Evan Stanley

Evan Stanley is an American freelance comic illustrator. She previously contributed to the Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs until the comics' cancelation in 2017. She currently contributes to IDW Publishing's Sonic the Hedgehog comic series. She has also done a couple of works for the Sonic Boom franchise.

Artist background
Evan Stanley was homeschooled until high school, where she began attending a community college. She has an AA degree in Studio Art from Cabrillo College, and is currently studying for her Bachelor's Degree in Animation/Illustration at San Jose State University. Stanley states that she has been drawing her whole life. Before she became a Sonic fan, she created many fantasy art with subjects such as dragons, unicorns, fairies, and scientific illustrations.

Stanley addresses that she has always been a reader, but wasn't really interested in comics &mdash; with the exceptions of Calvin and Hobbes, Bone, and various manga like Fullmetal Alchemist, as listed &mdash; however, once she became a fan of the Sonic series around age 13-14, some of the first comics she read and loved were of fellow deviant, Darkspeeds' various comics and Ian Flynn's "Other-M". Stanley expresses, "Comics seemed like the most natural way to tell the stories I was making up. Sequential art comes to me very naturally, and I have no intention of stopping."

Evan Stanley has been making Sonic fancomics since 2006, the year she became a Sonic fan. Her main, and most popular comic series is "Ghosts of the Future", commonly abbreviated "GOTF". The comic focuses on an alternate reality of Earth in which Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends are defeated by Dr. Eggman with the aide of a mind-manipulated Shadow the Hedgehog. The comic features Silver the Hedgehog as the main character, who is chosen to restore the seven Chaos Emeralds that were removed from time as a last resort.

Outside of her "Ghosts of the Future" series, Stanley is also the current steward of Darkspeeds' comic, "Tails Away". "Shadow Underground", an inking exercise that Stanley did for a class, is also a popular project amongst her readers. Stanley has also illustrated an issue of "Sonic Unbound", a comic series belonging to one of Evan's friends, Okida. Older comics created by Evan Stanley include "Valentine's Day" and "Possessed Hero", both of which can be found in her gallery on deviantART.

Archie Comics
After entering the "Sonic Vs." contest announced in 2010, Stanley was contacted by Paul Kaminski, editor of Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic series. Though Stanley didn't win the contest, her entry provided the gateway to her first official Archie Comics commission, the Sonic the Hedgehog Free Comic Book Day pinup released on May 2011.

After that, Stanley continued to contribute to Archie Comics as a freelance illustrator, a job that Stanley is commissioned and paid on a case-by-case basis, until the series' cancelation. Stanley primarily did work as a penciler, but also did ink and color work from time to time. Stanley's job as a penciler sometimes gave her the pleasure of getting to design or redesign a character, such as her design of Harvey Who in Sonic the Hedgehog #233.

Archie Comics

 * Sonic Boom (comic series):
 * #1 (variant covers)
 * Sonic the Hedgehog:
 * #260 (variant cover)
 * #263 (variant cover)
 * #267 (regular cover)
 * #268 (regular cover)
 * Sonic the Hedgehog Free Comic Book Day:
 * 2015 (cover coloring)
 * Sonic Universe:
 * #75 (variant cover #7)
 * #79 (regular cover)
 * #82 (regular cover)

IDW Publishing

 * Sonic the Hedgehog:
 * #4 (cover B and second printing cover)
 * #8 (cover A and B)
 * #12 (cover B)

Archie Comics

 * Sonic Universe
 * #79-82 ("The Silver Age")

Miscellaneous

 * Sonic Boom (TV series):
 * "Three Men and My Baby!"

Archie Comics

 * Sonic Boom (comic series):
 * #1 ("Getting a Little Boulder Part One of... er... One")
 * #2 ("Knuckleduster")
 * Sonic the Hedgehog:
 * #231 ("Haunted")
 * #233 ("From the Shadows")
 * #238 ("Foundation Work")
 * #247 ("At All Costs Part One: Fate Interrupted")
 * #252 ("At All Costs Part Two: A New Lease on Life")
 * #257 ("Damage Control")
 * #258 ("The Chase Part One")
 * #259 ("The Chase Part Two" and "After the Credits Scene")
 * #260-#263 ("Light in the Dark")
 * #263 ("Consequences")
 * #267 ("Ambushed! Part Two") (page 16-20)
 * #272 ("Ray of Hope") (page 11-20)
 * #277-#279 ("Hidden Costs")
 * #284-#287 (Off Panel)

IDW Publishing

 * Sonic the Hedgehog:
 * #4 ("Fallout Part 4")
 * #8 ("Silent Support")
 * #10 ("The Battle foe Angel Island Part 2")

Miscellaneous

 * Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal (comic prologue)

Archie Comics

 * Sonic the Hedgehog:
 * #231 ("Haunted")

IDW Publishing

 * Sonic the Hedgehog:
 * #4 ("Fallout Part 4")
 * #8 ("Silent Support")
 * #10 ("The Battle foe Angel Island Part 2")

Archie Comics

 * Sonic the Hedgehog:
 * #231 ("Haunted")
 * #233 ("From the Shadows")

Miscellaneous

 * Sonic the Hedgehog Free Comic Book Day 2011 (Pin-up)

Trivia

 * Evan Stanley first gained recognition in the fan community for her Sonic webcomic "Ghosts of the Future", which she continues to update to this day.
 * In 2008, Evan Stanley was one of the North American winners of the Sonic and the Black Knight art contest. She not only had her entry featured in the bonus material of the game, but was also sent a free &mdash; month late &mdash; copy of the game from Sega.