Sketchbot NBM4

This is my piece for NBM4 (Nuthin' But Mech Vol 4, which I co-edited with Lorin Wood) from 2017 that I never got around to posting. I'm currently working on bringing this to life in VR. This was also one of my early uses of Redshift, which has become my goto GPU renderer for the past 2 years. I've also included a slew of mockups and sketches to pull the curtain back a bit on how my thought process evolved over time and affected the end result. Enjoy!

The final image as printed.

Sketchbot Pilot pre-flight check mode.

Alternate backplate mockup.

Alternate warehouse backplate mockups.

Some first pass animation blocking. I went back to this still image a year later and began to animate it. Eventually, this will make it over to VR.

A close up of the Sketchbot Pilot overseeing the work.

An early walk-cycle test over still background.

Sketchbot Pilot walk-cycle test revised.

I had shot this HDRI environment with the Theta S and wanted to see how well it would hold up.

The base model of the Sketchbot Mech that was used.

Rearview of the Sketchbot Mech.

A very early, alternative concept. Keyshot 7 beta test render.

This was a test render done during the Keyshot 7 beta. At one point, i was considering building the full warehouse, but due to time constraints, i continued with my stock photo search.

This little test scene was rendered with RenderMan over a backplate I shot locally.

Some early sketches exploring what the pilot inside the Sketchbot mech would look like. Done in both Procreate and Photoshop

I was initially drawn to the idea of just a giant eyeBall with arm and legs, and this is pretty much how I draw it today. These were done in Procreate.