Sonic Mania artist was brought in to redesign movie

Sonic Mania artist Tyson Hesse was brought in to spearhead Sonic the Hedgehog’s movie redesign, he’s revealed.

Hesse is a long time contributor to the Sonic comic series and most famously created the animated intro for 2017’s Sonic Mania, as well as its spin-off animated shorts.

Sharing his movie involvement news on Twitter, Hesse said he was “honoured” to have been brought in to lead the design on the new Sonic.

He said: “Working with Jeff and the modelers, riggers, texture/fur artists and animators in LA, London, and Vancouver was a thrill I’ll never forget.”

Hesse first shared his own fan art of how the Sonic movie design could be improved in March. It’s not clear if this had any influence on him landing a role on the film.

The redesigned Sonic the Hedgehog movie premiered in a trailer released on Tuesday. The new trailer revealed a Sonic character design which has been moved closer to its video game source material, with more exaggerated – and less realistic – features.

The Sega mascot’s movie appearance was first unveiled earlier this year and caused a fan backlash large enough to see the film delayed for a redesign.

Just days after the debut trailer’s release, director Jeff Fowler took to Twitter to address fan concerns.

“Thank you for the support. And the criticism,” he said. “The message is loud and clear… you aren’t happy with the design & you want changes. It’s going to happen.

“Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the BEST he can be.”

Paramount Pictures delayed the release of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie from November 2019 until February 14, 2020.

The adventure comedy stars Carrey as antagonist Dr. Robotnik and James Marsden as Sonic’s sidekick. Ben Schwartz is the voice actor for Sonic and Tika Sumpter also stars.

Actor Jim Carrey has said he’s “not sure” how he feels about the fan-driven changes.