This year marks Shadow's 20th anniversary, and for the longest time, I wanted to create artwork that explores his character and the themes that surround his development and what truly makes him a hero (or antihero).

For this one, heavy symbolism was the key feature in trying to recreate his birth. The imagery just came to me in the form of 'Supporting Me' performed by Hotline Sehwani. The beat reminded me of a heartbeat, and all the instrumentation sound like a combination of something dream-like in combination with the techno atmosphere. Plus, the lyrics really capture Shadow's tragic backstory and eventual resolution.

Shadow, himself, the tube, and the monitor were all the easy parts. Speaking of which, I did a little research to see how the brain and the heart react to someone having a nightmare, which is how and why we get those readings. Where I was finding myself having a difficult time was in the background. I was torn between making it more complex and symbolic or making it simple to focus everything on Shadow. I tried looking online for screenshots of the laboratory on Space Colony ARK where he was born, but I couldn't find anything at all. Artwork made by other artists gave me a few ideas, but in the end, I settled on something to give a sense of being dark and foreboding.

I love how the image came out! Particularly, how all the effects came together to create the very thing in my mind is what I'm most proud of. I hope it really captures what I was going for with Shadow's birth, and that you guys like it too!

Shadow the Hedgehog belongs to SEGA