Tips On Drawing Robots?

[MushroomMoss]

Big robot fan, love how their designs can be so varied and creative! I've tried to draw them, but every time I do it's like I get this wall shoved in front of my face. They just don't come out looking right and I'm not sure how to fix it. I think it's kinda a perfectionism issue, but I'd love if anyone here has advice that helped them with drawing robots. Or any good sites for learning.

[NoxidKin]

Man, I feel that way about drawing ANYTHING!

But I also would like to see a guide on robots!

I quite enjoyed this short video about it, some time ago:

YOUTUBE LINK: How to draw mechs and everything else basically - Chroma Moma

It's cool to see his designs anyway, although it's pretty short, a bit "rest-of-the-f**king-owl" maybe.

When I'm stuck drawing things, it helps e to trace other people's versions as well.  Helps me see the details I otherwise wouldn't.

Do you draw much already?  What do you feel confident at?

[MushroomMoss]

Ooo, thx for the vid. The guy has a nice style. And yeah, I draw other stuff already. Usually humanoid OC's :). But I've been in an artist block lately so haven't made as many pieces as I'd like. Idk wut I feel most confident at tbh lol. It shifts around. But black & white stuff has always been one of my favorite things to do. What about you? Hope u find a way to get over the perfectionist struggle. It's a plague on all artists lol

[Dan Q]

Here's some tips that work for me:

• Start by getting the head shape right, ignoring the ears: think about the direction it's facing
• Unless it's moving away from you, leave the tail until after you've done the body shape and legs
• Leave the ears 'til last: you can use them very expressively, like the whiskers
• Don't forget the accessories: a carrot is an obvious addition, but burrow holes or members of its family can also be good

Anyway, that's how I draw a ra... oh, damn, you said robot!

[pepper]

I haven't really tried my hand at drawing robots, but I have been working on drawing scifi tech lately. So, spaceships, satellites, radar dishes, that sort. I feel like it starts to look right to me when I imagine the function of the parts I'm drawing and add details that reflect that function.

So for example:

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The diagram is from the wikipedia article on how ion thrusters work, and I used that as a guide to tell me what the whole thing would look like internally, and that told me how big I would need it and what the business end would look like. I'm really happy with the details in the radio dish I did here:

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That was based off a picture I found of a similar radio antenna that's on the ISS. I've also found a lot of value in looking up patents and using the diagrams in them as reference, I think most US patents will have drawings in them as proof of concept and they are all really good for inspiration for technical looking crap.

Ultimately I just find myself adding a bunch of wires and panels and pneumatic joints and crap and it makes things go from flat and boring to feeling more real and crunchy.

[NoxidKin]

What medium is that?  Digital?

How do you get that great pencil effect?

[pepper]

What medium is that?  Digital?

How do you get that great pencil effect?

Yea, it is digital. I use brush sets from a company called True Grit Texture Supply and use them in Procreate :3 I also tend to modify the brushes I use frequently to change the pressure settings, bleed, and sometimes the size or behavior of the grain. It's a bit expensive to buy extra brush sets on top of Procreate's defaults but it's worth it to me to get the feel I'm looking for 

You can probably get a similar shading effect where all the strokes go in a similar direction with heavy use of selections and layers and just use your program's default pencil brushes.

[NoxidKin]

Thanks.  I use Krita,and I know it can be pretty powerful, and there are alot of brush options which can themselves be customised.

It's alot to learn though!  And I'm not particularly good at drawing yet, just gotta keep practising I guess.  :)