IDW #100: The Mechanical Man - VOTING!

[yoitisi]

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t291/yoitisi/IDW_Banner_Final_Revised-1.jpg

Topic: The Mechanical Man

Brief:
1. Design and draw The Mechanical Man
2. Include orthogonal drawings (front, side and back views minimum) in your entry.
3. Since the winning entry will be on the new IDW banner, you have to be able to provide your robot with a plain (or no) background! Including a background in your final entry is okay as long as you have a second version without it for me to put on the banner.
4. That's it... now draw!

You can find more background information and a list of the prizes in the original thread here: IDW #100: The Mechanical Man - SPECIAL ROUND! (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=156791)

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No voting for your own entries! I repeat, no voting for your own entries :)

Please give critiques and comments, we're all here to learn from each other!

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Deadline for voting: Saturday, June 13

679329

[PMaz]

Released by the Housetech corporation, this fantastic new maidbot can replace any maid you would already have. It doesn't require any pay or housing. This new product, fresh out of our labs may be yours for ten mensual payments of 359.99$ Don't wait! Call now and you will receive one month of free soap for BONNY's included washing/drying Machine!

Housetech is not responsible for injuries and death occuring the use or misuse of this device. Some case of kids drowning in the washing machine or getting stuck in the vacum cleaner have occured. Cases where the robot went postal and killed an entire familly represent less than 3% of all documented cases. Battery sold separetly.

[Rabbi Satan]

681837

[Tetrodotoxin]

Wheeew, heres mine:

The task of this little fella is conditioning potentially toxic fluids. Floating in a tank, it pumps the purified water through the "umbilical chord" into separate storage tanks. Theres no need for arms; the legs are used when the tanks are empty or when it has do walk to a different location.



683174

[Rezeroth]

My Entries

[Evil_Sloth]

When the Geisha etiquette died out in the twenty first century, Japanese business men devised an alternate host for their parties.

[mortain.B]

In 2019 the Dempster Brothers, Inc. released their new version of the classical "Dumbster" mobile garbage bin - the Dumbster mobile garbage bot. In big cities they became a part of everyday street life.

685574

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

MFB-1881 - 'Claudia 1881 Series'

The ultimate in utility robotics is now finally available to the public for the small price of $35,900.00.

With a simple user interface and learning AI, you can modify her routine and interface with other people. Set her up to help with tasks around the house or office. Have her help with repairs, moving furniture. She follows almost every command that you give her. Don't miss out on this beauty of a deal!

*Powered by AMD Vitae Bio-core Processors
*Full electric power with a battery life of 96 hour lifespan with a 16 hour backup battery
*Can travel over all smooth terrain with wheels
*Can carry and move up to 500 lbs.
*Already preprogrammed with a profound knowledge base of commands that include
Malicious Command Countermeasures to prevent harm from being done to the
owner or other users.
*Able to be updated utilizing the internet.
*Options for different 'Personalities,' 'Faces,' and Multi-language support!
*3 year parts and maintenance free!
*Body is kept stable utilizing gyroscopic motors that counterbalances weight to keep vertical!
*Great for busy parents who need someone who they can trust to watch the kids!
*Awesome for businesses who need the extra manpower for busier periods

[D@niel]

Here we gooooo!

[Amber Alexander]

Here's mine:

[xgabo]

XGABO - Olympic Man

[monotony]

wow great work, guys!
here's mine

684849

684844

[cubesoflard]

Booyah

[Hunkulus]

Submitted for factory approval...

[Mark Tarrisse]

Here's mine,

The Screaming Knight :

Robot created in september 1918.
This WWI allied robot prototype was mainly made to scare and produce an unbearable deafening noise against enemies. Unfortunately because of the end of the war in november 1918 this prototype has never been used in action.

685013
685016
685018

[Adi.]

heya all!

dammmn there is some really nice work in here :)

[Mythmaker]

Ok - Here's mine!... Please... take it away from me! :S

For my design I took inspiration from hill climb racing events where enthusiasts race old cars against the clock. I tried to imagine a similar future event where the cars are replaced by droids.

It's silly, and completely impractical - but damn it was fun! And I learnt a lot doing it...

So many great entries - best of luck to you all! :hatsoff:

[gunnarsson]

ok finally done. i tried many poses for the main illustration, but thisone actually worked the best, i think it would fit into a graphic banner nicely. sorry for the wide image!:D

the mechanical man was a milestone in AI technology. this was the big break IDW inc. had waited for for a long time. The mechanical man was suited for about any manual labour, and had a new type of AI that finally made the "allround" robots worth while. Its thinking capacity was close to human, it had the capability to learn and a well developed arsenal of feelings. As the human reign of the earth crumbled the robots lived on. They adapted the ways of man in things like behavior and speech, but differed in many ways in action. The era of industry was gone as the robots had learned about the old ways of the humans and had strong feelings of love and nostalgia for the natural earth. They built no houses. They had no fields. They did not even build new copies of themselves. They just walked the earth, looking at things, talking to one and other, thinking, until they rusted, and then left the earth to nature.

[thenatsan]

Blimey, got it all done! I haven't done plan views since I did a GCSE in Technical Drawing in my youth. I moved the side view from the middle to the left as I thought it flowed a bit better.

[devilminer]

Here's mine. Good luck people!

689380

[yoitisi]

As usual, a few notes on this (Special) round of IDW:

First of all, thanks a lot for the amazing entries this time around and to everyone who participated :) I'm sure most of these would look nice on the banner for IDW, but I'll let the public decide on this one. The winner for this round will be decided by public vote, everyone only has one single vote though so make it count!

Next round will be up soon and be as normal :)

[LosPescados]

the top post says : voting until may 13 guess you mean June?
(voted for D@niel because I really like the strong warbot or rugby-player bot and the original background. )
Result was, D@niel is currently winning by 4 votes! xD Hope you win ;)

[cubesoflard]

This was hard to vote for. There was a lot of really cool designs. My vote goes to Mountain B because I would really have fun modeling and rigging this character.

Rezeroth: Really love your pose. Your overall design is consistent and works well. Plus it looks sick.

Evil Sloth: Love your value studies. You have a cool story behind your character and you put a lot of work into it. Nice job.

Adi: Really cool pose and color pallet. He would work very well for an in game character.

Devilminer: This one blew me away at the last minute. Really cool pose and designs. Its very elegant and clean. She might have a little hard time bending her legs though but still its really cool.

Nice job all around everybody.

[Majenkus]

Xgabo - Holy crap! That's sweet. The rendering and the setup is great, nice choice on the low angle. I think the legs were a really good design choice because they ground the fantasy "robot" into feasible and recognizable design. Without reading your description I already have an idea of what it does and how it works. I like that your design presented some purpose and functionality and the intent was not purely aesthetic or comedic. It is like an advertisment for a product in a world that I want to know more about. I want to have Olympic Man's babies.

[D@niel]

I CAN'T TAKE THE STRESS!!!! hahah:D

[Rabbi Satan]

I CAN'T TAKE THE STRESS!!!! hahah:D

At least you're in the top 3! I haven't received any votes :P

Oh well, the mob has spoken - time to commit seppuku :D

[flashrabbit]

Cool stuff. I really liked mortain.B's design, so he got my vote :)

[Izer]

I haven't looked at the IDW thread Ina bit but damn this round Is awesome. Just wanted to say great entires everyone and long wait but good luck to all.

[PMaz]

I offer my sincerest apologies to everybody who entered this contest. I found out recently that a member of my family tempered with the votes in order to try to make me win. I do not approve of his actions and I am extremely sorry. I did not ask for this to append, I only showed him what I had been up to and he decided to temper the vote on his own behalf.

Again, I am so very sorry of what happen and I would like to assure you that I will not happen again. I hope this will clear my name even partially for I’m very ashamed of what happened.

PMaz.

[kischi]

Ok my vote went to mortain.B be, because the idea of burning the rubbish inside and suck the toxic fumes to the head and store them is just awesome. I think there is a bigger industrial design backround behind them compared to the just wonderful pic from D@niel. It's really nicely done in painting and color( I love the Flag) but it's more a character or a concept.
And you are leading anyways ;)
Also Rezeroth really nice job, looks like a "metroid badass foodballplayer", I think it's not nice to get tackled by him. Great pose.
devilminer outstanding design man, you have a real strong talent.
Cheers

[TechnicalArtist]

In the name of the members of PMaz familly, our sincere apologies.

We were not aware that voting was only for existing members of this website.

Of course we are proud of PMaz work and of course we wanted to vote for his design. Mom, Dad and members of his familly all wanted to vote and of course grandma does not have a valid email adresses, she doesnt even have a computer.

Feel free to remove our votes and ban us but please give PMaz a break, he didnt even know we were going to do this. He is proud of his work and his reputation to the community of this site and would probably be crushed if he was to be banned. Not to mention the feeling we would have having done this to him.

You must admit his drawing is the best. At least we think it is.

Sorry again,

PMaz Sr.

[devilminer]

Man, this was a fun project! I'm happy the submission went through, so thanks to yoitisi for that! Why there are only a few here is beyond me, especially when there are thousands of members! Gladly, these few have incredible talents and gave us a reason to keep coming back here for more! Thank you for those that have commented and thanked me!! Very inspirational work, people. Keep it up!

[Majenkus]

Happy just to have it go through? ;) Your entry was really sweet and it's clear you put in a lot of time.

[Jame]

cool stuff! xgabo, nice design concept and blurb. I voted for D@niel though as I feel as an overall it would suit the IDW banner better as it has a more iconic and impressive overall aesthetic.

may the best man win.

jame

[Hideyoshi]

very awesome round! It was hard to pick one, could have given it to either D@niel, Mortain.B, Xgabo as well, but I only had one vote so it went to Rezeroth. Sweet original concept!

[gunnarsson]

hey! great round, and very good work everyone!:D there were many good ones and a hard decision, i finally came down to xgabo, d@niel and rezeroth, i thought monotonys was really good too, ETC!, but I went for d@niels in the end, cuz I thought it would fit the banner well and that. so yeah may the best dude win!

thought i'd give some crits, hope i dont offend anyone, and hope i dont come of as a pompous bigmouthed big headed pretentious grandiloquent pompous magisterial pontifical ostentatious giving crits where theyre not wanted ass or anything;)

pmaz - first of all i think that the voting thing is fine, i do not think that the boards are that strict, its just that you do not vote for your own entry in good sportmanship spirit ya know. your family can relax!:D as for your robot, im not sure on what to comment since it has its distinct style, but if anything theres some small perspective things, and some lines that arent quite parallell when maybe they should be. but i think those stuffs are hard too, especially in such a complex mechanical thing. definitly nice work, it has a happier mood than many entries, which I appreciate among all the sci-fi stuff.

rabbi satan - purdy flashy design there, i like the oldschool look of the head:grandpa: and it sure does look like a savage beast, agile as a gazelle and with the fencing skills of a ninja, destroying its trembling victims with the presicion and grace of a surgeon, etc. I think you should try and get some more defined shadows next time, to get a better feeling of shape and surface and maybe get away from having lines describing the forms. You might wanna try blocking in the major shadows and colors when you start painting, and maybe look at how other people paint similar stuff.
anywho!, the design is purdy solid, and the concept fits it well!

tetrodotoxin - the main thing for meh would be that the rendering is a little flat. it looks kinda like you start with flat surfaces that you then add shadows to, maybe? perhaps you should test some other ways of rendering, experiment a bit, maybe there are ways that fit you better... or maybe there isn't! i don't know. know this i do not. the knowledge of how this query is to be answered, that i do not know. a more dramatical pose would be nice too. but you have a distinct design there, i like the color-choise. it looks like it might be accurate to how a robot for that purpous would be designed. good job!

rezeroth - excellent job i must say, i like the rendering with the thin layers of white over parts(as seen on its left leg.) i dunno what to call it.. I suck at making mechanical stuff like that, making that motorlike stuffs with all the tubes and bolts and little round thingies and what have you look good. so kudos for you mister! I do think that the concept is slightly odd, a bit to special of a topic for a competition like this perhaps. I wouldn't know why to have a football player on the banner ya know?:) but i cant complain, great job

evil sloth - thats a pretty scary geisha DUDE! nice design, i like the eyes and mouth. The 3d model looks cool. It looks a little scrambly with all the different images, one can't be sure what is the main illustration. Perhaps if one was more worked on… definitely a good job anyways!

mortain b – you get the prize for most unique stomach mister! it’s a lottery ticket, and ill scrape it for you, oh you won nothing. It looks a lot like something youd find in a game, like timesplitters or something, it would work nicely for something like that. I like the garbage disposal directions there. Im not sure on what to crit. Maybe you should have taken the garbage disposal thing further, cause its hard to spot now. To develop that a few steps further might have made it more one of a kind too ya know.

The CRAAAAAAAZY dude srd – pretty thought out concept. Its nice to see a little bit of traditional work here. The rendering needs some work, but I don’t really know what you should work on specifically. Probably just practise more, and use ref and all the usual stuff.

d@niel – sweet sweet rendering and a solid design. All the slight changes in colour over the different surfaces are lovely. I like the flag too, very well rendered and I guess it makes it banner fitting. A very lame crit though, is that the “D W” are a lot taller than th "I" if the flag was to be stretched out. I guess its more of a fun fact or whatever. Pretty dull fact I mean.

Amber Alexander – thisone is also fit to represent a competition like this on account of it being an art robot. Theres something about that kind of concept that I find a tad lame or I dunno, obvious,(bad description) but that’s totally personal so don’t listen to that at all.:D The rendering is pretty good I say, an easily read illustration. It would probably benefit from another background. Solid illustration anyways, good work!

Xgabo – a very high quality entry! I can really appreciate the authentical concept with porsche and puma developing it, and the whole backstory. Plus the new camshaft design that delivers improved acceleration is a nice touch! That camshaft made the decision on whom to vote for very hard. Theres something about that camshaft man, I tell ya. Something makes me like it a lot. Hm. I don’t have any good crits. Maybe the blackness in the illustration is a bit to harsh, but it works, so yeh…

Monotony – I be liking it! It stands out from the crowd. I think the main illustration works well, how you see it in work and folded up. I’m a little bit bothered with its shadow on the floor. It doesn’t quite match the forms of the robots. Maybe the explanation, views and concept image could have been solved in another way, but these are small things yea, good job!

Cube so flard – the concept text is very small, and partially obscured by the front view of the robot. The face and colour and texture of the plates makes it look a little like an ancient stone robot that has yet again been woken up from its Aztec grave to inflict fantastical suffering to the human population. And the arm and leg plates resemble a hard candy called “cameleons” a lot, so that’s good too. It would be nice if the scale showing man was painted to, and maybe have some action between them, or if you painted a background, so that you get some sence of a concept, where its from etc. it feels a bit like it has some story to it, but you can’t figure it out.

Hunkulus – I really like the conceptual drawings of the arms and that at the top, beautiful lines there meng. But the illustration needs some work, it seems rushed. And there’s no real sense of depth. I think you should in the beginning of the painting process roughly mark out shadows, get some solid forms visible. Maybe you do that already I don’t know. But the main think is probably to get the rendering more smooth, and to get the edges a lot cleaner and sharper. One of the major things for making something look like it is in front of another thing is is to have a clear edge, and a clear valour difference between them. Again, maybe you already very much know this, and maybe you just didn’t have time to fix those things here, but they are the things that strike me when I look at this. Good designing anyways, I can see this walking through the snow in a heavy blizzard between two arctic bases.:)

Markusthebarbaboon – epic! Maybe a bit to much ‘vivid light’ and ‘blur’ plus I want to look at this through a pair of 3d glasses, but that is a purdy bombastic image mister! I like this kinda concept too. But the illu needs some extra painting on it I think. I’d like to see more of the mood I got from the side front and back views. This thing needs some scenery in sepia colour, with screens of smoke and running soldiers, its mighty presence, just destroying everything with thunderous ease making you go “YEAH!”

Adi – nice one! Classy painting style, and it does look like the heavy gunner from a video game. Yet again I’m strapped to find a specific thing to comment on. Though, it doesn’t make me go ”wow”, something to make it stand out of the crowd might be the next forward-going step to take… I just snuck a peek in your sketchbook, and I think that you have that in the things you posted in there. So maybe you would have benefited from taking some more risks in the designing of this, experiment a little more. It’s a solid entry, nice paints mang! (womang?)

Mythmaker – good work! I think that you succeeded in your quest. It looks like what you said you tried to do. the picture is kind of blurry or smudgy or painterdly loose, in what I think is a non flattering way. At least I think the robot could be tightened a few steps more. maybe that would make the perspective blur work better, if that is indeed what you wanted to achieve. But bah who am I to complain, it looks good.:D Good work man!

Gunnarsson – haha that palette, cmon. ‘oh now I know that this has to do with art. Because, he has a palette. That makes this illustration connected to art, and since we are artists on this homepage, we can relate to that.’ Cut your hair and get a day-job.

Thenatsan – nice! I like the colour scheme and the design. It looks like an almost decomposed body that has been woven into a jellylike cocoon, mostly there at the hip. But in gold. The views could be worked on more, but they work now too, and the frame/layout could have been made more fitting to the theme, but over all, real nice.:)

Devilmminer – extravagant design! it looks like it belongs in a futuristic anime show. I’m trying to figure out how she transforms into the vehicle, but it looks like it works, well played there, well played. Just some small things that could be tightened a little more, cleaning up some pencil lines, defining some more shapes… but its fine. Nice going!

[T_England]

In my humble opinion none of these top the existing banner design even closely, far to much emphasis on rendering and not nearly enough design and draftsmanship. I just object to a populous vote a little. From a philosophical standpoint only a certain number people are qualified to accurately judge if a design is "good" and even then it should not replace the "better" Its akin to those false upgrades we see in consumer products.

So the question is, do you want this thread to represent the community at this particular point in time? If yes, at the cost of diminishing its integrity? In-turn leading to a miss-conception in standards?

I'm only saying this as the banner represents some what of a benchmark imo, especially a replacement of it. I am rambling on a little and i do apologize if i come across as insensitive or alienating, its not my intention. Of course this entire argument is based on my opinion that the existing design is stronger. So make of that what you will, but if you agree with me then hopefully you will see i'm talking sense from a semantic standpoint.

Anyhoo my vote goes to xgabo, really nice original design there sir!

[T_England]

Also i wouldn't be saying this if that maintenance robot design wasn't so damn awesome, its a really inspiring piece.

I'm new here as well so should probably ramble less and draw more :/

[cotletan]

voted for monotony. I thinck that its the most realistic looking out of the whole bunch, good lighting and very good concept ...
i laso liked devilminer, hunkules and xgabo

[Mythmaker]

Thanks for the feedback Gunnarsson - I really appreciate it! I feel I made some serious errors of judgement with my final piece. Disappointing, but that's the way it is.

I still haven't put my vote in - I've found it really hard to pick a single favourite.

Hmm… Ok - decision time! I'm going with Markusthebarbarian - not because it's the best in terms of design or technical excellence, but just because I like it! :P It's quirky, stylish and I like the idea.

[ArticusV]

Really inspiring work from everyone, I was really looking forward to submitting mine, never found time to finish it sadly. :er:

I voted Monotony, i love the consistency and practicality of the design, one crit tho if i may: Balance? it seems a bit in danger of falling forward (to me) in the final peice. But all in all it really struck me as my favorite concept and the presentation of the ortho's is more original than anything i could have thought of, and deserves banner time until i win the next IDWbanner-thing :)


:bounce:

edit* It could be excused as running, but i'm just a crazy person :D

[yoitisi]

Sorry for my absence in here for a while, I've basically been away for a week and didn't have internet this weekend. It's good to see people giving crits in here though, as well as a lot of votes for this round. The poll will still be open for a while, to give everyone enough time to decide upon a winner :)

A short notice though, PMaz will be erased from the results of the poll and this round, and will therefore not be able to win any of the prizes, because of the tampering with his votes that went on. It appears I can't remove his name from the poll without damaging all the other results though, so I can only leave it up there. The matter has been dealt with and he apologized, so everything should be fine now.

T England: Since the current design on the banner was done by me I guess I should thank you for the compliment, but my intention has always been to replace it come round 100 and I see no reason to keep it up there longer. Part of IDW is the fact that it's a challenge that exist so everyone can have fun with it, and so the input of the people who enter is just as important as a good design to me. There's a number of entries in this round that I would not be ashamed of to put on the banner, but I figured I left it up to public vote to decide who wins. I appreciate the input though, and there's always round 150 :P

[monotony]

Wow thanks for the votes so far guys! I'm really excited to see so many who seem to like my entry.
and thank you guys so much for your input. You really brought up a few issues I could fix to improve my robot.

My vote went to Mythmaker. I enjoyed the concept and design on yours. Deserves a lot more votes than it got so far. The painterly approach especially on the final illustration works really well I think.

tough competition and great entries, guys!

[lennon]

Wow, great design monotony!
All the rest also very amazing, it seems that nobody is kidding around.

[form2function]

Didn't manage to find my way back here in time for an entry (there's always #150), but at least I can contribute on the crit... :)

PMaz: While it seems your entry was ineligible, I see no harm in a crit. The first thing that came to mind when I saw your concept was Rosie (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Y8m29ZLX5ag/STD63NkC1fI/AAAAAAAAB1Q/Ckpp-8ieYro/s400/JETSONS+COLOR+6.jpg), the housemaid robot from the Jetsons. While the composition on the final render could have been better thought-out, I like your use of bold colors and shading. The technical diagram also appears good and adds a bit more authority to your entry. My suggestion would have been to work on a suitable background for the image, even if it's a hint of a room, and also to clean up your lines a bit in order to make the render look a bit more polished. All in all a nice entry though.

Rabbi Satan: I enjoyed your blue palette (usually not my favorite color) and you seem to have a good grasp of the basics of shading and lighting. The design itself didn't grab me much, probably because my eye is used to seeing very similar robot designs over time, but that didn't detract too much from my opinion. However, my main crit is that the renders seem a little rushed and aren't what I'd call final images for an entry. When deciding to use your original sketches on the actual entry, I would suggest cleaning up your lines over the original art (on a separate layer) and then going in for the color. Otherwise you end up with a nicely colored sketch and not a true render. I was also a bit confused by the transparency/lighting of the chest area and that probably could have been better illustrated to show exactly what you imagined. All in all good work.

Tetrodotoxin: On the concept side, it seems interesting but left me a little confused as to how exactly it functions. I can see how it pumps liquids out through the cord but neither the description nor the design really illustrates where the input comes from or how it filters it. On the design end it seems like a good start but might have used a little more TLC or time to develop it. The flat "collage" style can work well in some instances but in my experience it rarely works for me. In the cases it does, it's usually because the artist has a strong sense of 3D and that tends to show even on a 2D style. If you're still learning how to concept around an object you're off to a good start and I would say keep at it. If you're fairly comfortable with a 3D illustration and environment, I would probably have suggested going that route instead.

Rezeroth: Excellent design, great take on a classic football pose on the render, and excellent shading and lighting. On the technical end you know your stuff and there's not much I can crit. On the concept side I like the idea but would have liked to see even a short line or two of description, telling us more about the design and/or its origins. For me, presentation is just as important as the art itself (sometimes even more) and I'm definitely not an exception in that. In your case that art is strong enough that it can stand on its own, but as a general crit I would suggest working more on your presentation. You've got the talent and it's a shame not to push it further. Top notch work though!

Evil_Sloth: Love the concept as well as the presentation. The use of b&w and the design itself brought back memories of Metropolis, something I'm terribly fond of. I particularly enjoyed the render of the factory setting, which has some excellent details in it (like the dragon design on the t-shirt of the worker). I also liked that you incorporated various styles into the presentation, from sketches to 3D renders. The only thing I might have liked to see and wasn't present, would have been an image of the robot in its "working" environment such as a bar or hotel. Not so much because it was needed but more because it would have given you a chance to show off the design in more detail. Beautiful work though and definitely one of my favorite entries in this round.

Mortain.B: Like the concept, enjoyed the render, but truly loved the presentation itself. As I keep saying (here and in the past), presentation is key. And you did an excellent job of presenting your robot in a suitable way to match its style. The render on the main image itself is perfect in my opinion and there's nothing I would change, add or subtract. Your lighting is spot on and the fire glow contrasts beautifully against the cold background. But again, the real gem for me is your presentation board. I love all the little touches you added, from the iconic diagram to the hand-written notes and coffee stain. The only thing I could say is that for some reason the foot area of the front orthographic view seems a little flat. Might be that it just needed stronger highlights, but it's such a minor note that it's barely worth mentioning. All in all a very strong entry and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future!

The Crazy Dude SRD: Nice concept and I like that you used traditional media as well as digital (as far as I can tell at least). On the design end, the only thing that seems a bit awkward for me is the face on the main render. It leaves me a little unsure of what the material of the faceplate is, compared to the body, and also looks a bit too masculine for what appears to be a female robot. On the technical side you seem like you're progressing well. One suggestion I can offer is when using the smudge tool to shade an area to make sure you add some strong and crisp linework and/or details to balance it out. Otherwise what happens is the image tends to look blurry. You actually did a good job of this through most all of the robot, but didn't carry that through to the rest of image (ie, bottle and taps). Nice entry overall and I hope you'll jump into IDW again in the future.

D@niel: One of the favorites this round and I can't say I'm surprised. Your talent in rendering is obvious and there's nothing I can really crit on that end. I also believe in using every gimmick one can to get the job done, so I can't hold the flag against you either. It's a touch that's guaranteed to get votes simply because we'd like to see the IDW flag floating in the new banner. However, the only thing that doesn't sit perfect with me is your presentation, which I feel needed a bit more work. To begin with your choice of background image is a bit distracting behind the orthographics and also looks odd behind the cast shadows on the main render. Something more muted might have been a better choice in my opinion, or if you wanted to go the full mile the technical details should have been at least done by you and matched the actual design. Even in keeping the current background I would have filled in the orthographic linework with some solid color so that it doesn't show through the robot itself and I also might have faded it out more behind the render itself. Lastly I would have like to see more of a story behind the design, which is one of my pet peeves. Seeing a beautiful product design without a backstory is like an excellent appetizer without a main course. In any case, it's without question a strong entry and hopefully one of many more from you in IDW. :)

Amber Alexander: Here's a robot I'd love to own, especially in Assistant mode! Seriously though, great concept and I love the playful style of your main render. My suggestion would be to try and clean up the lines around the edges a bit, both on the render and the orthographics. Beyond that though there's not much I can say other than to keep at it. Skills come with time, but unique ideas are much harder to find and you seem to have that end well-covered.

xgabo: Yep, you can draw. But more impressive for me was your concept and killer presentation, both in the main render and the technical blueprint. You showed great attention to detail throughout every stage, from concept to product and it shows. The main render is perhaps a bit over-saturated but it does create a dramatic image which works for that style of advertisement. I won't say much else, other than that I hope to see your entries continue in IDW. Not just because I like your style but because you raise the bar on presentation and background concept for everyone.

monotony: Nice and simple concept with a well-executed playfulness in its presentation. The technical board does a good job of showing how the robot functions but the real gem is your render, which is simply stunning. Both lighting and texturing is top notch and I found myself staring at the image for several minutes, in awe. It's a simple composition but that works in your favor. The only thing I can crit really is that it might have been better if you had made the robot carry something other than other robots of its kind, so that you had more contrast in the image. But beyond that, I'm truly in love with your render and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

cubesoflard: Good design and fairly strong shading and texturing. While its a pleasure to look at, I can't say it's altogether very original in its design. Not that that's a big minus, but when you have such originality among other entries the more generic designs tend to fall to the background. Beyond that, as I said for others, I would have liked to read something about the background of the robot... what it does, who made it, when it was made, etc. Something to give more life to the concept. All in all though a nice entry and good presentation!

Hunkulus: It's rare that I've found myself saying this, but I like your technical presentation more than your rendered image. It seems like you spent a lot of thought into the concept and you presented that very well in your technical board, but in contrast your final render falls a bit flat. Without adding much to the image, what I would have suggested would be to add some stronger lines in the design and its outline and also to show a bit more of the surface details in the drawing. There's so many lovely little details in your technical sketches that would have carried well into the render and it would have been nice to see that happen. Beyond that though, its a great entry. :)

Markusthebarbarian: Being a devoted fan of all things retro and steampunk, I love the concept and design of your entry. I also really like how dynamic the pose of your robot is in its rendered form, as well as the blueprint page. The only thing that doesn't quite work for me is the colored image. If you didn't have enough time to create a separate image for it in an environment I might have suggested to forgo that altogether and simply have presented the robot in the grayscale render with perhaps a bit more detail and in a larger size. As it stands that, for me at least, the color render distracts more than adds to the presentation. Great work though and a very nice entry!

Adi.: Strong render and a nice and clean presentation. There's nothing inherently wrong or bad about your entry and in fact its quite strong from a technical standpoint. However, as I said for another entry so far and might say again, it lacks a bit in originality if not in design then in concept. We've all seen a million combat droids and robots in our time and after a while it takes something really original to spark interest. If this were a contest for combat mechas yours would probably have my vote. But for the current theme, personally speaking, I was looking for more off-the-beaten-path concepts. Also a backstory might have helped a bit as well. Beautiful render though and I hope to see more of your work in the future. :)

Mythmaker: A very fun concept, strong drawing and strong presentation. There's not much I would change really and the only reason it doesn't have my vote is that there happen to be stronger entries among the lot. But from a technical standpoint you definitely have skill and I hope to see more of your work in these parts.

gunnarson: Love the concept and your lighting and texturing is also quite nice and lends itself well to the nostalgic feeling you wanted to evoke. My main crit would be to try and push your final renders a bit more in terms of clean design, but beyond that its a strong entry. Nice work and presentation!

thenathan: This is my favorite among the combat robots presented as it has something unique in its concept and design. Definitely a great job on the render and orthographics. Only thing I might suggest is to try and push the lighting and contrast of your palette a bit, because in parts it seems a bit muddled and flat. Overall a great entry though, nice work.

Devilminer: Very strong presentation as well as design. While I usually yawn at mecha-type designs, there's some very original graphical elements in your design that I love, particularly the combination of the circular wheels against the wings. It's a very iconic design that would even work well as a logo or outline, and that's both rare and hard to achieve. In fact it's a good way to test any design... Shrink it down in size and see how it looks as a logo. There's nothing I'd change about your entry and it is in fact one of my top favorites in this round. Very impressive work and I hope to see more of it in IDW in the future.

And my vote goes to... xgabo! It was a really tough decision, mainly between xgabo, Mortain.B, and Devilminer. All three designs would have been excellent for our banner and their creators did an outstanding job, but in the end I just couldn't let go of the concept behind xgabo's Olympic Man. My hat's off to everyone that took part in this round though (more than I can say for myself, heh) and I hope that most of you continue to stick around for longer than one round. Milestone rounds tend to bring everyone out of the woodwork, but the real ID concept designers are the ones that continue to take part in the "normal" rounds each week.

Keep up the good work everyone!

Cheers,

f2f.

[mortain.B]

All right...better late than never.
First of all I want to thank every one for voting, the nice comments and to be named in the "my favorites are..." quite often. Feels good...
As it seems I will achieve the thankless position No 4. Damn it :perv:
But maybe Mr. Monotony is passing me yet.

all things considered I feel very motivated to boost my involvement to this wonderful community - I hope to find time.
And nooooow...my two cents:

Rezeroth:
Well, at the end you lurched me. A cooler design is a cooler design, so it's merited. Your orthos are really nice and have a powerful aura. The actionshot is a little bit overcast at light and pose in
my opinion, but definitely good work.
...well...what should I say?
Why did you lurch me, you fool?! :P

Evil_Sloth:
really like the atmosphere of your presentation. good work.

D@aniel:
sadly I like your work the most of all, too. Nice Pose, cool design, very good rendering. It has this touch of magic you can find in professional work and I'm searching for all the time. You would win rightly. My critique: I don't like the feet. I think they don't fit to the rest of the design and they are a little bit uninspired. But It's the same with my entry, so you can also ignore my slipslop.

xgabo:
As already mentioned by others: very good work in any aspects. Nothing more to say.

monotony:
Hallo, Herr Landsmann. Sehr schönes Design und genial in seiner Minimalistik. Der Actionshot ist wirklich sehr gut gelungen - tolles Rendering, tolle Komposition, sehr schönes Licht. Ich denke es hätte mehr Stimmen verdient,
scheitert aber leider an seiner selbst: es ist eben Minimalistisch in der Konzeption - obwohl das Rendering wirklich eindrucksvoll ist, bietet das Konzept eben nicht den "coolnesfaktor". Im Film oder Game hätte das Teil
aber definitiv Kultstatus.

cubesoflard:
Yeah! Rusty bad ass transformers are cool. Nicely done - I like it. Definitly merit more votings.

Adi.
It's the same here: definitly merit more votings. Good work. cool design, very nicely done, very powerful. I really like it!

gunnarsson:
I really like the idea and story behind your concept and I get a good feeling of it. Your creativity is on the top.
And thanks for the comments - very coaxing. I'm always thankful for the thoughts of others. But I really don't understand this "lottery ticket"-stuff. What do you try to say, buddy? I think trying new things are important to go forward. Don't you think?

@kischi:
Danke für's Stimmen!

@form2function:
Thanks a lot for your comments - I'm flattered.

I will vote on saturday. Need to think about it.
regards,
M :yayca:

[devilminer]

F2F and gunnarsson, thank you for the detailed comments, I appreciate that tremendously. My effort in balancing the stylish with subtle hints of femininity is tough, I thought, but i think it came out okay in the end. There are a lot of mistakes and other things i hate about the design, but sometimes you need a stopping point during your initial sketches and go with what you have. i'm excited to submit more, i've just struggled with time. hopefully i can enter the 101st assignment--it sounds cool. As for the graphical elements described in one of the comments, i'm glad you noticed! I tried to give the final design some staying power. Its not my favorite design, but it does have strong elements, at least with the legs, that allows it to stand out just enough. well, i'm out and thanks for the comments, people! i'll put up the sketches i did for this submission in my sketchbook by next week

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

I have been rather humbled by this round. I had some fun though and enjoyed the process, this has also helped me realize more personal holes in the floodgates that need to be plugged. I like to thank Gunnarson and Form2Function for the critiques and to help F2F, I was trying to make the face like a monitor screen that had a fuzzy quality to it akin to using an old tv with the rabbit ears. I think though if I had a better understanding of how to use color it would have helped differentiate the forms. And with the props, I was doing those about the last day and I wasn't really worried with them as much. I also think that I should have cut down a bit off the top there... too much unused space.

[xgabo]

Many thanks for all the votes and kind comments, hopefully I'll be able to participate again soon (deadlines prevented me from participating on the current one). Congratulations to D@niel for the great winning design!

[D@niel]

I didn't realize voting was over!!Wow, what a round!! Thanks to everyone for the great feed back and of course the votes, I'm so happy you liked my robot:D!

[yoitisi]

It appears we have a winner :) Congratulations D@niel, well deserved win here. I'll send you a PM shortly to fix such details as prizes and all. Also congratulations to second place xgabo and third place Rezeroth! I'll contact the both of you soon as well.

Huge thanks to everyone who participated in this round, there's is a whole bunch of great entries this time, makes me really happy to see. Also a huge thanks to everyone who gave feedback and critiques, that's just as valuable as entering the challenge to me. Hope I'll be around for another 50 rounds at least :D

[gunnarsson]

mortain b - thanks alot for your kind words! about the lottery ticket thing, that was nothing. it was an attempt at a joke, but yeah it didn't make alot of sence. haha as i look at it now it could be interpreted as some sort of taunt. sorry for beeing vague there:)
and thanks alot form2function, i totally agree about the rendering!:)