#also i'm glad i can still draw sonic it's been So long

[tomaturtles]

I've beaten Frontiers twice and it's still not enough

[yellowvixen]

Logo by @bunnymajo, thank you!!

Better late than never, here's a Q&A for @sonic-oc-showdown

✨ How did you come up with the OC’s name?

I wanted to use a word that meant ice that wasn't extremely obvious, and Rime ended up being perfect! To be specific it means hoar frost.

🌼 How old are they? (Or approximate age range)

Same age as Blaze! She was created ~100 years ago, but like Shadow she was frozen and didn't age until she got woken up.

🌺 Do they have any love interest(s)?

She's aro, so no romantic love interest. That said, she and Blaze do definitely end up in a relationship :3

🍕 What is their favorite food?

Surprisingly, anything spicy!

🎹 Do they have any hobbies?

Ice skating! Rime can create her own ice and propell herself pretty easily, but outside of fighting she's discovered she loves the elegance of truly dancing on ice, and challenges herself to learn difficult jumps. She also likes going for long morning walks, especially on a crisp winter morning when the ground is still covered in frost.

❤️ What is one of your OC’s best memories?

Most of their memories as a child with their brother, although a lot of them are bittersweet to look back on now.

✂️ What is one of your OC’s worst memories?

Seeing her brother die before being frozen.

🧊 Is their current design the first one?

Yup! Some of their fur colour has changed ever so slightly (her muzzle and ear/chest fluff are now pure white rather than the same off white as the rest of her fur) but that's it.

🍀 What originally inspired the OC?

@transgendershadowthehedgehog made a post about how Blaze should have an aro cryomancer rival, and I ran with the idea.

🌂 What genre do they belong in?

@mari-madas gave me the idea that the Sol dimension is centered more around fantasy in contrast with Sonic's dimension being more sci fi. Not a hard and fast rule as they both have magic and tech, but it's about the Aesthetic™. So, fantasy!

💚 What is your OC’s gender identity and sexuality?

Aromantic nonbinary lesbian! Or as she would describe herself, girlthing.

🙌 How many sibling does your OC have?

Just the one, her adopted brother, Gertrude's grandson! Possibly also a Sol version of Biolizard, but I haven't come up with anything for that idea yet

🍎 What is the OC’s relationship w/their parents like?

Like Shadow, Rime was made rather than born, so technically doesn't have parents. But her creator, the witch Gertrude, was basically a mother to her... In a way.

Rime was always perfectly happy with Gertrude and never really thinks anything was wrong with how they grew up. But anyone else might think differently, as Rime was treated more like an animal than a person. Not with (much) malice, Gertrude just assumed that Rime didn't have the intelligence of a regular mobian. This allowed Rime to grow up pretty feral, which she considers a good thing! She won't look too deeply into it. She DOESN'T have mommy issues, promise (lying).

✏️ How often do you draw/write about the OC?

Definitely more since this showndown, which I'm glad of! I want to draw her more in the future too, she simply hasn't been around long enough for me to have made a lot of art for her.

💎 Do you ever see yourself killing off the OC?

I mean... gestures to Shadow "dying" at the end of sa2. A similar thing happens to Rime, so while she does die, it's not permanent.

💀 Does your OC have any phobias?

Large open areas, especially at night. Being in space is particularly awful for her (not that she'd show it)

🍩 Who is your OC’s arch-nemesis or rival?

Blaze ;)

Feel free to ask more questions about her!! Brainstorming how to answer them is pretty much how I've created her lore so far lmao

[egg-emperor]

Glad I'm not the only one who hates the slimmed down Eggman art. He is EGGman. SHAPED LIKE AN EGG. Let him be big. People don't need to have ripped abs or be 99% muscle to be strong/intimidating/whatever. If they truly want a character that's super ripped and muscular, they can find a different character. Eggman is strong, eggman is fat, the fact that people can't seem to accept those both is super frustrating.

Anyway, that's my little rant. I have some strong opinions about this unfortunately underrated egg, and I'm glad to find a space where I can share them. Hope you're having a good day, take care!

Slimmed down Eggman art has always been my worst enemy lol. I'm so glad I'm not alone in my frustrations with it because it's so immensely popular. Everyone always prefers official skinnier versions over the fat ones and it's not a coincidence, they intentionally slim down classic or modern Eggman in art, or make skinny redesigns or draw him slim and buff instead. Also more people only started saying Eggman was hot when the most popular slimmer versions started existing and more people think fat Eggman ns4w is repulsive, while they say skinny sexy Eggman ns4w is hot. The fatphobia has always been extremely obvious in many ways and some don't even try to hide it and admit it openly.

I've loved fat Eggman and cared about keeping him round for as long as I've liked the series, besides Heroes, X was the first Sonic media I consumed around the same time and whenever there were simple small errors between frames where he was randomly drawn flat looking or skinny, even that bothered me. It made me draw a very chunky Eggman so I could be especially careful and make sure I never accidentally drew him too skinny and I loved it so much that it stuck as a part of my style lol. So the actual intentionally slimmed down Eggman in both official and fan content really bothers me especially when even the accidents would bother me a lot.

I'll only ever make the exception for Boom Eggman, I don't like him as much but he's still at least more faithful than Kintobor or jimbotnik in other ways. But did the whole slimming down a fat character for a redesign thing really need to happen in the first place? No. Just like how skinny characters aren't redesigned to be fat, there's no reason to slim a fat character down. Especially in Eggman's case, as it's literally the actual reason he has the goddamn name EGGman, it's not something that should just randomly be taken away for no reason when it's a core defining trait like what lmfao. Also makes me sad that any version can be liked by fatphobic morons as a result because they don't deserve any.

I can't pretend I don't hate the skinny Eggman gender swaps or younger anime boy redesigns, even all the anthro ones are skinny. Slimming down and making characters "conventionally attractive" sucks. Let them be interesting and fun instead of the most boring standards with the most generic designs. A little creativity here! I also don't like when people draw ripped skinny Eggman when they find out about his strength because fat strong people exist! He's great rep and proof he doesn't need to look like that to be strong and yet people do it anyway and I don't think it's sexy or funny or whatever. I hate when people are like "wow he actually looks strong/like a power type character now" nah, he already does exactly the way he is.

Eggman being a big strong fat man is one of the coolest most admirable things about him to me, I find it sad that a lot of the fandom don't respect it and are so fatphobic too. I'm very passionate about loving and appreciating that as he really deserves. 💜 Lol this is indeed the perfect place to share those strong Eggman opinions as I unsurprisingly have a lot too, I'm glad you find this a good place to do so. ^^

I'm having a good night thanks, I hope you're having a good day/night too!

[missholoska]

I really love your art style! (I've been following for awhile, not an OG follower or whatever but not extremely new)

I am guessing you've been drawing for a long time or at least had lots of practice!! You probably get this a lot, since your a good artist but still!

(You're probably at least 20-30 so obviously you have a good amount of experience with art.. sorry if assuming you age was offensive, I have little social skills due to autism, again sorry)

aaa gosh thank you!!

I've been drawing basically all my life but I think I started digital art when I was 10? but practice does go a long way! coincidentally I have a good example of it - last month while clearing out some files I happened across my first ever attempts at drawing Toriel from early 2016, which I don't recall ever showing to anyone:

(at that point in time not only had I exclusively been drawing sonic characters for the past decade, but I'd only been using SAI and my art tablet for a single year. severely lacking practice in multiple ways)

compare those to this Toriel I still like from late 2021, 5 and a half years later:

I keep trying to find words for the sheer difference in style and understanding of shapes and proportions, but I have nothing jfhsdkf

my old art is very Bad and Scary and I'm not the kind of person who can look back on it with fondness, but I wouldn't be able to do better now without it, so. I'm glad if that experience got me somewhere pretty decent ;v;

(also don't worry, I'm 27 so you guessed my age correctly!! and I'm autistic too :>)

[kaibette]

i'm so sorry the sonic fandom is being a shitfest but i'm really glad that i at least got to find your work through it bc it's honestly inspiring. i love seeing how hard you push your lighting and rendering and how cool your designs are. even if you stop doing sonic entirely i'd still want to follow your work bc i imagine it'll be just as cool seeing you branch out into different styles.

also you've consistently been one of the more level-headed people i've followed so it's really annoying to see people lashing out at you like that. really hope you'll be able to get some peace from it soon

hope this isn't overly sappy from someone you don't really know

Thank you! I'm gonna respond to this one under the cut because I can be longwinded.

The sonic fandom has always been a shitfest. When I first joined like... 4 years ago? There was a huge call-out situation that was all over my timeline that directly connects to the harassment that others and myself still receive today.

When people say "oh all of this is due to friend drama" it's honestly true. I've been roped into several conflicts between friends which honestly didn't need to be public. And because I publicly voiced my opinion (oftentimes in favor of one side or another from a bystanders perspective) people have drawn circles around me to group me with people.

I try really hard to be level-headed about things, but I'm not perfect and I slip up sometimes. Recently, though, because people have drawn these circles around me, there are random people who are being told I'm 'in' with these groups that they hate. And any time I push back or call out people doing this, it feels like people see me as the problem.

This has gone so far as someone leaking my personal discord blacklist (wherein I specifically state that it's a private document and do not contact or harass the people listed) to someone on that blacklist. And, somehow, I'm the issue?

I think the sonic community has a real issue with letting terrible people stay in the space. People are consistently scared of speaking out in the way that I always do because every time someone like me does speak, people try to silence them. Instead of it being "this person is doing a shitty thing, they are the problem" it has become "this person is talking about someone having done a shitty thing, they are the problem."

And, in a way, I cannot blame them. There have been so many back and forth call-out documents where it boiled down to "this person isn't a good friend" that I get why there's a disdain for calling out anyone for anything.

However, there's a specific group that never talks, but they continuously stalk people that have blocked them and rip their shit off. Their friends have dozens of alternate accounts and they have massive followings. And they're free to just do whatever they want while stoking hatred on the backend because their art is decent I guess. If you ever speak up about them, you'll get your shit ripped off too and slip into my position where people are attacking me because I'm associated with the people they don't like. And it sucks. They suck. But nothing will change because this place values art quality over originality and common decency.

This fandom has issues, and I'm just tired of cleaning them up. I don't get anything but enemies out of trying to be a good person. I'll still draw my ship but I can't and won't be supporting the vast majority of creatives here because there's no way to know if they're planning to stab me in the back or not.

Sorry this is so long but it's but a snippet of me feelings at the moment. Thank you, truly, for your support. It really means a lot.

[sarahreesbrennan]

You wrote on twitter that you were too young to be published and did fool things you later regretted. I'm curious about those regrets - is there anything you'd be willing to elaborate on?

I do want to clarify I meant I personally was probably too young, and I wasn't a babe in arms when I was published--I was 24, which is an adult! S.E. Hinton was 18 when her first book was published and she arguably invented young adult fiction. Jennifer Lynn Barnes was a teenager when her first book was published and she's always been a genius rock star. Some people are married and having kids and doing great at their jobs at 24, but some people are in college, or learning the ropes of their jobs and full-time work life in general and messing up because it still feels unfamiliar. Most of us, me included, will be making messes until we die, though we can hope for better messes.

My regrets aren't super secret--I would've conducted myself differently online and offline. One thing I've said before: I wouldn't link up my real name and my fanfic identity the way I did back when. That means having your juvenilia out there and judged, and yourself judged in a very particular way! It is hard to sit in the doctor's office and ask him for written proof you have cancer, because the internet will accuse you of faking it. (Yes that did happen. That poor man's face was like, 'Girl, why do you not live your life right.') As I've said, I have an assistant-with-antis who filters my social media and email so I don't have to come upon hostile stuff, and I do wonder if there are ways to inspire less hostility.

But to be clear regarding that example, I think fandom is awesome in many ways, and it's valuable to say you wrote fanfiction, just don't get too specific. One of my most cherished facts about a (fancy, brilliant, very bestselling) writer friend is that she wrote Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction once. Many of my writer friends used to or still do write it! (Fanfic in general... I'm not outing a bunch of writers as avid Sonic fans...) And being open about my identity did mean I had some beautiful supportive readers from the jump, who were sweet to me and made friends with each other (Marmalade fish shoutout). I love that people connect over fiction, and that they connected over mine. My advice to others is to do it like Oscar winner Chloe Zhao, and be like 'yes I write it, yes the call is coming from inside the building, yes creative engaged people engage creatively in many ways, no you'll never know my online name!' And that's mostly how it's done these days--there are masses of fanfiction writers in TV, in movies, working as editors and agents in publishing, and who are writers, because people who are passionate about creativity are passionate about creativity in many ways. A decade ago and nobody was sure how it was going to go: I do think it went well generally, if uneasily for test balloons like me.

Overall, as regards regrets, if you're alive, you're making mistakes, and if you're growing, you're learning from them. Often the more you care, the more mistakes you make. There are some things only life experience can teach you, and I've seen people who came into writing with experience from being, for instance, lawyers which they were able to use in many ways, and there were times I wished I'd acquired experience or lost naivety in a job that wasn't my dream job. Sometimes I really didn't know what was going on, and later I was like 'Ohhh! Oh Lord.' I would say a few things I wish I'd known: How to draw boundaries like circles of salt that others couldn't cross. The personal and the professional are going to blur, but it's still important to try and differentiate them. How to pick your battles: recognise the unwinnable, find the most likely strategy for victory with the winnable ones. Know that people won't like you just because you're making life more convenient for them, so don't do it for that reason. OMG abide by contracts and make sure the contracts cover every eventuality. Learn the art of standing your ground calmly. (One day, I'll get it.)

But getting published at any age is complicated: I have one friend who was sure she was going to die after she got her publishing contract because it was her dream accomplished, and what was left? I have more life experience in my 30s, but I also had most of those years totally slain by cancer: my writing went off a cliff long before I was diagnosed, and then I couldn't write, and since then I've been scrambling. If I'd been published first at 30 I might have handled myself in style, but there definitely wouldn't have been two trilogies before the long pause. One very lovely, very talented lady who was first published in the same year I was died shortly after. You don't know what's coming: Margaret Mitchell was hit by a speeding drunk driver and we'll never know if rumours she planned to write a sequel to Gone with the Wind are true. The people whose first books were out in 2020 had a tough time, and I would've freaked out if I'd been in their position and am glad I didn't have a non-tie-in novel out--it was very strange to have two tie-ins out that year as it was! People were reading books in 2020, but it was harder for new books to get on their radar.

I didn't write the tweet to alarm anyone, or say there was a magical time it was best to be published at. Lots of amazing writers aren't published, are published feeling they're too young, are published feeling they're too old. I think my tweet was really to say, there's no precise right time, and no way to execute your dreams exactly right. I do look back on stuff and think, oh lord, me at 30 might have handled THAT better. I hope that I'll look back at me now from 50 and go, I'd crush the stuff that crushed her!

Are there things I would change, sure. But I probably would make different mistakes if it had all happened differently for me. Humans constantly torment ourselves imagining the magic way we could've got everything right, a task exactly nobody has accomplished. I've never lived a perfect life or written a perfect book, and I don't know anyone else who has. I'm really glad I was published, and really proud of all my books. If you've never done something you've regretted, how much have you done? Keep going.

[cearamorran]

I'm sorry if this is rude and you don't have to answer if it feels too invasive, but how did you find out you might have ADHD? Because I'm kind of wondering if I might have it too (some friends were concerned and said maybe I should get it checked out), but I'm not too sure I should since it feels like if I really have it then it should've been a bigger problem much sooner? Don't wanna waste professionals' times and all. What kind of symptoms did you have and how was the topic brought up?

It’s okay, I’m glad to be of help if I can! I might not be the most knowlegdeable on the matter, and all of this is only my own experience, so i’d recommand doing your own research as well.

This might be a little long, sorry ^^'

Actually it was right here on tumblr that I learned about it in the first place. It started with reading posts where they mentioned it and its symptoms and i was like “wow, sounds rough :/”

It was only after reading about it more that i realized that it fit me a little too well. My whole life flashed before my eyes and it was a “oh my god that explains everything” moment.

I also had my doubts at first, because I thought everybody was just Like That. I think it’s common not to even realize you might have it because you just grow up learning ways to go around it, you know? and also it’s not like society is any help. When I was young I was actually one of those High Potential kids (here in Switzerland it’s what they’re called, i’m not sure what’s the name elsewhere ) so my teachers and my parents KNEW there was something up with me, but basically they dealt with that by trying to make me switch class ONCE, and when that didn’t work (because I was a stubborn ass kid and just completely stopped working until they put me back in my old class with my friends) they just went “oh well, guess that didn’t work :/” and i spent the rest of my school years getting progressively worse at studying and learning.

Symptoms for me were that basically I couldn’t work on something that didn’t interest me. Reading anything for school was impossible, I zoned out every three sentences. Maths were - still are - incomprehensible to me (and on top of it my teacher was a psychopath. to this day i go into flight or fight mode whenever i’m presented with even the stupidest math problems. though maybe that’s just a gay thing lmao)

Hyperfixations are a big thing for me. The first one that I can remember was when I was thirteen. I’d just gotten access to the wonders of internet back then, and I discovered.... Sonic. I was that kid, yes. So every day I lived and breathed Sonic. All day at school, the only thing I could think about was going home to get on the computer and watch SonicX episodes, draw my Sonic OCs and write my Sonic self-insert fanfics. I just thought everyone started vibrating out of their skin when they liked something, you know? I wrote novels about me and sonic going on adventures but i couldnt write three words for that presentation i was supposed to give the next day

I also go through a cicle of extremely efficient and completely apathetic, i’ve found. (though maybe that’s more like a depression thing than an ADHD thing, but my anxiety/depression and ADHD are definitely linked to each other anyway) It definetely shows in my chaotic history on this blog. My jaytim week from like four years ago, when I posted whole ass comics every DAY?? i was on a roll, and then my hyperfixation died down and i entered Anxiety Territory.

So yeah, those are the most obvious things for me, but there are tons of other things that won’t come to mind right now. Since it’s been a part of me for my whole life it’s literally MADE me who i am today. but i know symptoms can vary a lot from one person to the other, and not every one deals with it in the same way.

If you think you might have it and can get it checked out, i would definitely go for it. Professionals are here for that, you wouldn’t be wasting their time. And it’s not because you’re functional that it can’t impact your life. I suffered my way all the way through to high school before dropping out, but if someone had told me I had ADHD back then and helped me out, maybe I would have gone to college, (unlikely because i am very much an artist at heart, but I at least would have had the opportunity) maybe my traumatized ass wouldn’t have a mental breakdown over the mere mention of picking up my studies again.

Anyway, when I found out there actually might be a real thing(TM) going on with me and it wasn’t just me being stupid I might have cried a little.

So yeah, I hope this can help, and sorry for the novel-size answer ^^

[eggfruit]

HEY EGG, sorry if I'm bothering you, I just wanted to wish you a happy new year :D

Also wanted to thank you for making me get into drawing, I really haven't made much progress, but I'm glad I finally started! Drawing turned out to be one of the best things to help me with anxiety. You're a huge inspiration to me, just seeing how easy you can draw anything that comes to mind, this really messed with me in a very good way. It's very inspiring how easy you can express yourself through your drawings, and also have fun doing it. I said to myself that I would like to be like that one day HAUSHUSHSUSH

Anyway, Egg, I hope you're enjoying yourself! I made a drawing of Eggator to thank you for everything, I just love the little fella, and also thought you would like it! happy new year, Egg! :D

First of all; I’m carrying this with me in my heart. Not even kidding I’m printing that when I get home and putting it on my wall. I’m beyond touched and I really extremely appreciate it. My best advice on your art journey is do it for you. Make yourself happy, for reals.

On a different note! Drawing isn’t easy for me. I’m very proud of where I am and the ways I’ve managed to progress but art is all about building your skills and learning new things and that process has a LOT of growing pains. Ones that are worth it when you come out on the other end but pains nonetheless. I go through them constantly and they can suck ass. But! That’s the process, and all growth is good growth even when it’s difficult. I very strongly believe that art is something everyone can do if they’re willing to invest the time and patience. Easier said than done but still 100% fact in my brain.

I have things to show you. I’m at my mom’s house for the holidays so I’ve got access to my old closet:

This is a box in my closet full of used sketchbooks. Not all of them are fully used, I’ve given up on a couple, but these bad boys go back over 10 years. This is my oldest drawing in these books, I drew it when I decided I really liked drawing in 2009:

For the entire year, every single one of my drawings looked exactly like this. I don’t think I started drawing bodies til 2010. I also have a very on and off tradition of drawing Sonic the hedgehog every time I dig up a specific book. The oldest one here is 2010, youngest 2018:

I’m showing you these so you can see how long this has taken me. I didn’t wake up and say “I Will Make Expression”, flicked a pencil, and made it happen. I’ve looked up tons of tutorials and I often will look at cartoons, faces, and other people’s art and think “Why do I like this, what is happening in the face/body/colors/etc that makes it this way?”. And it’s been very fulfilling and heartbreaking and everything in between. Drawing isn’t easy for me! But I love it very much and I hope I keep finding new things to take a bat to. I also hope that when you hit a wall, you give yourself the slack and determination to find your way around it.

Also, for the first time since June 7th 2018

Sonic da hedgehog progress babeeeyyy

Happy New Year, dude!