Interview: Sonic Colors Adaptation – Tracy Yardley!

Interview: Sonic Colors Adaptation – Tracy Yardley!

Well, it’s here! The final part of our Sonic Colors adaptation interview. Tonight, we interview Tracy Yardley!, the penciler for story. We’ve also got some never before seen art straight from the story, courtesy of Archie and SEGA.

TSS: Hello Mr. Yardley, thank you for taking the time to talk with us. When were you given the Sonic Colors assignment?

TY: The script was emailed to me on July 15.

TSS: How much time did you have to work on this adaptation compared to a typical Sonic story?

TY: I wasn’t given a specific deadline. Paul just said as fast as possible.I sent back scans of the pencils on July 23. I know it didn’t take me seven days to do though. I was almost certainly working on another issue at the time.

TSS: What sorts of materials did SEGA give you to make a proper adaptation of the game?

TY: They gave us much more than they usually do. I was given many many screenshots from the game, as well as pre-production art and an unfinished game trailer.

TSS: What are the differences between working on a game adaptation and working on a regular Sonic story?


TY: Mostly that Sega is much more particular about matching the visuals as closely to the game material as possible. And it usually seems to be a rush job. The Sonic and the Black Knight story was completed from script to finished colors in something like  3 or 4 days if I remember correctly.

TSS: Did you run into any unique challenges when working on this story?

TY: Not anything too bad. The game stories are always fun for me. The only real difficulty was with the first panel on the first page. It called for this planetary elevator, and there was no very clear shot of it in the art reference I was given. I did the best I could with what I had and I’m pleased with how the whole thing turned out.

TSS: Thank you for your time, Mr. Yardley

Finally, here’s the art we promised:

The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.

Published by

Nuckles87

Nuckles87 has been an editor at Sonic Stadium since 2007, and has been covering events like E3, PAX, and SDCC since 2010. An avid retro gamer, he runs a monthly stream on Twitch where he explores obscure Sonic oddities, and how aspects of the franchise have evolved over the decades.

11 Comments

  1. Awesome art. 😀

    I enjoyed the interview series very much and look forward to buying this comic adaption as soon as it arrives.

  2. If they make the comic so funny as the dialogues, I’m sure I’m gonna have several laughs. =P
    Looking forward it!

  3. This explains why he he had a delay from drawing some Sonic Eggs pages. He did tell me a project suddenly came up.

  4. Man, the way Yardley! makes Tails looks so perturbed at times is epic. I think he captures his newly-found attitude quite nicely. 🙂

  5. Nice art thumbs up to Yardley!. So i’m guessing the adaption is the opening to the game almost word for word like the Black Knight adaption was? Looking forward to it.

  6. I’m not trying to be a pessimist or anything, but I liked it better when the game storylines were weaved creatively into the comic storyline. Although, I can see how it could be difficult seeing the direction in which the comic has taken currently. Nevertheless, still looking forward to the Sonic Colors adaptation.

Comments are closed.