How to draw Sonic step by step

Step 1

Step 1: A quick note for all our mangakas out there. Since we’ll be drawing the whole body of Sonic in this tutorial we have to be sure to leave enough room on our paper to accomodate his full size. Also, we can see in the final picture that Sonic is turned slightly so everything on the right of our drawing will be larger than on the left giving him that 3d appearence we’re going after. Well, let’s start where we always start, with a head circle. As always, our lines are in blue pencil as they are only construction lines and will be erased later on, so be sure not to press too hard on your paper when making all of our construction lines. Let’s draw a circle in the upper center of our paper and move on to Step 2.

Step 2

Step 2: Ok, mangakas, you should know where to go next! Construction lines for the face. The eye line cuts the circle almost in half but is a little lower on the left side of the circle and curves ever so slightly upward at the center. The center line is way to the left and curves slightly to the left as you draw down.

Step 3

Step 3: Let’s work on the face, here. Sonic’s got huge eyes and a giant mouth that takes up most of the head shape. We’ll draw two egg like shapes for the eyes. The one on the right should be larger than the one on the left, and the top of the eye on the right points to the right while the one on the left points to the left. (These are examples of our size and squashing 3D principles.) The mouth shape curves up to touch the bottom of the eye on the left and then downward to touch the eye on the right.

Step 4

Step 4: Now, in this step we’ll add Sonic’s nose and eyebrows. The eyebrows are fairly easy, two curving lines. Draw the one on the right just above the eye and the one on the left is also above the eye but outside the head circle. Lastly, we’ll draw an ellipse for Sonic’s nose. It should be placed on the left and will overlap the bottom of the eye on the left and the top of the mouth shape.

Step 5

Step 5: Where would Sonic the Hedgehog be without his signature shark fin hair? This is where Sonic really begins to stand out. We need to draw three shark fin like shapes for Sonic’s hair here, each one slightly smaller than the one above and the bottom fin shouldn’t touch the head circle. Notice that the first “fin” starts from just above the point where his eyebrow on the left touches the head circle.

Step 6

Step 6: Sonic probably couldn’t go so fast if he didn’t have perfect hearing, so in this step we’ll draw in his ears. We’ll draw a tent like shape on the left for his ear on that side. It should start at about the middle of the eyebrow on the left and finish at where the center line touches the first hair “fin”. The ear on the right starts with a tent like shape on the right of the head circle approximately in the corner. Inside the tent shape we’ll draw a triangle for the inner ear. Notice that the base of the smaller triangle is inside the head circle.

Step 7

Step 7: Great work, mangakas. Here, we’ll be drawing some more of Sonic’s facial features. We’ll begin with the eye on the right by drawing a small vertical ellipse for the pupil on the eye line and then a second larger vertical ellipse for the iris. We’ll do the same thing on the left but notice that the pupil and iris are not exactly inside the eye on the left but is right on the corner of the eye, halfway inside and halfway outside the eye shape. The pupil and iris on the left should be about half of the size of those on the right (size 3D principle).  Next, add a small horizontal ellipse inside the nose, this will be for where the light reflects giving Sonics nose a shiny appearance. Ok, now that we’ve got that we’ll draw his mouth with two curved lines. And before moving on, we should connect the pupil of the eye on the left with a curving line to the eye on the right. Got it?

Step 8

Step 8: We’ve got a simple step here. Just draw a body circle directly under the head. It should be smaller than the head circle, slightly larger than half of the size.

Step 9

Step 9: Easy, no? Here, we’ll do the construction lines for Sonic’s super fast legs. Since Sonic’s leg on the left is behind the one on the right, it’ll be easier to draw most things on the right first. We can start with the lines for both legs. After we’ve got both of the legs, we’ll add some curved block like  shapes for his athlete’s socks. Please notice that the lines for the legs overlap the socks and that the sock on the left is slightly higher than the one on the right.

Step 10

Step 10: Once we’ve got Sonic’s legs in place, it’s time for his feet. We’ll draw two pointy leaf shapes for the feet. We see the full shape of the foot on the right and Sonic’s foot points to the right (overlapping 3D principle). On the left, his foot should point that direction.

Step 11

Step 11: Now, you might want to take a minute to lighten any construction lines we’ve made so far. We shouldn’t erase completely, but since we’re going to be working on Sonic’s body it might be easier if the underlying construction lines were a little lighter. If you’ve got your lines just the way you want them, then in this step we need to draw two circles, a smaller circle in the upper left of the body shape and a larger circle for his hand on the right slightly above mid-way point of the body shape. Sonic’s arms are crossed and this is one of the easiest ways to draw that stance.

Step 12

Step 12: In the next few steps, we’re going to be working on Sonic’s hands and arms. Take it slow and I’m sure we’ll all get there. We’ll start in this step with the larger circle we drew on the right. We need to add four fingers by drawing three curving lines. The last line, Sonic’s pinky finger, is the only one we see completely and curves all the way back. Each finger should be a little larger than the one above it. Next, we can draw a curving line from the pinky finger to the top of the hand circle for his wrist. Then, we’ll add Sonic’s trademark thumbs up on the top right of the circle. Sonic’s thumb will touch the bottom of the last of his hair “fins”. Lastly, we’ll draw his arm which connects to his hand on the bottom at the point where his pinky finger and wrist meet, and on the top about the middle of his wrist.

Step 13

Step 13: Once you’re satisfied with step 12, we’ll move on in this step to draw two half circles on the left side. The first and smaller one touches the body shape and the hand/shoulder circle on the left. The larger touches the bottom of the arm line. Great work, everyone.

Step 14

Step 14: Here, we’ll add the fingers to Sonic’s hand on the left. We should just be able to see 3 fingers on the left and they are curved slightly outwards away from the body and can be more rectangular than those on the right.

Step 15

Step 15: We’re all doing a great job so far. Just need to add a few more shapes and details and we’ll be ready to do our final lines in black. Here, we need to add one last hair fin that touches Sonic’s thumb and ends about half way down the body shape. Under than and curving upwards we’ll draw a small spike for his tail.

Step 16

Step 16: Ok, some detailing in this step. First we’ll start with Sonic’s belly line, which is a curved line from his pinky finger on the right to just below the hand on the left. Next, we’ve got to make those blocky shapes a bit smoother to make socks. We’ll draw two curved lines where the leg lines stop inside the sock blocks. Then, we’ll add two curved lines to the right side of the sock on the right and one on the left side of the sock on the right. For the sock on the left, just two lines on the left. Lastly, before moving on we can round off the tip of the Sonic’s shoe on the foot on the left.

Step 17

Step 17: Just before we do our final lines, we’ve got to add the signature stripes to Sonic’s shoes. Two curved lines like arches on both feet should do it. Notice that we only see one side of his foot on the left but both sides on the right. The top line on the right should touch the bottom of his sock.

Step 18

Step 18: That’s it, mangakas! Now that we’ve got all of our construction lines in place we can take out our kneadable eraser and erase all of them until they are just visible. Then, get your black pen and trace over them to get our final lines. Finally, fill in the eyes and nose in black! -_^.

Step 19

Step 19: Completely erase any remaining blue construction lines and here he is, Sonic the Hedgehog! I can almost hear the coins dropping and the loop de loops rolling. If your goal is to become a great mangaka make sure to draw Sonic again from memory. Then compare the final drawing with the original and correct any mistakes you might have made. Try once again from the memory. This is the best way to build a huge library of shapes that you can use in the future for your own manga characters.

Draw with passion! -_^ Hiroshi