Raf Grassetti served as the art director for Santa Monica Studio's acclaimed
God of War video game. For about a year's time, Grassetti has been sharing realistic redesigns for countless video game characters — mostly those of
Super Smash Bros. and Nintendo.
For instance, he started with Samus and Link —
and you can see here. More recently, Grassetti shared photorealistic takes on Starfox and his squadron —
check those out here. There are countless other examples such as Mario and Luigi as well as Mega Man, Donkey Kong, Bowser, Pikachu, Mewtwo, Kirby, etc.
What with the arrival of the live-action
Sonic the Hedgehog movie, Grassetti has decided to amp up the realism for SEGA's all-star trio — Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. The art director had already covered
Sonic the Hedgehog but, after seeing the new movie, decided to have another go at it to make the character less scary.
His new take on
Sonic the Hedgehog is quite similar to that of the movie — albeit not exactly the same. Therefore, the artwork of Tails and Knuckles could be representative of what those characters will look like in the style of the movie — once they're eventually introduced in a future instalment. Fans would certainly be pleased if they look half as good as they do here.
Take a look at the artwork below (via
@RafGrassetti):
Sonic the Hedgehog is a live-action adventure comedy based on the global blockbuster videogame franchise from Sega that centers on the infamously brash bright blue hedgehog. The film follows the (mis)adventures of Sonic as he navigates the complexities of life on Earth with his newfound – human – best friend Tom Wachowski (James Marsden). Sonic and Tom join forces to try and stop the villainous Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) from capturing Sonic and using his immense powers for world domination. The film also stars Tika Sumpter and Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic.
Sonic the Hedgehog is in theatres now!