Mecha Process
Ninja August 1st, 2007
I’m pretty happy with this piece! While I liked my earlier robot sketches better (he was more insect-like + less human), this deteriorating guy came out well (my brother thinks he looks like an evil, rotting CP30). And this is sort of a mini mile marker—this is the first piece that I’ve done where my uber-critical teacher had nothing bad to say about. =) Haha, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all of his comments + no-BS attitude (how else would I learn), but it feels good to have something that he approves of (esp since his standards are so high).
This was the initial concept sketch. I wanted the bot’s head to line up with where the eye would be in the profile, + the bent back arm to follow the curve of the girl’s cheekbone.
He looked a lil’ too much like a limp marionette, so I pulled him upright a tad. I tried to mimic human anatomy while drawing him. I sort of gave him ribs + made his exposed, frayed wires like muscle fibers.
Here’s my tighter pencil drawing. It was kind of difficult to draw on toothy watercolor paper (my pencil kept on catching). @___@ And all those fine lines!
The air bubbles are placed where the girls eyelashes would be. And the disembodied hand reinforces her lips. So if you squint, you should start to make out the girl’s features better.
This is the first wash. I choose purple for the background to add depth + it also goes well with the yellow in the robot (as it is its compliment).
This is the second wash. My gosh, it was painful trying to make a smooth gradient WITHOUT going over the white wires. I intentionally painted around the wires + left the wires blank so the white of the paper would show through.
I later went over some areas of the girl’s gradient background to even it out. Then more layers on the bot + some fine line work.
I’ve been asked + yes, it’s ALL watercolor—no ink involved. I built up the dark background by adding many layers of paint. On top of the first purple wash, I added this murky blue-green, then olive, then dark brown, then a wash of ivory black.
Here’s a close-up view of my lil’ guy. =)
Happy painting!
Smiles,
Ninja =)
