try sketching out the shape of the character roughly at first, using circles and ovals for their heads and bodies.

sorry i can't suggest more at the monet, but i'm in a rush. ^^; i'm sure there's lots of guides and tutorials on the 'net, i'll try and look some up for you later.

Since you know how to do the human figure, I assume ... I would say that the usual segasonic character is about 3 heads tall in classic style and about 4 heads tall in the modern era.

For sonic himself you need to start with 2 circles for the classic segasonic, or a circle for the face, and an oval for a body to do the modern sonic. I would start with the eyes first by sketching two eyes and making them look like the unieye... then I would tackle the spines, try to make them look as aerodynamic as you want them to be. The ears would be placed in front of the start of the middle spine of the same side.

...I don't know what else to say...

Okay, I'm going to show you the way I at least do it. It's a method that preety much always works, for me at least, so here we go. Just keep in mind that I'm currently without scanner or tablet, so MSpaint and a mouse are not my tools of choice.

And I don't know why I picked Shadow as a subject ^^;

Step 1: Simple enough, I always, always ALWAYS start with the head, everything else follows. This is just a simple sphere at the moment.

Step 2: Once you've got the head, you can put in the spine, which should never be perfectly straight, curveyness looks more dramatic and actiony Nn On this, directly beneath the head, touching preferably, you want another sphere the same size of the head, and then a smaller one (half to two-thirds the size) under that, resting inside the larger one. The odd thing about Sonic characters, is that they kind of have the bodies of upside down Pears.

Step 3: Limbs =3 Arms are formed by small circles at the top of the big sphere making shoulders, then upper arms should be appoximatly one head/big ball in length. Fore-arms should be a little shorter than this, but not by much. You can't see the forearms well here though, I picked a bad pose for them >.>

Legs are mostly cut off on this pic because they wouldn't fit on screen >.> But the same rules as arms apply, just remember, they don't really have hips o.o

Step 4: This is where the fun starts =D This stage is where your drawing goes from Generic Mobian to an actual character. However, Hogfather is about to come on now, so I'll finish this after watching that Nn

Now I'm back, lets continue. Like I said, this is where things start. I Always lop a little off the sides of the head, but you don't have to, and it can sometimes look thin or dented. The main thing to remember is whoever you are drawing, they tend to be symetrical, so always make sure to make full use of the central action line on the head.

Facial features common to all sonic characters are the eyes, and muzzle style. It dosn't matter if they are mono or bi eyeballs, but starting with the eyebrows, then following from there tends to work, remember, big and expressive. The muzzle should take the place of the head's horizontal action line, but upside down, and pretty much everyone has the same cheeks, some are just fuzzier than others.

Body should be as wide as the big sphere at the top of the ribs, and as thin as the small sphere at the waist, don't be afraid to cut some of the sphere off to make it look right. For fems, this is where you put boobies on Nn Also, fem shoulders should slope down more. Arms and legs, well, from the shoulder/elbow/wrist balls, just draw straws with no muscle structure. Seriously. It sounds poor, but it's what goes.

Find a better way to draw hands than I do.

Step 5: Now you add your lines Nn Don't be afraid to disregard your guidlines occasionally and go with the flow. Try to keep everything smooth as well. Note though, that most male sonic characters have rather big brows. Also note that in this example, I didn't draw the outside line of the eye far back enough, it should be more curved, and further up the curve of the cheek, that positioning works for bi and mono eyes. The mouth should always be drawn to the side, but it shouldn't be modeled to the side. Stupid sonic heroes.

Step 5: Then you just colour it. Left as an exercise to the reader ;P

*cookie to crim for producing a helpful visual guide* ^^

Yays! Cookie Nn *gnaws happily*

Insanely excellent guide, especially for MS Paint.

I use the same sort of thing but not as well o.o I have a guideline for about the head and just use a stretched oval for the body, rather than two circles. But whatever gets results!

Actually, it's pretty cool that you picked Christopher Walken--sorry, Shadow the Hedgehog--to draw.

Cool tips. When you get a chance, can you do these in pencil and paper, just so they'd be easier to see? Many thanks, regardless.

Not likely sorry, since when I draw it tends to be in blue pencil for the specific purpose of not scanning it, though once I've got some batman free space, I might see what I can do. I may try redoing the thing in PSP once my tablet is back with me, but that can be...iffy.

Though I might later tonight try darkening the colour of the geometric shapes, see how thathelps Nn

Oh, and the oddness I found in drawing Shadow is that I like, never, ever draw him o.o

Thank you for that basic drawing style guide. What a pity there aren't more like this elsewhere online.

Can you offer some tips on drawing Sonic's spines? (From "Sonic Adventure" onwards, of course!)

Hmmm, not really, since they have become a sort of instictual thing now. But what I used to do was draw some fluid lines from the top of the muzzle backwards, then on the line with the bottom of the ear, and one in the centre of the head. Then draw some circles around the lines making them into cones.

But like I said, I wasn't good with spines till some kind of auto kicked in. Just practise practise practise I guess.

i just picture an apple with bananas stuck to it. his spines are roughly the same shape.