The Chronological Syrus: Part 1 - 2007 - 2014

Syrus is the only character where his species affected his personality - he was specifically created to to be the opposite of a ‘laughing hyena’, instead being more quiet and reserved. Compare to Tanner where I wanted a tiger character because tigers are cool! Luckily for Syrus, hyenas are also cool.

Syrus was born from that simple idea, little did I know how big of a role he’d end up having!

2007

Sy’s very first appearance! Looks like he gelled his bangs a bit - but only his bangs. Look at that frizzy hair.

His first outfit is largely the same as his default outfit now (And he's currently one of two characters that more or less wears their original outfits regularly), with more detailed shoes and a much smaller stripe on the shirt being the biggest differences. His spot patterns wouldn’t be consistent for quite some time (Not that I’m exactly great at that now, I tend to forget which side of his face they tend to go on). His tail is also longer and fluffier with a darker tip.

(The small Sy in the middle says “I’m not always sad looking!”. It didn’t come out super well in the scan but it’s cute, haha.)

2008

Nothing too notable this year - I’d continue to struggle with his hair for a while yet. This was the first time I colored him, however! I don’t think I was even particularly happy with the last pic even when I drew it, but he’s liked coffee ever since so something came out if it I guess.

2009

The spots on his face - at least on the right side - are finally more or less consistent from here on out! He also became a  little more reserved here - was it because of the spots? His clothes got a mild redesign and now he wears sneakers along with his trademark shirt. His tail has grown shorter to resemble an actual hyenas tail, but it still has the brown tip for the time being.

The last pic is the first thing I drew to test out Paint Tool Sai, and it's a good thing I liked the trial version because I had to buy the program in order to save this pic! It’s blatantly inspired by the Hatsune Miku song ‘Love is War’ but there’s no particular meaning to pairing Syrus with the song beyond it being fun to try.

2011

I did draw a little bit of Sy in 2010 but I'll be saving those pics for a different post, so we’re jumping to 2011! You’re not missing much in the meantime, except that I apparently went back to the big shirt stripe for a bit.

This first one was experimental as it’s the first and last time I tried animating anything, with layers drawn in Sai and the imported to Photoshop to export the gif. It was heavily referenced from the first Baka and Test ending theme, hence the background and palette. I think I originally wanted to animate more characters but decided one was more than enough for me! I’m fond of it for what it is - I don’t think many people really saw this one when I posted it so I hope you enjoy it now.

This is where he really starts to feel like Syrus! These are all expressions he’d probably still make today. I did another pass on his design here - It finally hit me that hyenas do not in fact have generic canine ears so a remedied that and made a few different attempts on noses rather than default cartoon nose. His hair becomes a bit more manageable too. I also did a couple of tests of an older Sy for funsies, which I don't think I've posted before.

2013-2014

I looked and looked but I couldn’t find anything with this guy from 2012 - which is weird because I’ll probably end up drawing him at least once a year for the rest of my life. Hopefully he enjoyed the year off. 

I must have really been thinking about starting comics with these guys by now because what’s with the two different reference sheets? His outfit is pretty much updated to his normal default now, his bowling shoes aren’t 100% finalized but recognizable to what they are today. He also has a layer of lighter fur on his chest now, his tail lost the brown tips and has a few spots, and I finally added the one spot on the right side of his face.

I really don’t care for the last one because I managed to do a pretty good job on everything but his entire freakin’ head. What was the point of those ref sheets if he just came out looking like that?