Nate Morgan (but mostly Robotnik)

I'm pretty sure this guy is based off of Morgan Freeman, just a hunch... Anyways, since I did that image of Robotnik I was compelled to explore Nate more. I've done so in the past, but I thought it would be interesting to draw a younger Nate to compare to the old one in present day. 

SPOILER: 

You will notice a lot of images that take place in Ivo's (Robotnik) youth show him interacting with Nate a lot. In fact, it is Nate who surgically repairs his eyes and it is Nate who becomes his physical therapist. 

At the time Robotnik looses his eyes he's around 10-13 years of age; Nate's around 23-25. Robotnik views Nate in a complex manner, that of a friend and a servant. Although he doesn't have much empathy that one would consider normal, Ivo does have a habit of expressing it towards him, at least in their youth. 

// END SPOILER // 

Anyways, both Nate and Ivo are Overlanders. Unlike Robotnik, Nate has more human proportions while Robotnik shows traits more common to Overlanders, that is, anatomy being way out of proportion in comparison to one another. This is due to them being partially composed of animal DNA and are the human equivalent to the Gremlin race (beings like Lupe, Big, Rouge, ect)

I haven't decided wether or not Nate will have more dwarf like proportions or not. Snively was intended to fill that role (for the sake of anatomical variety) but I think Nate looks a bit too human, and could benefit from some alterations in his anatomy to make his race more apparent. 

I should also note that all Overlanders have cool colored mouths. With tongues and gums ranging from blue, purple. and black in appearance. I don't why I'm sharing this, has no significance considering this is colored. That being said I felt as though it was an important minor detail.

These sketches right here are a few months old. Anatomically I like them, especially the top head, reminds me of the 90's sprite of Robotnik in his ship.

Image from here.

Call me nostalgia based, but I much prefer the older Japanese design of Robotnik. I think it's design left more to the imagination when I was a kid. But I also liked the 90's version of him to from SAT:AM.

My version of him is aiming between a cute and cuddly but nightmarish dictator with a child's mentality.

The major characteristic about my version of Robotnik is that you never see his eyes. As a child, he wears glasses and the lighting is always such that his eyes are hidden by the shadow reflection of his lenses. That and he's "eyes" you do see are very mechanic and make noises like a camera when focusing or changing modes from daylight, infrared, or night vision. I've always had a fascination of showing the deadness eyes possess when seen from a mechanical standpoint. And the design of my yes were inspired by the squiddies from the animatrix and Hal 9000.

Level 1

Short story time! But ti does contain spoilers. :U

He looks normal here, because Overlanders don't mutate until they're in their mid to late teens. He's in his early tweens here so he looks pretty normal, except for the black tongue and gums. :B


+ + + + + +

Beep, beep beep, beep, beep… His eyes darted, but there was nothing.

Beep, beep, beep, beep… He felt a chill coming from the left of him, and a soft, almost comforting and familiar warmth from underneath his hand.

Beep, beep, his hand rose to his face. He halted, from the hall he heard the rolling of wheels on a smooth surface, moaning and brisk commands shooting down as he darted his eyes frantically, still noting.

Amongst the clatter a soft gait could be heard. Shoes, he knew it was the sound of shoes, nice ones; not like the ones he had. Maybe this being's shoes even had shoelaces, or sturdy soles, the boy was momentarily preoccupied by the perceived comfort these shoes must have had for their owner.

"Hello, boy."

The boy didn't respond.

"How are you feeling today."

"My name is not boy." He replied curtly. Paper flipped clumsily as he darted his eyes, still nothing. "Well we will have to call you boy until you give us a name."

"Where am I?" He heard the sound of something thin and light falling on a cushioned surface. "I cannot tell you that unless you give us a name." The boy's mouth pursed with a queer grin, "why so secretive?" A short pause, "there are no secrets here, we just want your name."  The boy smelled the room, felt the rhythms of the people in there with them, there was much whispering and ginger movements and he could feel the man's feverish heartbeat in the breath that hit his face.

"You found my blaster and want to know how it works." A stifled silence entered the room as the boy listened for a response. "To be more precise, we want to know how a child got access to it." The man finally responded.

"You mean, you want to know how I made it." There was slight laughter in the room. "You're laughing, but you don't even know how to use it, and you know it doesn't have a serial." The room became silent again. "Plus it has technological capacities not located within our borders." The man's voice became serious, "And nothing like it has been made since the hundred year war… How did you come across writings for such a technology."

The boy looked around, still nothing, "Well it could be easier if I could see in here, seeing would be nice, but they ripped out my eyes. Might trust you more with eyes, but I already don't - so whatever." He heard the man shifting his position with agitation."You mean the Mobians." The man responded. The boy paused, "……. yea. Did you know they actually bathe?"

"Boy, how did you come across the writings for this technology…"

"Dolt, I didn't… I found an image of a man on a galonae like beast - a statue. In his hand he had a gun type thing. So I built it."

"You can't just build something that complex with no direction… Especially if the technology is dead - no reference. You needed -"

"You can if you're a god." The boy smiled even more, "I don't need books or algorithms to build what I see in my head. Or a calculator."

 The man scoffed, "you can't even read!"

"Does a bird need to read to understand aerodynamics? Does a termite need to understand pedology or the cat physics?"  The doctor recoiled, "They're beasts, of course not!"

The boy's mouth became stiff, "they're savants." His hand absently crept against the grooves of the covers until it came across something hallow and light, they became preoccupied and his face calmed."Give me eyes and I will explain my gun to you."

"Give me your name first."

"You know you can't use the technology without me, did you try already? I made a special key." He began playing with a notch located in the back of the hollow object until it could be twisted no further. "And killing or torturing me would do no good, I don't feel pain like most of us." He let the object writhe in his hands. "So give me eyes and I will give you my clubhouse."

A hand snapped to someone in the distance as they walked away briskly. "How about this, give us a name for your eyes, and your services for your freedom, Overlander…"

The boy clasped the figure in his hands, preventing it from moving as the mechanisms halted. "So you're not me. But you smell so much like me. Interesting…" He  gently caressed the toy, "You're not a threat, but I like games. Do you like games? I do…. So this is level one, and player two needs a name. What is yours?" The man readjusted himself, "Prometheus."

The boy's face brightened.

 "Ivo. Let the games begin."

Sticky Doodles

Some more sticky note doodles done while at work. :) Still getting the kinks out of Tails. Decided to make his hair wilder and more free to make him look less reserved and more youthful.

The sketch to the right and below him are of a fan OC who's an Overlander and henchmen of Snivley (on the right). Snivley's position is a lot more important than it was in the comics initially and with everything else in this reboot; a lot darker.

Rotor! I've been needing to draw him. So here's an attempt. Might give him less neck fat. For the sake of contrast of a typical walrus I'm going to make him chubby but not fat. Lol... maybe?

PS! To see the images full size - click on them once then right click and select "view image." :D