Baroque Robots

I accidentally stumbled into this design motif for robots sometime in 2017. I was introduced to the Russian 3D artist 1Dincer at the time, and I was inspired by the intricacies of his baroque furniture models. I have drawn robots every now and then since 2011, but I had never thought to add this elemental look to hard surface design until I saw 1Dincer. So on a whim, while practicing on Krita, I ended up with this bad boy;

I love the look, and I thought how cool it would be to see this in 3D. So I started working on a project that incorporated this design. For one reason or another, the project fell apart. I had pivoted to focusing on developing my 2D skills for a while, eventually dropping my 3D practice for a period to devote myself solely to this endeavor. I eventually picked up my 3D practice sometime in the past two years. That side of my art practice is going great, but I am still reluctant to devote any time to sculpting baroque robots. However, I had been sketching and painting these “gilded” mechs quite a lot recently;

It’s a fascinating look for sure. It reminds me quite a lot of medieval armor. The look is not very popular in the media. I have only ever seen this hard surface look in Final Fantasy XIII, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Deus Ex Mankind Divided, and Rebel Moon. I’m not quite sure why the motif isn’t popular. The only reason I can think of is that the design has an “effeminate” feel to it, which feels like a stark contrast to a hard-surface mech design. Whatever the reason for its unpopularity, I am planning on exploring it in the future.

In other news… I just recently finished this piece;

It’s an image for another krita-artists challenge. My environment art is lacking, so I’m heavily trying to expand that side of my portfolio. This piece would make a wonderful addition to it.

So yeah… alright, well I am back to art-ing.