Amy Rose was the first Sonic character I wanted to begin the process of designing as an adult. Getting to the end result wasn't easy; it took me about 2 years from the year 2009 to achieve the ideal look for her. All of the original concept art I did during that time was lost and discarded, however I wanted to redraw the steps I took and describe them in detail.
Panel 1 and 2: The first step is starting with the basics by examining Amy's design. I took note how she is officially drawn of having a cute, round head that makes her appear young. Most artists I've seen don't alter the shape of her head, so naturally I didn't make any changes to it, but wanted to add the neck and body.
Panel 3: Although Amy is a cartoon character, I still wanted the neck to look like it'll support her head. But since it's so overly round and large, the neck being attached to it doesn't look natural. Another reason I wanted to add a neck is an overly round head with no neck makes me think of a baby or underdeveloped child, and since I want to make her look mature, I felt she needed to have a neck.
Panel 4: In Changes, a oval shape head was the best solution; it combined the round principles from the basic round head, but also narrow so the neck can naturally fit without looking awkward. Now she is starting to look mature and even extends her muzzle; allowing her mouth to have little more room to be expressive within the guidelines...unless going for extreme emotions like jaw-dropping. XD
Panel 5: Next is looking at the way Amy's eyes are drawn. When I look at the shape of her eyes, it conveys she is a feisty individual who's grown from the little girl who had her first adventure on Little Planet. The lengthy eyelashes with the added eyeliner gives emphasis to her femininity and cuteness, but there is one problem; the shape is too much like Sonic's. All I have to do is color her blue and she'll look like Sonic in drag, XD.
Panel 6(below Panel 5): I naturally have a preference for how Amy's eyes looked in her Classic design. It not only conveys her innocence, but also her feminine and hopeful nature; she is curious and cheerful. The other reason is the shape of her eyes without adding eyelashes is distinct from Sonic's, which I notice some people don't seem to notice because they're so focus on the fact that her hair is exactly like Sonic's. Here is another display how different Sonic's and Amy's eye shape really is, please look closely.
Panel 7: While I have mostly incorporated aspects of her Classic eye shape, I also added the eyeliner and long eyelashes from her Modern design. I feel like her traits of being feisty and short-tempered is the first and only aspects people get from Amy, instead of her optimism, kindness, and cheerfulness. I want her eye shape to convey she is very approachable and hopeful in a sweet way, so it would make perfect sense why people would be compelled to listen and be drawn to her. I still wanted keep some of her cuteness and innocence(from her strong positive mindset) even though she is an adult.
Those are some interesting design notes that explain why you adapt the official design to your particular style. Not many artists do that and I think it was a fun read, though the eye design is probably the most controversial because I think that while more similar to Sonic's than the Classic counterpart, they can still convey those traits like being cheerful or innocent depending on how it's used as well as still having very suble differences like how Amy's eyes are wider (most notable in the Runners CGI render) or how like Sonic's they change shape depending on the emotion. The main difference is that Classic Amy's eyes seem to emphasize shyness, while for the modern the change is due to her becoming much more open, especially when expressing her feelings. I agree she comes off as feisty (and sometimes acts that way) but I really never minded because it made her feel more believable than the other nice girls like Cream, Tikal, Maria, etc.
Those are some interesting design notes that explain why you adapt the official design to your parti
Thank you for the comment!^^ I think it interesting hearing your perspective on Amy's eyes. With the feisty part, I also think it is a good and distinct part of her personality. What I meant was simply when looking her it shouldn't be limited to just being feisty and short-tempered because there are other parts of her that stand out too.
Thank you for the comment!^^ I think it interesting hearing your perspective on Amy's eyes. With the
