1).
- Uses later design of the ESRB rating stamp than (1) or (2), suggesting both previous boxarts were made earlier than this one.
- Different Sonic model with fixed proportions and more intricate posing (head and eyes are now posed, feet / torso / fingers proportions fixed), so unlikely to be between (1) and (2) - why would they revert back to the old design?
- Full background render as opposed the hazy "clouds filter" backdrop of previous boxarts - unlikely to be between (1) and (2) for the same reasons as the point above.
- Extremely (or should that be "X-tremely"?) common in magazines and toy-store catalogues (source: Sonic CulT)

---

Of course, that's all speculation based on my own observations, so I may be wrong. If anyone can find any holes in my reasoning, feel free to tell me! ^_^; It seems logical enough to me, though..

posted February 23, 2006 01:26 PM            

Sega would never cover up the Sega Saturn Logo that much and if they did they would have over laps the Sega Saturn logo with the Sonic Xtreme so that it was on top if it not the Sonic X-treme logo on top of Sega.

What is the difference in the ESRP stamps?