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Jun 2019

This is an area of character design that's been a thorn in my side for my entire life...because I love robots. I love, love, LOVE them (one day I watched WALL-E three times in a row). But for the life of me, I can't draw them! ;_;

At least, I normally can't. Here's some examples of stuff I do on my good days:


Okay stuff, right? But you don't wanna see what I do on my bad days...which are most of the time...

I really only have the hang of drawing 'smooth' robots: the kind where you can't see any of their inside machinery; everything is covered up and neat-looking, and often very cartoonish.

But there are only so many kinds of characters you can create when you have that kind of limitation...for example, 'smooth' mecha tend to look kind of goomy (I'm thinking of 70's mecha anime...bleck), and really edgy robot designs, the kind that make me drool, demand all those details and exposed parts. And I want to draw them, really I do...I even have the patience for it now, sort of. But I honestly do not know what to do. Like...put lines in places?? What is all that stuff supposed to be, anyway??? It's really difficult for me to learn to draw things that I can't rationalize...

Sigh...anyway, here are some designs that are dear to my heart:


Of all the Transformers TV series (although I've only watched, like, 2 and 1/2...) I love Prime the most; I think it's the best and the cutest and no one will convince me otherwise; NOSES ARE OVERRATED


(Last Transformers crush, I promise) [credit: AuroraLion on dA]


Hehe...Greeves~. He's one of my favorite SW characters, but not just 'cause he's pretty; I also really enjoy his fighting style. [credit: Andromeva on dA]


I just started watching this artist on DeviantArt recently; best decision I ever made~. He's my role model now... [credit: benedickbana on dA]

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    Jun '19
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    Jun '19
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I'm absolutely terrible at drawing robots, androids, and mecha characters. I like organic curvy things, NOT hard edges and stuff (well I don't like drawing them. I like looking at them though) so my android character (who will be introduced soonish, but idk how long they'll be in the series) well, I love the character, but I know I'm not gonna have a good time drawing them.

YESSSSS GRIEVOUS -smooches-

I agree, robots are hard. :disappointed:
I must say, I really like your first design though! Particularly the legs. They have an excellent silhouette!

Sometimes I think you don't have to rationalize all the stuff they put into the robot? Especially if they're supposed to be aliens.
Like I really like the designs of Mass Effect's Geth, which are like 'organic' bots. Some of their cords and wires mimic muscle anatomy which is neat.

and to a similar extent, the robot from netflix's Lost in Space with a hint of H.R. Giger in there.
(my own fanart here)

When I design bots of my own, I do go for the sleeker look, if only for the sake of simplicity when drawing. Even so I'll often throw clothes on them, which can also be an influence from Overwatch xD

Also I forgot to mention how nice your designs are, sorry!
ahem:
Your designs are really awesome and cute!

HHHH YOU'RE THE FIRST PERSON I'VE MET WHO'S ACTUALLY WATCHED THAT SHOW
And you drew the Robot so nice~ ^^ Thanks for the tips!

I mean, you don't have to (and you certainly don't have to apologize). This is more of a topic for everyone to share their own designs. ^^;

Oh, that's nice! It seems your style of robot drawing is on the cute side ^_^. Are you trying to go for the all-powerful, kinda muscular-super hero-type robot like a Gundam? I love the Gundam series by the way. If I ever draw robots, it would definitely look Gundam-ish. Perhaps try to make them bulkier and bigger?

Ahhhh yes most of my fictional boyfriends are robo babes, I havenā€™t had a lot of time to practice drawing robots myself however :confused: never enough time especially with 80% of my stories taking place in a world without bots (so random doodles are rare.) this topic is really helpful though with all the examples!

I think your on the right track with your bots tho! They look good~!

Me: Hubby, look it. Someone is talking about drawing robots. And they like Transformers and know Gundam.

Hubby: Oh? peeks.... my turn this time.

The artist speaking at this time.

Yo! First of all, I'd like to say that I actually really like the designs you showed us. The red robot in particular is pretty sweet. So don't sell your self too short ok?
Now, my advise would be REFERENCES. You've already got the right idea. Look at mech designs you like, mech designs you don't like, mech designs that you think are "just ok I guess", just look around and absorb ideas and concepts. I don't know how easy they are to get now a days, but I would recommend "How to Draw Manga: Giant Robots" and "How to Draw Manga: Mech. Design". These books give a lot of basic ideas on how to design and draw various kinds of robots.
Another handy book could be, and bare with me on this one, "Mark Kistler's Draw Squad". This book, while made for children, is great for teaching basic 3D drawing techniques. I've had the great fortune to actually meet the author on several occasions through out my life, and his lessons have stuck with me and I find my self using them ALL the time in my comic.
When you draw your bots, try breaking them down to simple 3D shapes, and go from there. For example, the build bots in my comic have arms made up of a sphere, slender, a cone, and then some boxes for the hands/fingers. Star simple, the build up from there.
Finally, and as cliche as this sounds, I would advise you to just keep practicing. Try challenging your self to drawing different kids of robots every day for a month (like March of Robots). If you want start drawing super detailed stuff, FORCE your self to do it. I have to do that my self sometimes. Just keep going, and don't let up.

I'm as guilty of it as anybody, but even when designing robots meant to mirror human forms... there's no reason to make the joints/under structures restricted to human movements. But that's something so many of us tend to do.

It's likely due to designing them as vertebrates instead the more logical arthropod model base.

Just my thoughts.

Technically we have a robot that's like a spider.... he scares the customers so they don't do that for models that work with conscious customers in our universe.

I loved the Transformers Prime designs! Soundwave is still a favorite of mine

My robot characters arent quite robotic in the design sense but i hope to at least push into it more with side or background characters of their shared universe or maybe build on their base designs to make them more interesting.

As for inspiring artists I'm constantly drooling over bioatomic8's designs and the colors makes it even better

5
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4
5

(they also make very good monsters but this is about mechs so...i'll shush on that)

I've always had a soft spot for the big colorful 70's super-robots that were unashamedly toyetic and loaded with an arsenal of melee weapons. Zambot 3, Trider G7, Daitarn 3, Go Shogun, Daltanious, etc.

I am terrible at drawing anything mechanical :sweat: I am constantly thinking "what part should be here and what should it do here and how the hell should it look like" and I never have answers to these questions.
So the only robot I ever drew was this little guy :slight_smile: