In 2017 Sonic and The Legend of Zelda had an interesting crossover, and I wanted to draw a picture inspired by that. However, I never ended up finishing it and eventually gave up on it. Jump ahead to 2020 and the idea came back to me again, this time with me fully committing.
First, I had to figure out which of the Zelda games I wanted to combine with Sonic. My original idea was with Twilight Princess (which I’ll still get to eventually), but after thinking it over I decided to go with Ocarnia of Time for inspiration.
I took time to look at some of the game’s art to figure out the type of mood I wanted the picture to have. Then, after gathering as many references I could find of Sonic’s outfit from the official crossover, I got started.
I had the image in my mind of wandering into the forest and encountering with the fairy that travels with you in the game, Navi. I wanted to really capture that feeling of wonder, with Sonic reaching out in curiosity,
Next I refined the detail in the sketch as much as I could. I pulled out a lot of forest references for this one. Also tried to get the most out of the references of Sonic’s outfit.
After adding extra effects and details, I came away with an illustration I’m still very happy with now! I’ll have to revisit this crossover combination again one day, and maybe finally tackle that Twilight Princess picture.
Thank you for reading!