Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Artist Shared Sonic's Facial Expression Tests

Senior Character Artist Alin Bolcas has been given the go-ahead to reveal a few behind-the-scenes moments from the latest hit live-action Sonic movie, so now we can get a glimpse of how Sonic himself was brought to life.

"Before AI was all the rage with video and 3D generations, consistent characters, and other workflows, about a year ago, I was sculpting character expression sheets like this one frame by frame," commented Alin. He also collaborated closely with VFX and animation supervisors, the art director, and the film director to ensure the characters aligned with the film's evolving vision.

They refined each expression through multiple rounds of paintover feedback and live sessions, carefully adjusting the sets to strike the perfect balance between appeal and staying true to the original designs. All the hero characters underwent similar facial expression studies, which played a key role in defining the look and emotional range that contributed to the nearly half-billion dollar box office success.

Alin shared that the majority of this work was done in Blender during the concept phase. He handled the individual shape work in Maya, after which the final rig, created by Red9, was sent to post-production vendors.

It's exciting to see Blender gaining more recognition in the professional world, especially after Flow's Oscar win this year. Follow Alin Bolcas, who will be sharing more details on the role of AI in production moving forward on LinkedIn, and join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.