#Ian Tracey fanart

[psyrapmafia]

some sketch studies of male characters (bolan from hell on wheels, luca from peaky blinders, druses from raised by wolves, harvey from suits, and homelander from the boys)

[iantraceyunofficial]

Check out this amazing work by @mg_draws_the_pencil (IG) of Ian Tracey as Jason from series Continuum!

[robotnik-mun]

Robotnik Art Historia- Final: Fade to Flynn

Would you believe me if I told you that when I first wrote that up I wasn’t planning for the alliteration? True story! 

Anyway, welcome on and all to the final installation of the Robotnik Art Historia! Well folks it’s been a fun ride, but all good things must come to an end. In this final segment we take a look at the scant few appearances that ol eggbelly had during the Flynn Era of the Archie book- a time where one author ruled the roost of the book, where the Sonic comic would expand in a way unprecedented with previous eras and where, most astoundingly, ACTUAL artistic standards were met and kept consistent. It would also be a time of great upheaval- previous writers had left a trainwreck in their wake, and much of Flynn’s time would be spent untying the knot that was the continuity while moving several longstanding plots forward, all the while working to more closely align the books to the games... until events outside his control would force things to be closer to the games than ever before as the continuity was rebooted. 

This was the time when the old Robotnik’s relevance to things would fade almost entirely, but still he would still make a scant few appearances. This would be the last era in which this design and interpretation of the Eggman would be used, the final chapter in a story that was a lot longer than anyone could have anticipated. The Robotniks here don’t quite have the same level of wide variety as the others in the past did- thanks to the more stringent rules of quality and consistency, Robotnik is more uniform here than ever before. That being said, while the variety might have taken a hit, the quality of these Robotniks cannot be denied, and it is nice to know that the doc’s last hurrah was done by such skilled artists as these. 

25. Tracey Yardley

Many great comic writers tend to have an artist to help complement them and make their work truly iconic- Stan Lee had Jack Kirby, Chris Claremont had John Byrne, and Ian Flynn had Tracey Yardley. Coming in like a hurricane, Yardley quickly established himself as the primary artist for the book during this time, to much acclaim, with a toony, expressive style that none the less managed to gel nicely with the in-house Sonic Style. He had few opportunities to draw the Big Round Guy, and the first time was... not all that great, essentially being Eggman’s head stuck on a bigger balloon body. However, his later take on the guy- done for the History of Mobius segments that would be made for the Super Special Magazines showed VAST improvements, creating an appropriately massive and menacing Robotnik. Once again- so very frustrated that this couldn’t be showcased in a story proper. Story of my life. 

26. Renae De Liz

Renae De Liz had only two issues to her name, but had a much more extensive career outside of Archie, including working on DC’s Legend of Wonder Woman book and the comic adaptation of The Last Unicorn. She would only depict Robotnik once, in two panels of a flashback sequence detailing how the Iron Queen came to work for Robotnik, but as luck would have it, she did a good job- that one panel in particular is one of my favorites, managing to capture the essence of Julian juuust right. By now you know the song and dance- ‘would have liked to see more’. That’s the mantra by this point. 

27. Ben Bates

Another fan favorite, Ben Bates was in the eyes of many the absolute master of the ‘Sonic Style’, managing to fit anyone and everyone into it during his time on the Sonic book. His career was hardly limited to Sonic though- he also did work on the Megaman series, and the New Crusaders book (both of which were written by Flynn), and outside of Archie worked extensively in IDW’s Ninja Turtle books. Unlike most during this time, he got to draw an actual story featuring the dock- as you can see, his drawing is practically a perfect replica of Robotnik’s design as depicted in SatAM, a sweet surprise for fans such as myself who missed the old doc’s design (all five of us). This would mark the last time this model of Robotnik would feature as a character in any story of the book, even if it was only in the form of an extended flashback. 

28. Jon Grey 

Ah, now this is a complicated example! See, Jon Grey is a much beloved fanartist, and didn’t get his start in the Flynn era- he was part of the same wave of fanartists who came onto the book back in early-to-mid 2000s that gave us Jay Axer and Dawn Best, bringing his toony and ultra-expressive style into the book, most notably being the main artist for the acclaimed Return to Angel Island arc and being the designer of Dr. Finitevus. I call this a complex example because technically, he only drew Robotnik once for the books, in a bit of promotional art for the first Sonic Digest book. However, I have witnessed his work on the guy in fanart- while his style might be better suited for stuff like Adventures, all the same his able to appropriately convey all the right things in Julian, with a superb attention to detail. 

29. Evan Stanley 

Another fanartist turned pro, Stanley first came to fan attention for her popular fancomic “Ghosts of the Future”, demonstrating a keen ability to depict Sonic characters in a somewhat more realistic fashion without detracting from the Sonic Style or general tooniness expected from the Sonic series. The bulk of her work being in the Post-Reboot continuity, she is noteworthy for her redesign of Von Schlemmer, her creation of the character Gold the Tenrec and for establishing the precise kind of future that Silver that came from. She is also the very last person to draw Robotnik in the Archie Sonic comic, in a flashback scene involving Sonic’s faded memories of the old continuity (where notably, like many other times, his nose is a tad on the big side). This is noteworthy as it will not only be the last time this design of Robotnik would feature in the book, but it is extremely likely that this is the very last time that the SatAM model of Robotnik will ever be utilized in anything ever again, marking this as the final depiction of the design. In his Warlord uniform no less. 

And with that, this artistic retrospective of Robotnik comes to a close. What else can be said? I did all this to celebrate the sheer variety of the comics over the ages and to celebrate one of my favorite characters in the books while doing so, because much like the overall character of Dr. Eggman/Robotnik in general with regards to the history of the franchise, he has had the most variation in his depictions within the book, and I felt that was something worth looking over and celebrating. Because while the artwork wasn’t always good and it was amazing the kind of sloppiness that was allowed in the old days, there’s something kind of charming about the fact that once upon a time, there could be as much visual interpretation in the book as there was then. It is ultimately for the best that Archie’s art got its act together before its untimely cancellation, to be sure, but at the same time I do miss the level of creativity that could be demonstrated in the old days, even if it didn’t always end well.

And so, we bring this series to an end. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as I did making it, and I hope I’ve given you something to think about at least!

[psyrapmafia]

some fanart of my favorite actor Ian Tracey

[psyrapmafia]

william doodle

[psyrapmafia]

Jason from Continuum 🤍

[psyrapmafia]

Some shadow mapping studies. Different techniques but same guy.

[psyrapmafia]

every time i feel down I just draw a picture of my favorite actor.

[psyrapmafia]

Project Blue Book: Unseen

[psyrapmafia]

Studies of Jason from CONTINUUM, whose role in the series is to be Most Precious™️

[psyrapmafia]

A study in painting. Which, btw, is freaking hard.

App used: Painter

[psyrapmafia]

Every day is fanart friday as far as I'm concerned.

[psyrapmafia]

banner piece for account @traceyactor, featuring Terrence from the tragically short lived series Incorporated. Made on Ibis Paint X.

[psyrapmafia]

(another) Terrence study. Just trying out a different style. Done on Artflow.

[iantraceyunofficial]

What if Ian Tracey had played a demon on Supernatural?

[psyrapmafia]

A random page from my sketchbook for #TraditionalTuesday.

I've had the same sketchbook for an embarrassingly long time, and if I ever fill it out it'll be my first "completed" sketchbook in my life. I don't work front to back...I just open it to a random page and keep flipping forward or backward until I find a blank page or just an empty space on a page. Because of this, one spread can have drawings that were done years apart. How many years apart is unknown because I have a bad habit of never dating sketches.