TurboJUK

“Those who cross Andross will die!”

Of all the Star Fox pieces I did last summer, this one is the biggest and certainly one of my favourites. The various representatives/lieutenants/bosses of Andross’ empire as seen in Star Fox 64 and Zero.

This was such a fun one to work on, trying to portray the different personalities of each pilot or lieutenant from what little the games showed of them, as well as sprinkling in a few extra details of my own. The primates were so much fun, they’re my wife’s favourites (Granga especially) so I had to do them all justice. I’ve seen several interpretations of them where they have mechanical eyes/visors built into their faces, while I prefer the idea that their glowing eyes are a stylistic choice and they have regular eyes underneath their helmets. Benjamin proved to be a challenge in this regard, so I just have the brim of his engineers cap obscuring his eyes.

“You’ve become so strong, Fox…”

Today we honour those who are no longer with us in the Star Fox universe, canonical and theoretical. James McCloud, Vixy Reinard, Vivian Hare and Randorn. Fox’s mother is supposedly still alive in the canon, but I subscribe to him being orphaned, making James’ death hit harder (presuming he actually is dead, which I believe). Vivian Hare is definitely deceased by the time of Command, but it’s not known when she passed. As for Randorn being here? Well, there’s the Dinosaur Planet connection and he’s pretty much dying throughout that game.

(Headcanon time: Andross killed James and might’ve had a hand in Vixy’s death, Vivian died shortly before Star Fox 64 and Randorn is Krystal’s long deceased mentor from Cerinia as opposed to a father figure.)

James’ outfit has always felt too close to Fox’s. Most games he’s just a minor palette swap, darker fur or a different colour scarf, plus the sunglasses of course. I elected to make him look a bit more grizzled, with additional fur tufts and hints of a beard, along with the nick in his ear. A Fox In Space’s take on James was very definitely in my mind when drawing this, particularly his voice, and it may be one reason I drew his eyes visible through his shades. His flight suit is coloured the same as Fox’s from the SNES game, contrasting the green that Fox wears now. Vixy was very hard to work out. At first she looked too cat-like and trying to work out how to draw her dress was exceptionally difficult, so I simplified it a lot. I am not good at drawing fabrics, especially long flowy ones like her dress had. Vivian and Randorn were, by contrast, very straightforward.

“Are you gonna hog all the fun?”

Another day, another group of Star Fox characters I drew last summer. Here we have Free-As-A-Bird, the hot rodders gang from Farewell Beloved Falco, featuring Katt Monroe, her theoretical boyfriend Cool, Mousor and Bowsor. Not featuring the robot that showed their head in a single panel as, quite understandably, there was pretty much no reference to to work from.

“Emergency! Emergency! Incoming enemy fighters, prepare for launch!”

The next piece of Star Fox art from last summer depicts the Lylat Ladies of dubious canon; Fay and Miyu from Star Fox 2, along with Amanda Toad and Lucy Hare from Star Fox Command. With the series rebooted once again, we don’t know where these ladies will truly sit in the new universe, but I had to represent them. I rather like Amanda and Lucy, two things that Command definitely did right, although i couldn’t tell you much about their personalities and I think the game overdid it with the ‘girls are pink’ concept. Fay and Miyu are characters that could absolutely work in the series going forward, especially with SF2 being the last official release.

“It’s about time you showed up Fox! You’re the only hope for our world!”

I just kinda… forgot to start posting the rest of my Star Fox pieces from last year, huh? Well thankfully I’m still very Star Fox brained and this was the second piece I did last summer, showcasing members of the Cornerian Defense Force - Commander Bill Grey, Beltino Toad, General Pepper, Fara Phoenix and Captain Shears. The last time I drew these characters back in 2016, I skipped on the last two because I wasn’t that familiar with their media, but this time I included them as a challenge to myself.

I much prefer General Pepper as a bloodhound, my first game in the series was Adventures and my favourite is still Assault so I will always have that bias. Even though I have mixed feelings regarding Command I did love Bill’s updated design (along with his theme, absolute banger). Fara being a Fennec fox she had to be suitably shorter than the rest of the cast.

When the squad is on its way to steal the Crystal Coconut.

Yesterday (September 23rd) was the anniversary of Star Fox Adventures.

You bet I was gonna draw Krystal to celebrate.

“All wings, report in!”

Hey! I’m still alive! Anyone remember how back in 2016 I drew as many Star Fox characters as I could in celebration of Star Fox Zero? Well my passion for the series returned back in July and I’ve been Star Fox brained ever since, even getting my wife invested in it as well, so I decided to return to drawing as many characters as I could. Starting this time with the core team, I added my own twists to their designs, taking elements from across the series (and a few of my own) to create a slightly more unique look for everyone. So happy with how this turned out and there are plenty more to come.