Inspiration
The excitement for getting my hands on the Sega Mega Drive when I was a young boy is something that I’ll always remember and my love of gaming hasn’t really changed over the years; I may have lost a little of that boyish enthusiasm, but when my wife and I bought an arcade machine for the house, it all came back again. There’s something about older games that continues to inspire me and feeds my everlasting nostalgic tendencies.
So, from the humble beginnings of 16-bit, I felt the need to create an animation inspired by one of my favourite video games, Sonic the Hedgehog. All the zones were great to look at, but I’ve settled for where it all began… Green Hill Zone. The loop-de-loop was my own starting point, from which the marble run developed.
Styling
Once again, copper and wood were my go-to materials. If you’ve followed any of my work so far, you’ll already know I’m drawn to these materials. They carry a warmth and class unlike any other materials I’ve worked with so far. For this project, there was a temptation to follow the styling of Green Hill Zone more directly, but ultimately I wanted to put my stamp on it. I’ve also begun placing my logo within my animations too, just to further cement my aesthetic and ownership of the work.
TLDR: I loved Sonic as a child (and adult, to be fair) and made an animation as a mark of respect.
Been following you on Instagram for quite a while. I love your works, they are truly inspiring. Also, the camera work is great. Mind if I ask, do you use physics or keyframes?
Thank you so much! I’m glad to hear it.
I only used keyframes for this project; I have a curve that runs the length of the track and I’ve keyframed the progression of the ball along it. As a result, the physics won’t be accurate, but I think it gets the job done!
Another little revival of this project and the introduction of a new one. I’ve wanted to make a Bolt-inspired camera bot for a while, so I thought I’d use the Sonic project to kickstart it. I’ll be doing more with this bot in future projects, but for now, enjoy another take on the Sonic marble run
