He works on Sonic X's covers. It'd also be a good idea not to bash something without giving reason for why you think something "sucks".

I THINK IT SUCKS

Vast amounts of AWESOME and WIN that is. Pass me some. I want to be made of awesome and win too.

like toby said, give a reason why or it's just bashing. and if you're here to bash then you aren't wanted.

Uh, guys, they repealed the no bashing rule long ago. You can ask them to explain though, just don't do it rudely.

~Tobe

Honestly, I think Spaz has been going downhill since the comic hit issue 100. His style has certainly evolved over the years, but I personally don't like what it evolved into. His covers for 100 through the late 130s were downright bad. I loved it when he started emulating the Uekawa style until around issue 150, then he went right back downhill. His Sonic X covers are fantastic, though.

Needless to say, I find Tracy's cover art to be refreshing. We haven't had cartoony covers since...issue 30, IIRC.

ok i'll explain why it sucks, i didn't know i had to be all nissy prissy about it. i just got issue 179 and it's like sonic covers have gone to the art style that dave manak gave us in the first issues (there's a reason fans complained about them, which lead them on to hire spaz). seriously the ink work is waaay too thick, sonic looks fatter, and the whole appearance looks like it's trying to grab the eye of a three year old. now obviously i know that sonic is targeted towards kids, and i accept that, but at least with spaz' work it didn't make that obvious. the designs were powerful, the lineart was beautifully done, and it made sonic look...well, cooler! was that not sega's purpose for making him their mascot?

now i know that spaz went a little downhill after a while, but he was still spaz. i wasn't a fan of his art that looked too much like the video game art, i was more into his art around issue 125 or the classic sonic 50.

i don't know basically this is just me venting my anger over this new cover artist. i'm thinking about not buying sonic comics anymore because the cover art is just so horrible. sorry sorry i mean "in my opinion it's so horrible" geez.

You don't want to buy the comics because of the cover artwork? Good idea, I say go for it. Byee!

Quote:

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ok i'll explain why it sucks, i didn't know i had to be all nissy prissy about it.

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Insulting people who ask you to follow the forum guidelines won't do you any favours, either... I don't see anything prissy about saying anything more than "IT SUCKS!" and actually giving other people posting in the topic something to work with.

Sorry to hear that some of the readers are displeased with the covers I've worked on.

Do try to keep something in mind, though. I only pencil the covers. On all the covers I've done from issues 168 through 179, Jim Amash did inks, and Jason Jenson did the color. On issues 181 through 184, I did the penciling and inking and Ben Hunzeker did the colors.

I did the penciling, inking and coloring on issue 180. That issue will give you a good idea of what all the covers might look like if I did all the art chores on every cover.

Yes, Jim's ink lines are rather thick. Yes, Jenson's colors are very vibrant. Yes, my art style does not mimick Spaz's.

I'm very pleased with some of my covers and less pleased with others. I understand completely if there are readers who don't like my style. But, please take into consideration that the covers are a team effort. Each artist who works on them puts his own stylistic preferences into the cover.

I hope to continue doing the covers for the book and I will do my best to improve with each one I do. My primary goal is to provide the readers with quality artwork. All I ask in return is that they try to appreciate my art for what it is, and if they don't like it, please present me with constructive criticism.

Tracy Yardley!

Thanks for taking the time to post, Tracy. I wasn't going to bring up the fact that you never know who's reading these boards, or that whatever your own tastes are, I don't think it's fair to come down on someone else's obvious time and effort.

Paersonally, I don't mind the covers at all, and I have to agree that Spaz's style was starting to get....wierd. Especially his Sally. I don't know, she looked kind of wierd on #162.

But the Yardley covers have been nice, and bright, and cheery. While I wouldn't mind a little more background detail, I think he does a great job on them regardless.

to tracy. listen i'm sorry if i hurt your feelings or anything, obviously not everyone will like some people's artwork. i apologize to everyone if i came across as a jerk or an ass. this is all basically me just venting my frustration after being a big time fan of spaz's work for 10 years now, and it pains me to see him move to sonic x when i grew up loving the original sonic comics.
i guess another thing is that i'm not used to this forum at all so i don't really know your guidelines or anything. but i'll do my best in the future to put others feelings into consideration before i post a thread.
anyways i do give out constructive criticism. so i'd be more than happy to give some to tracy. when drawing sonic i think it's important to make him stand out as a real character. lines shouldn't be too squiggly or curvy. for instance i'm looking at cover 177 right now, and i noticed his torso was a bit inverted. i would try to smooth that out and make it more presentable showing sonic as a more in shape being, rather than coming across as pudgy. because at the moment your drawings of him make him look kind of fat. overall the perspective is great in that shot, perhaps the robot could look a little more mechanica, giving him more animation by say adding compartments or something. because right now his right elbow looks kind of strange when i look at it. the colors and everything else are fine, although the inking is a bit thick for me. on to issue 179 i just didn't think the lines had to be that incredibly thick when sonics ripping the tails wanted sign.
yea so that's all, again i apologize to everyone who was offended by my post. again it's just me venting my anger for the loss of spaz on sonic the hedgehog comics. and to tracy i'm sorry i didn't mean to viciously attack you without giving a reason. i'll do my best to think these posts through in the future

Again tho, Tracy! did not ink 179 and has no control over how thick the lines are. (I think the 4 diffrent shades of peach to Sonic's muzzle make him look slighty double-chinned but that is more a coloring issue) On the whole I like the works of the many pencilers, inkers, and colorists who have worked on Archie Sonic and it's spinoffs.
Sometimes it can be tricky joining forums and adjusting to rules when your new (after all, every place has different policies and limits on what is/is not acceptable.) The list of rules are available on the site, if your not sure where, Sam has the address link in her sig. You'll get the hang of it shortly so happy posting Alex!
PS If you like Spaz's work but don't care for Sonic X, try the Archives. They reprint old stories with new Spaz covers (they are drawn in the retro Genesis designs). Volume 3 even has a short interview with him!

Say what you want about Tracy!, but he's light years ahead of that guy (Sanchez, I think) who was doing the covers for a few months in the #150s. He somehow managed to make Sally look like a toad.

Say what you want about Tracy!, but he's light years ahead of that guy (Sanchez, I think) who was doing the covers for a few months in the #150s. He somehow managed to make Sally look like a toad.

wait wait, who are you talking about?

and again, tracy i'm sorry i hope you can forgive me, and i hope my second post helped you understand where i'm coming from now.

I just double-checked, his name was Sanford and he did the covers for #153-#156. He makes Ron Lim look like a talented professional.

Ron Lim IS a talented professional. Have you ever checked his work outside of Sonic?

Toby has a point. While he is not the best at Sonic characters, he can do great renditions of superheroes.

Yeah I have, and I agree he does good work outside of Sonic, but when he manages to maintain a job with Sonic for years and years and draws maybe three good panels in his time there, I refuse to call him talented.

Well, do you know the whole story? Possibly, he could have been working in terrible conditions, maybe the editor at the time was a flake? Incredibly short deadlines?

Not when he was with the comic over a period of around six years and through two different editors.

Granted Ron Lim isn't totally useless, his human/overlander designs were pretty good - but that doesn't make up for the horrendous work done in every other aspect of the comic. It's just really disappointing that we lost great artists like Dawn Best, J Axer, and Dub, and got stuck with Ron Lim, who had no place working on Sonic.

i'm not sure who Ron Lim is, but sanfords work was alright. except for i thought sonics spines were a little weird looking on issue 155 (way too loose and not pointed)

I thought the cover of issue 156 looked really odd. Sally looked especially strange, and a lot of the characters on the cover weren't in the story at all.