Yasmin's Computer Game Arts Journey

When concepting for my steampunk character I knew that I wanted to go back to what I love drawing the most, cartoonist animals. I took inspiration from the mouse out of Alice in Wonderland and the many iconic steampunk designs already out there on the web which include pieces such as the top hat, googles, weapons, etc. First I simply sketched the ideas out in Photoshop, a rough outline of what I wanted him to look like as well as the accessories that he would have, such as a pocket watch of cheese for him to nibble on when he's hungry.

After this I then added light onto the character using the dodge tool to make him look more 3D and overlaid a fur texture onto his body to make him look more realistic. Looking back now though, I'm not sure if this adds to the definition of the character or if it's a bit too much.

I started off with some basic shapes, focusing on how a robot might be put together; what it uses to move around, what it's made of, where it's CPU board would be, etc. As I have already explained, I wanted my robot to look old and worn, with a history behind it, so I couldn't have it flying as that would be much too modern for what I was going for and the material it would be made of would have to fit with the look as well, not be new and shiny like that of EVE's. As you can see to the right, the robot is wearing a large nut for a skirt and has an old-fashioned antenna on her head to help her transmit frequencies and communicate with other robots.

I also thought heavily about the story behind the robot that I was creating because narrative is the most fun and important part for me. I wanted my robot to come across as having a personality that perhaps people could either relate to or become intrigued by, and ensure that it did not look like just another generic robot. That's when I came up with the robot below! He's definitely one of my favourite doodles because he's rather abstract and unique, not only in the way that he looks and what he's representing but also because I have drawn the robot in one continuous shape, with his body resembling that of the infinity sign. I envision him  having wheels behind his long, dragging arms that he can lean back and roll along on when walking on his short two front feet gets too much for him, quite like R2D2! His hair would be metal spray painted black with a crude white stripe to resemble a 'shiny hair' look and a home-made jagged piece at the end to great the curl. However, his mask and and cape would be real, made of cloth and foam, just like what human children wear when they're playing dress-up as kids. Because of this the robot is a lot more relatable and will evoke the emotional attachment that I want the viewer to feel when looking at this particular robot. It also shows that he has a personality as he has wishes to become a superhero, just like most children do!

Complete Robot Design