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Artist's commentary
Chip from Sonic Unleashed
This is a fan art of Chip from Sonic Unleashed. 2018 was the 10th anniversary of the game. I rewatched some walkthrough, and my impression on Chip changed drastically for the better, so I drew this set of pictures.
When first played Sonic Unleashed in 2008, I found him too loud and childish. But 10 years after, I was moved by his backstory. Chip’s real identity is Light Gaia, the planet’s guardian god. Every time when his antithesis, Dark Gaia woke up to destroy the planet, he would also wake up to protect the planet. He lost his power and memory because he was awakened prematurely in the game’s storyline.
Because Light Gaia didn’t know who he is, Sonic nicknamed him Chip from the chocolate chips in his ice cream. Nowhere to go, Chip followed Sonic as he travelled around the shattered planet to save it from destruction. Chip took pictures of the places and taste local foods as they travelled — it was more like a trip around the world for him.
Chip’s power and memory came back in the finale of the story. Now he remembered everything. In the past cycles, every time after he was awakened to save the planet, he would immediately fall into sleep. He only saw the planet after it was destroyed by Dark Gaia. But this time, he was able to experience all its beauty. After defeating Dark Gaia, Chip fell to sleep again, but this time, with the sweet memories of the planet and the friends he made in the journey.
I sympathized with Chip for his tragic backstory. Unfortunately, the game did not make use of his character well. His childish, nonsensical, screechy acting in the cutscenes made him one of the most annoying characters among the already pretty annoying Sonic cast. He was not integrated into the gameplay in any meaningful way, either. All he did was to show his face at the beginning of a stage, and that’s it. He was also a burden in the final boss fight. I can totally understand why people didn’t remember him fondly.
In my version, I redesigned Chip’s facial structure and expressions to reflect his tragic backstory. Instead of being a “stupid, loud, gluttonous, impolite, annoying Chihuahua”, I turned him into a curious, clever and well-behaved little child. As a practice, I drew a few of his typical actions and expressions from the game, while paying close attention to the rhythm between the body components.
I did not have many distracting thoughts when I was drawing this set of pictures. I just really felt bad for Chip for not being handled properly in the game. Perhaps that’s why I was able to focus on the process, which was rare during my 2012 – 2022 low period. This set of Chip fan art is still one of my favorite till this day.