Context of Practice - Visual Journal Blogging

Initial Thoughts

My first look at robots in general made me realise that there are quite a few categories of robot. I divided them in terms of their appearance; cutesy and armoured.

I picked two prominent robot characters that were iconic during my childhood; Robotboy and XJ-9, and I noticed multiple similarities. Colour, shape, and function, and so to test this, I fused them together to see how different they would be. 

Primary Research - Practical Survey

To simply find out what the 'public' thinks of robots, I asked a few of my colleagues to draw what they a robot was.

A quote relevant to this seemed to predict what the results would be:

"When you ask most people what a robot is, they’re going to describe a humanoid robot. They’ll describe a person made out of metal. Which is essentially a mirror for humanity."

- Wilson, D. (2016)

 The results had lots of correlation:

One iconic type was the classic boxy type:

A lot of them are humanoid, even though real life robots are rarely so:

Some were either cutesy or bizarre (or both):

An interesting pose, that correlates between them, was the s-arm pose:

 Combat Robots

Pop culture simply loves the idea of robots fighting. They're dispensable, upgradable and have peak performance.

I particularly like the voxel art style of the video game, Clone Drone in the Danger Zone, especially in relation to the 'robot look' and I liked how Megaman was simplified in the pixel version so I fused them together in Autodesk Maya. 

Eyes as Indicators of Intent and Purpose

One of the primary purposes of robots, both in fiction and non-fiction, is companionship. They serve as trusty, know-it-all guides in many situations.

I chose to focus on their eyes, as robots have all sorts of interesting eyes. And as a companion, these robots must express themselves too, so I experiment with expressions using a single eye, it's position. Colour too conveys what type of robot it is.

However, this idea of eye colour can also be applied to fear inducing-robots. Red is usually associated with danger and death and so red eyes are used on robots meant to kill.

Analysis of shape and edges

Another pattern I noticed was the use of shape in respect to its purpose, more specifically whether the line was curved or straight. The works of Matt Groening in Futurama and Andy Suriano in Samurai Jack are prime examples of this.


Matt Groening uses sharp edges and straight lines to depict hostile, malevolent characters, such as Boxy (left) and Beelzebot (right).

 

And friendly, sensuous characters have plenty of curves like Hookerbot (left) and Monique (right)

While characters that have don't have one-track minds, or are neutral have a combination of curves and straight lines. (from left to right: Roberto, Bender, Hedonismbot)

 



Andy Suriano draws plenty of hostile robots for Samurai Jack, and he rarely draws shapes that have right angles. His robots also lack symmetry. This intentional flaw is iconic of the art style and makes the robots more tactile and gritty.