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Thinking Lately...
5 months ago
General
About coming back into the art fold, and drawing again. I've been having a few ideas for some new drawings of Team Sakara, including new outfits/bios updates, and even some NSFW pics, but I also wanted to look into Team Sakara having less of a Star Trek identity and be like more of a Space Agency Branch of GUN in the far Future kind of look, with some Star Trek elements. Maybe Alternate Reality? I'm not sure, because Star Trek has always been a part of my identity since even before I joined DeviantArt, or started drawing for that matter, even since I was a toddler.
I grew up in the 80's when Star Trek: The Next Generation first aired in syndication on Fox and my Dad started recording the show for me. I grew up loving all things Star Trek for a long time, had a handful of the TNG toys from Playmates, and even a few from Galoob. So yeah, Star Trek has always been a part of me, sowed into my DNA, and I always like expressing that love thru my OC artwork of Team Sakara. Originally, it all started with Rico being a 29th century Human Starfleet Officer and Digimon Tamer, due to my love for Digimon at the time, with a chibi-style Macross II Valkyrie as my robot-type Digimon. He was also his own Power Ranger with his own Ranger Armor, so that he could join his Digimon in battle.
In 2005, Crystal-for-Ever on FurAffinity (we are acquaintances on DA at the time) suggested that I recreate Rico as a mobian Fox, when I was thinking of redesigning him as a Sonic OC, and I took her suggestion and just decided on a Tails recolor with bangs and a simple Starfleet uniform to save time, under the idea that he could be a direct descendant of Tails Prowler in a Star Trek multi-crossover universe. Since Sonic Heroes was still big in the fanart community at the time, I decided to make Rule 63 Rico as Rico's sister Rika, and then created Kitana Cobra as a original Sonic OC design (at the time, there was no snake-mobian that I knew of). Thus, I had my own OC Sonic Heroes team, named after Rico's sir-name, "Sakara."
Not counting my MLP OC Stella, I've only drawn and posted about over 50+ pics of Team Sakara in the 15 years after their conception (yes, I'm that slow of an artist), up until I've quit drawing in 2020. And my OCs, especially Kitana Cobra, made only a tiny enough impact on the Sonic OC community at the time to get noticed. I even still have a folder of all the fanart I ever received of Team Sakara - about 361 pieces of fanart. I know that amount is microscopic compared to other Sonic OC artists that I watch and know of that get thousands of fanart, but that tiny little bit still means a lot to me, even today.
Now, I had received some criticisms of Team Sakara years ago, mostly just on Rico and Rika being Tails recolors, and suggest that they be redesigned to be more OC. I think one suggested that if they are Tails' descendants, then what about centuries of mix-breeding with other mobians? Add more mix-breed elements? Maybe even develop a bioluminescence to make them pop? And maybe tune down the Star Trek theme a bit? Even though I didn't follow up with it, I still remember those suggestions, and once in a while, they do pose an idea, but because their current design was so well know for a time, I was afraid to change them, worried it would backfired.
But anyways, enough ranting. What do you think? If I decide to come back, should I redesign Team Sakara? Or just keep them the same?
Would you like me to return to drawing again and see new works from me?
Let me know in the comments below.
Thanks.
I grew up in the 80's when Star Trek: The Next Generation first aired in syndication on Fox and my Dad started recording the show for me. I grew up loving all things Star Trek for a long time, had a handful of the TNG toys from Playmates, and even a few from Galoob. So yeah, Star Trek has always been a part of me, sowed into my DNA, and I always like expressing that love thru my OC artwork of Team Sakara. Originally, it all started with Rico being a 29th century Human Starfleet Officer and Digimon Tamer, due to my love for Digimon at the time, with a chibi-style Macross II Valkyrie as my robot-type Digimon. He was also his own Power Ranger with his own Ranger Armor, so that he could join his Digimon in battle.
In 2005, Crystal-for-Ever on FurAffinity (we are acquaintances on DA at the time) suggested that I recreate Rico as a mobian Fox, when I was thinking of redesigning him as a Sonic OC, and I took her suggestion and just decided on a Tails recolor with bangs and a simple Starfleet uniform to save time, under the idea that he could be a direct descendant of Tails Prowler in a Star Trek multi-crossover universe. Since Sonic Heroes was still big in the fanart community at the time, I decided to make Rule 63 Rico as Rico's sister Rika, and then created Kitana Cobra as a original Sonic OC design (at the time, there was no snake-mobian that I knew of). Thus, I had my own OC Sonic Heroes team, named after Rico's sir-name, "Sakara."
Not counting my MLP OC Stella, I've only drawn and posted about over 50+ pics of Team Sakara in the 15 years after their conception (yes, I'm that slow of an artist), up until I've quit drawing in 2020. And my OCs, especially Kitana Cobra, made only a tiny enough impact on the Sonic OC community at the time to get noticed. I even still have a folder of all the fanart I ever received of Team Sakara - about 361 pieces of fanart. I know that amount is microscopic compared to other Sonic OC artists that I watch and know of that get thousands of fanart, but that tiny little bit still means a lot to me, even today.
Now, I had received some criticisms of Team Sakara years ago, mostly just on Rico and Rika being Tails recolors, and suggest that they be redesigned to be more OC. I think one suggested that if they are Tails' descendants, then what about centuries of mix-breeding with other mobians? Add more mix-breed elements? Maybe even develop a bioluminescence to make them pop? And maybe tune down the Star Trek theme a bit? Even though I didn't follow up with it, I still remember those suggestions, and once in a while, they do pose an idea, but because their current design was so well know for a time, I was afraid to change them, worried it would backfired.
But anyways, enough ranting. What do you think? If I decide to come back, should I redesign Team Sakara? Or just keep them the same?
Would you like me to return to drawing again and see new works from me?
Let me know in the comments below.
Thanks.
As for designs, I am really unsure what to recommend there and can only say that it wouldn't hurt to experiment and see if anything clicks, like either different hair styles or species for example. I wish you the best of luck in this endeavour and I hope you will enjoy and love the creative process once more. Its always lovely to hear and see you around n_n
I tend to favor character personalities over visual style, so redesigns don't matter to me much. An occasional outfit update is pretty cool, though.
Since Rico and Rika are Foxes, maybe you could reconsider changing them into alien kitsune if you wanted to drop the mobian look. Nothing wrong with wanting to branch out and make something with your OCs. As for the Star Trek Uniforms. I think there's a way you could carry some elements of the uniform but make your own take on it.
And don't feel too discouraged. I love your works and you were one of my inspirations when I was drawing and learning art. So keep drawing, we need artists now more than ever.