Need some help with character design issues

[N.y.r.o]

Okay, so I've tried asking this on other forums with no luck (aka no answers). I really need some advice with a couple characters I am having issues with in regards of design.


Long story short, I have a trilogy comic series I am working on right now. The first story in the series is called C.I.O and is based off a weird fanfic I wrote back in 2013. Of course, I made new characters to replace the other ones which, well, happened to be Knuckles and Tails (yes, I used to be a weird Sonic fan for a while, which I'm a bit ashamed of). The new characters in C.I.O are instead Thatcher and Finley, characters I made myself. The only problem is, I've had many comments on how they "look like Knuckles and Tails", which is not a good sign. (Particularly on one image of the two sitting together on the grass. I don't know what it is with that one picture). I'm thinking I'll probably have to redesign them, which is a bit frustrating especially since I'm already attached to them now, and I'll have to redo the first four comic pages. I'm wondering if it's mainly because they are the same colours, and species? Though I do not draw in the Sonic style. So I don't know. Also for some reason I don't really want to change Thatcher's species, especially since there doesn't seem to be a single non-Sonic echidna OC.


I think it's hard to really tell if your characters look too much like something when you're the one that created them, so maybe it's more obvious for other people. I'll post a link to the characters' Toyhouse pages so you can see for yourself. Any suggestions and advice are greatly appreciated!


Thatcher: http://toyhou.se/345992.thatcher
Finley: http://toyhou.se/331716.finley-the-fox

[Halei-Helai]

I definitely think they look like Knuckles and Tails, and I haven't ever even played a Sonic game, nor am I a Sonic fan. That should be kind of telling.


I hate giving advice to other people about their creations since I am proposing changes to something that is surely personal to you. But, maybe you can change the main body color of these two characters. Admittedly, their colors are similar as well and I think that is the biggest factor that makes them look like Knuckles and Tails.

[N.y.r.o]

@Halei-Helai


Alright, well thanks for the advice! I'll try changing around their colours, as that's probably a good place to start anyway.

[Nutmeg]

In addition to the colouring, they share a few quirks with Sonic characters that make them seem a little more like those characters. For example, Finley has the same hair tufts as Tails, and the headpiece kind of looks like the goggles he sometimes wears. The bandages in Thatcher's hair spikes kind of remind me of Tikal (another echidna). Perhaps it's something to do with the snout as well? It's hard to place my finger on it exactly. As Halei said already, I think the colours probably have the most to do with it though.

[Halei-Helai]

Finley's eyes also struck me as a bit like those of Tails. They are the same color and sort of have the same shape/expression.

[N.y.r.o]

Thank you for all the suggestions / advice so far! I took them all into consideration and came up with a redesign for Finley and sort of with Thatcher. Well I've been working on Finley's new ref so here's a picture from it:

I also made a sketch for Thatcher's design update but the only thing I really changed were the colours, so oh. (Honestly I never really noticed that Tikal had bandage things in her spines, but I don't really know what to put for Thatcher instead . . .)