DSG 1353: Sci-Fi: USING GREYSCALE, DESIGN FOUR MULTI-PEDAL ROBOTS IN 3/4 VIEW

[William b. Hand]

[ So... greyscale... try to describe volume using shades of grey, black, and white. ]

Sci-Fi: USING GREYSCALE, DESIGN FOUR MULTI-PEDAL ROBOTS IN 3/4 VIEW
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[ExiledRed]

Note: the shadows still need work, yes, but as dan points out later in the thread, they were actually much worse, and needed an immediate fix :)
(dont work after drinking on a saturday night!)


http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w180/ExiledRed/robot1cropA.jpghttp://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w180/ExiledRed/robot2A.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w180/ExiledRed/robot3A.jpghttp://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w180/ExiledRed/robot4crop.jpg

[Cookiedemon]

Quick sketches of some bots.

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj186/TheStory137/mini.jpg

[dan liimatta]

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/2004/botsbe3.jpg

slow warm-up (blasted mellow Sundays)

ExiledRed & btw Why oh why, did you use the pixel spray for the shadows? I crave an answer or I'll loose myself into some void of thought.

[ExiledRed]

Its a fair point, dan.

Actually I cast the shadow on a dissolve layer, and yes I know it looks like sh**

I use these sessions for personal experimentation and development of my abilities, I've been trying to find a use for the dissolve layer, and I figured that If I textured the ground with noise, a dissolve layer would blend a shadow in to the textured surface, without the need for displacement maps.

Luckily because I layer practically every brushstroke I can easily remove it later when I have time, and attempt a better approach.

Keep in mind, that what might be an artistic 'faux pas' to some is actually groundbreaking stuff for me, given my education in this field is very limited.

Also keep in mind, that I do all my work with a crap computer, a dodgy mouse, disposable retractable pencils and a $50 scanner.

I have never held a tablet, or seen one in use, I couldn't paint a wall black with a real brush and I learned perspective drawing from my son's 'how to draw hot wheels cars' manual when I was thirty.

So expect me to break new ground in the art of the cliche, safe and downright crap, but appreciate what Im up against too :)

[dan liimatta]

ExiledRed Its a fair point,

but,

Well you see I think you destroyed your otherwise decent images with the shadow for several reasons - and you where not able to convey an artistic idea into my (perhaps narrow and tiny ) brain - & for me, in was just a screw-up.

While...
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/6348/paintoverbs2.jpg
(completely mouse generated, with the shadow on a different layer etc.)

In my mind makes your piece pretty good (I was to lazy to fix the horizon/wall that is my other pet pewee, but the later is more understandable, at least to me).

EDIT - oh and the light in general :P

Anyway I hope I haven't been too dastardly, and welcome and good luck.

[Hamsta]

Multiple pedals, right?
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/5234/1353fourbotsnz5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[ExiledRed]

Dan,


thanks for your points. I corrected my first piece for now, will do others when the kids arent bugging me. The claw on the left was meant to be raised, and you are right, I communicated that badly.

Thanks for the kick.

[Tommoy]

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t19/Tommoy/DSG1353k.jpg

[Brett_Schmidt]

http://www.demonpack.com/web07/multipedrobots.jpg

2hrs.

[Supialoctopod]

http://bbsimg.ngfiles.com/14/16117000/ngbbs480c19e7b5ff9.jpg

[ashton]

http://studiopumpernickel.com/ash/2006-dailysketch/DSG-1353-Sci-Fi-USING-GREYS.jpg

palm tree robot is my favorite.

[William b. Hand]

Hamsta - I'm not sure whether you're kidding or are serious, but nice work on the pedals.

Making the rare appearance... :P

These took a while. Worked on them off and on during the whole day... Still fleshing out this approach. First one is my favourite, despite his wonky footing. I did actually make shadows for these, but they didn't improve anything. :(

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w188/wbhandny/GreyscaleRobots-1.jpg

[dan liimatta]

...

Damn, I feel cheap and lazy now.

Wonderful stuff William :heart:

[ExiledRed]

William,

Excellent stuff, really humbling.

I believe you like the first because the headshape invokes Geiger's Alien.

I like it best because I'm gravitating towards the comic book, and if I had to draw these robots multiple times from different angles and adaptive to my own style, I think the first one (and the second) would cause me less headaches.

All of them are fantastic though, and my son thinks the second one is best.

(never underestimate a child's opinion, when it comes to Sci-fi or fantasy is my personal belief)

[dan liimatta]

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/412/bots4ij5.jpg

Once I left my flabbergasted state I decided that I had to remedy past mistakes.

[William b. Hand]

dan liimatta - Aw, shucks, man... Thanks! :teeth: I really did spend too much time on them, though, so keep that in mind.
As for "feeling cheap and lazy now"... You're being rather goofy, of course, as that first set of bots is actually very good. That you went and did four more is just ridiculous. Each of these has it's strengths, but I'm particularly intrigued by that prehensile-tailed gator-bot. Great job!

ExiledRed - Thank you! You're certainly right about an echo of ALIEN in the head shape, but the things that appeal to me about #1 so much are the rather cutesified eyes, the huge pincers, and the alert appearance & feeling of potential energy like that of a dog. #2 has got some nice forms and a look of some intelligence, and that's my second favourite. :) Glad your son digs it! The other two never really found their Ghosts, but oh well. I'm glad that you took dan's advice about the shadows -- Those were driving me crazy, as well, and switching them was a huge improvement.

Cookiedemon - The rendering of your bots is visually jarring. The contrast is just a bit much... I wish you'd maybe used less white, and more shades of grey, as the bot designs themselves are quite appealing.

Tommoy - I think you kinda phoned this one in, and were also maybe more in the mood to draw creatures than robots... ;)

Brett_Schmidt - I rather like #2... It's little fingers are pleasing.

[Tommoy]

Dan, great work man, but to be honest i liked your first series best, specially the head of the second one and the last one. But I can see where your coming from when seeing Williams work.
William, fantastic how you make these robots look so alive, certainly a learning moment for me as i see how you achieve a great sense of depth.
About my own, your right, my favorite subjects are creatures and humanoids but robot come close behind;)
Brett, I like the egg thing.

[Brett_Schmidt]

william - thank you! #2 was my struggle. As said before, you knocked this one out!

tommoy - Thanks! I tried to crank a quick idea after spending too much time on the second design. It was great to see you give a little time to texturing your creations.

[Master Chill]

Heya,

Not sure if it's still ok with the timeframe (normally GMT+1 here - Belgium) and all, but since I had to create a similar robot lately for school (and we're still finetuning it :( ) I was wondering if you guys could give me some constructive insight on this one cause I'm like updating this for waay too long now and I'm getting tired of re-designing it...

I'm working on this one the old way, meaning pencil and paper, so there might be an update in full color next week or something when I've been working on it in PS, but every help would be greatly appreciated :teeth:

Thanks in advance

PS: Check my sketchbook if ya wanna see more :^^:

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/949/spiderky3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[objectiveW]

IMAGE LINK (http://i31.tinypic.com/2qxsvlx.jpg)

war robot/ lizard done in photo shop about 20 mins, pretty sketchy

[ExiledRed]

master chill

I like the menacing design,and I'm a big fan of clawfeet (no really. :) )

The perspective of the guns is off, unless they're rotating, but if they are, that isn't quite clear.

You should do another three like that, before colouring it. (greyscale assignment :) ) then go back to fixing that one. You might find it helps to 'move on' if your tired of correcting a piece, and you might find you prefer one of the other three also.

[Hamsta]

William b. Hand Oh, I thought you meant multiple legs, but sometimes you have strange writing (a-top?) which may pose problems for the eslers among us.

Even in b&w or silhouette these multiple designs can be a challenge... maybe it's not that bad though, and I shouldn't complain.

I like your first too, as well as the fourth, they push the envelope further.
The third is just over complicated.

[Heckedy Peg]

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z204/rkapity/4robots.jpg

[Jenserai]

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j177/jenserai/dsg1353-design_4_multipedal_robots.jpg

The one on the lower right was inspired by this lil cutie (http://www.deepseaphotography.com/data.php?id=29391)