E.J. Su - Mechaforce: Draw Futuristic Robots That Fly, Fight, Battle and Brawl

MECHAFORCE

Draw Futuristic Robots that Fly, Fight, Battle Brawl

E.J. SU

www.impact-books.com

MechaForce Copyright 2008 by E.J. Su. Manufactured in China. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by IMPACT Books, an imprint of F+W Publications, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45236. (800) 289-0963. First Edition.

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Su, E. J.
Mechaforce : draw futuristic robots that fly, fight, battle and brawl / E.J. Su.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60061-014-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-60061-373-9 (EPUB)
ISBN-10: 1-60061-014-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Robots in art. 2. Drawing--Technique. I. Title.
NC825.R56S82 2008
743.89629892--dc22 2007039153

Edited by Jeffrey Blocksidge
Designed by Terri Woesner and Wendy Dunning
Production coordinated by Matt Wagner

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

E.J. Su was born in Taiwan and moved to the United States at age 14. In college, he first wanted to learn to program video games and declared his major in computer science.

E.J. grew up reading only Japanese comics. Some of his favorite comics and animations include Microman, Astro Boy, Black Jack, Ghost in the Shell, Doraemon and Dragon Ball. He didnt start reading American comics until the mid-1980s when he came across Alan Moores The Killing Joke.

E.J. has been heavily influenced by Japanese comic book artists. Some of the most influential include Masamune Shirow, Akira Toriyama, Osamu Tezuka, Fujiko F. Fujio and Mitsuru Adachi. In recent years, E.J. has started to draw inspiration from Travis Charest, Adam Hughes, Leinil Francis Yu and Bruce Timm.

METRIC CONVERSION CHART

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Id like to thank all the people who helped me through the bad times, and those who helped me along the way to what will hopefully be a long career in comic book illustration, including the Inkpunks crew, whom I worked with on our short-lived anthology that was the kick start of my comic book career, and Robert Kirkman, who gave me my first big break on the Image book Tech Jacket.

Val Staples, who believed in my work and helped me with all the insider knowledge of the comic book world.

Chris Ryall and Dan Taylor, who gave me an opportunity on Transformers and for being patient with me.

Thanks also to all those fans who supported me and picked up the books I have created. I wouldnt be here without any of you.

And last but not least, thanks to Jeffrey Blocksidge and the rest of the team at IMPACT Books, for putting up with my long, drawn-out schedule.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my wife, Michelle. Thank you for your patience and understanding. I am so blessed having you by my side. Having you with me is the biggest accomplishment in my life.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

My goal for this book is to show what beginning artists need to know about designing a robot from scratch. I believe in starting with the fundamentals. Showing you how to draw a robot isn't enough. Knowing the mechanics of a working robot is important to your success. Once you learn how things work, you can expand this knowledge on your own and design your own robot.

Mechanical-looking ideas and designs are just the tip of the iceberg of your own imagination. Study this material carefully and practice often. By the time you finish this book, you should be able to design a robot with solid mechanics beneath its metal skin.

SHAPE, PERSPECTIVE
AND TECHNIQUE

Building a set of fundamental skills has always been the best way to go about learning to draw. The world is made of combinations of basic shapes, and perspective represents the way we see this world on paper. A good grasp of basic forms and perspective will help you convey what you see or imagine. If youre a beginner wanting to jump right in and start drawing robots, you might find these basics boring and tedious. I know how you feel. But I was fortunate enough to be introduced to these fundamentals early in my life, and from them my artistic skills grew. These fundamentals will go a long way in helping your skills grow as well. Since basic form and perspective are subjects all by themselves, this chapter will only be an overview, providing you with a glance at how forms behave in different perspectives.

BASIC SHAPES

Understanding basic shapes will help you visualize how a robot is constructed. Because robots are mechanical, manufactured things, their bodies are made up of geometric forms.

SPHERE
A sphere is a perfectly symmetrical, three-dimensional, ball-shaped object. It doesnt change shape with a change in perspective. However, because of the spheres curvature, light and shadow react in a variety of ways on and around it. We will talk about that in the next chapter (see ).

CUBE
A cube is made up of six square polygons of equal size. In order to draw a cube correctly, you will have to portray lines of the same length with a variety of angles at the same time. Doing so will develop not only your sense of perspective, but also your sense of proportion.The next section will use cubes as examples to demonstrate various types of perspective grids.