Robot-A-Day

It's Official!

2006-01-17T15:56:00.000-08:00

From now until forever (forever subject to change), Robot-A-Day can be found at http://www.radrobot.org.

Robot-A-Day Is Moving... Soon"

2006-01-16T14:06:00.000-08:00

Disregard any past rumors about Robot-A-Day moving today. It's taking longer than expected to resolve the new domain name. Should be within another day or so. It'll be a much sexier URL than http://radrobot.blogspot.com, I promise.

Thank you for your patience. Please understand we are building for the future.

January 16th, 2006 :: "E Is For Emotion"

2006-01-16T13:29:00.000-08:00

It seems I wasn't the only one thinking "robots" for this week's Illustration Friday topic, "E Is For". This one is from Louise. Check out more of her work at http://swimminginink.blogspot.com.

January 15th, 2006 :: "Robot And Monster"

2006-01-15T00:52:00.000-08:00

I've been busy moving Robot-A-Day over to my own webspace for the last few days. Luckily, Jessica McLeod was swell enough to provide today's robot for us. If you want to see work that out-cutes even my cutest abilites, (and I know you do) check out more of Jessica's work. Tiny Monster

January 14th, 2006 :: "Illustration Friday - E Is For..."

2006-01-13T19:10:00.000-08:00

This week's theme for Illustration Friday is "E Is For..." For me today, E was for energy, or moreso the lack of it.

For those of you coming to Robot-A-Day from Illustration Friday, welcome. Make sure to check out more posts here before you leave, please. Then keep coming back every day. Thanks.

January 13th, 2006 :: "Floppy Disk"

2006-01-12T23:08:00.000-08:00

Today's robot is from Ben over at Robot Comix. All on graph paper. Wonderful. Check out more Robot Comix at http://robotcomix.blogspot.com.

January 12th, 2006 :: "BRAINS!"

2006-01-11T23:43:00.000-08:00

Just a doodle and some quick Photoshopping.

January 11th, 2006 :: "Illustration Friday - Sea"

2006-01-11T17:42:00.000-08:00

This is my first piece for Illustration Friday. I've been meaning to contribute to the site for a long time and I figure that if I need to come up with seven robots per week, I might as well take a free idea for at least one day, right? This week's theme is "Sea".

For those of you coming to Robot-A-Day from Illustration Friday, welcome. Make sure to check out more posts here before you leave, please. Then keep coming back everyday. Thanks.

(The more I look at this, the more I think the squid is totally trying to makeout with the robot. Seriously, look at the placement of its tentacles! One on the back, one on the head. Definite makeout maneuvering.)

January 10th, 2006 :: "Mecha-Koopa"

2006-01-10T22:06:00.000-08:00

So I didn't do any robots today. I've been playing a lot of Super Mario World for the SNES, so instead here's a screenshot with some Mecha-Koopas. Still robots, it counts, I win.

January 9th, 2006 :: "The Man In The Mirror"

2006-01-08T21:21:00.000-08:00

Self-portrait. I dropped back into a style I haven't used for about a year or so. It's fun to do that every once in a while.

January 8th, 2006 :: "Ink Warsh"

2006-01-08T17:10:00.000-08:00

January 7th, 2006 :: "Inspiration"

2006-01-07T15:28:00.000-08:00

I wish I was this robot. Instead, I'm suffering from a major creative block lately. Ugh.

January 6th, 2006 :: "Cyborg Stride"

2006-01-05T23:11:00.000-08:00

OK, so it's not COMPLETELY a robot, but it still counts.

January 5th, 2006 :: "Gouache Test"

2006-01-05T20:58:00.000-08:00

Working with some new gouache I just bought. That, and some ink. I haven't worked with any watercolor-y sort of thing since like junior high.

January 4th, 2006 :: "Untitled"

2006-01-04T14:54:00.000-08:00

Just messing around with a different style today. More and more of my robots have had nipples lately. Not sure where that's headed, if anywhere. Didn't mean for it to be in panel form, but it just worked that way. If anyone wants to write a caption for it, email me. bigtime@robopocalypse.com

January 3rd, 2006 :: "Bluebell Metal Polish"

2006-01-02T18:27:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist leaving you all with a little more from Shaunna Peterson. Once again, her site is http://www.shaunnapeterson.com.

January 2nd, 2006 :: "Astro Life"

2006-01-02T18:22:00.000-08:00

A late entry in my recent guest week; today's post is from Shaunna Peterson. As you can see, her robots are spectacular, but she has a lot of other fantastic work too. Check all of it out at http://www.shaunnapeterson.com.

January 1st, 2006 :: "Brrrrr"

2006-01-02T18:20:00.000-08:00

I drew this while sitting at a coffeeshop in Minnesota. Happy New Year everybody!

December 31st, 2005 :: "Sample-bot #006"

2005-12-24T16:28:00.000-08:00

A robot using himself as a cigarette lighter; upon request of my roommate.

Email me if you would like to purchase this painting. ($10) If it's still available, I'll send you payment instructions. Remember, you can always take your chances and get a random Sample-bot for only $5. (Note: All paintings look much better in person.)

December 30th, 2005 :: "Character Sketches"

2005-12-24T16:23:00.000-08:00

Quick panel sketch for the same mini.

December 29th, 2005 :: "Character Sketches"

2005-12-24T16:21:00.000-08:00

Some test sketches of the main character for a mini-comic I'm working on.

December 28th, 2005 :: "Abstract Hand Holding"

2005-12-24T16:20:00.000-08:00

Very quick, stupid little sketch I did while watching TV.

December 27th, 2005 :: "Square Mash"

2005-12-24T16:17:00.000-08:00

I really liked the way my recent "3" painting turned out so I decided to continue working in the "robots all mashed together" sort of style. Just playing around with this one.

December 26th, 2005 :: "Sidewalk Robot"

2005-12-20T16:28:00.000-08:00

Camera-phone pic of a spraypaint stencil robot on the streets of Portland, Oregon. Complete with old chewing gum.

December 25th, 2005 :: "Robot Santa"

2005-12-20T16:25:00.000-08:00

Robot Santa from Futurama. Merry Xmas, if that's your thing.

(I'll be on vacation for the next week. There'll still be posts for every day, they just might go up in 2-3 day sets; whenever I can get to a computer. Thank you for your consideration, we are building for the future.)

December 24th, 2005 :: "Yes, Master"

2005-12-20T16:17:00.000-08:00

Today's guest week post is by Travis Smith. I've got one painting of his already, and I'll probably have to buy more in the future. You should too. See more of his work at http://www.mrpurty.com.

December 23rd, 2005 :: "Blue Robot with Glasses"

2005-12-20T16:06:00.000-08:00

Guest week continues! "Blue Robot with Glasses" is a piece by David K. Rose. He's got tons of other crazy, wonderful robots on his site. Go check 'em out at http://www.grfxmonkey.com.

December 22nd, 2005 :: "Robot and Bunny"

2005-12-20T15:57:00.000-08:00

I'm supposed to be on vacation and was going to do a "guest week" while I was gone. My plans fell through until next week, but that's no excuse not to show some other folk's work anyways. Today's post is a 4" by 6" painting by Jeremy Tinder. I'm happy to say that I own two of Jeremy's paintings, including this one. Go check out his site at http://www.jeremytinder.com.

December 21st, 2005 :: "Sample-bot #005"

2005-12-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

Let this happy robot brighten your day, give him a good home. (See below.)

Email me if you would like to purchase this painting. ($10) If it's still available, I'll send you payment instructions. Remember, you can always take your chances and get a random Sample-bot for only $5. (Note: All paintings look much better in person.)

December 20th, 2005 :: "Sample-bot #004"

2005-12-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

I'm not really sure what this one's all about. He's suprised at his own hand I guess?

Email me if you would like to purchase this painting. ($10) If it's still available, I'll send you payment instructions. Remember, you can always take your chances and get a random Sample-bot for only $5. (Note: All paintings look much better in person.)

December 19th, 2005 :: "Sample-bot #003"

2005-12-19T23:58:00.000-08:00

If your nose was a speaker, would you whistle along to yourself? Yeah, you would.

Email me if you would like to purchase this painting. ($10) If it's still available, I'll send you payment instructions. Remember, you can always take your chances and get a random Sample-bot for only $5. (Note: All paintings look much better in person.)

December 18th, 2005 :: "Sample-bot #002"

2005-12-19T02:31:00.000-08:00

This robot is confused. Confused about matters of the heart. I feel ya, buddy. I feel ya.

Email me if you would like to purchase this painting. ($10) If it's still available, I'll send you payment instructions. Remember, you can always take your chances and get a random Sample-bot for only $5. (Note: All paintings look much better in person.)

December 17th, 2005 :: "Sample-bot #001"

2005-12-18T22:10:00.000-08:00

To further my quest to bring art to the common man, I'm starting to do a bunch of tiny paintings on 2" by 3" tiles of countertop sample. Each one has a hole punched in it so you don't need any special hanging equipment, just a nail or even a thumbtack. Perfect for cubicles and dormrooms! The first bunch I do will be robots so I can post 'em here, but I'll branch out into other things too. $5 for a random painting, $10 for a specific one or a commissioned idea.

Email me if you would like to purchase this painting. ($10) If it's still available, I'll send you payment instructions. Remember, you can always take your chances and get a random Sample-bot for only $5. (Note: All paintings look much better in person.)

December 16th, 2005 :: "The Sketch"

2005-12-18T01:01:00.000-08:00

I was digging through some old sketchbooks and I came across this quick sketch I did 2 maybe 3 years ago. It may not look like much, but this sketch changed something in my mind when it comes to drawing robots. I'd been doing robot work for some time before, but this little guy with his ice cream was sort of patient zero as far as the robot infestation of my mind is concerned. Below this sketch was a list of about 20 different robot ideas that just poured out of my head after drawing this. That was it, I was hooked. Years later, I turned this idea into a little painting for some friends.

December 15th, 2005 :: "3"

2005-12-16T13:05:00.000-08:00

And she's done. Better pics will be posted on ROBOPOCALYPSE once I put this up for sale.

December 14th, 2005 :: "3 - Linework"

2005-12-14T00:03:00.000-08:00

Done with the linework. That is a lot of robots. 36 if I remember correctly. I kept track as I drew them.

December 13th, 2005 :: "3 - Linework"

2005-12-13T23:59:00.000-08:00

Enough with the sketches. Time to get down with the get down. Starting to transfer the drawing from the sketch onto the back of the 3 with some acrylic paint. For those of you wondering what that is, it's one of the numbers from gas stations that tell you the price per gallon.

December 12th, 2005 :: "3 - Sketch"

2005-12-10T23:34:00.000-08:00

Still more robots. It's like they just don't stop.

December 11th, 2005 :: "3 - Sketch"

2005-12-10T23:33:00.000-08:00

More sketch, different part.

December 10th, 2005 :: "3 - Sketch"

2005-12-10T23:28:00.000-08:00

The next few day's posts are all going to be sketches for a piece I'm working on entitled "3". I plan on keeping everyone here informed throughout the process of completing it. Kind of a ballsy move on my part as there are a few things about this piece that'll be completely new to me, so it may not end up right proper, but I'm staying positive. If anyone is looking for proof that I may be insane, look no further than "3".

December 9th, 2005 :: "Creep"

2005-12-08T00:13:00.000-08:00

A quick sketch I did at a neighbor's place while waiting to start a game of Mario Tennis on N64. Great game. Probably better than this robot. Yeah, definitely better.

December 8th, 2005 :: "Robot Comic"

2005-12-08T00:09:00.000-08:00

One more unfinished work for the week. I keep a lot of projects on the burner at the same time; keeps me from getting bored. This is the non-photo blue pencil sketch of the first panel of a mini-comic I'm working on right now. It's about a geeky, scrawny robot that falls in love with a human female while at a coffeeshop. Happened to all of us at some point or another, right? Still looking for title ideas. Anyone got any?

December 7th, 2005 :: "3 - Father And Son"

2005-12-08T00:05:00.000-08:00

Following yesterday's posting of an unfinished work, here's another something I'm working on. More people need to show things as they are working; at least I find it interesting. I'll probably be posting this one here and there as I work on it, as the final piece will have dozens of robots. (Sorry for the bad scan. This is currently on a piece of tracing paper.)

December 6th, 2005 :: "All Tied Up"

2005-12-06T22:33:00.000-08:00

Just a thing for a thing. Hopefully I'll be able to show you all very soon, in glorious color!

December 5th, 2005 :: "Ouch"

2005-12-06T00:52:00.000-08:00

As you may know from yesterday's post, I have been printing my New Year's cards. It's a four-color linocut and I did an initial print run of 36 to make a final edition of 25-30 prints. For those of you math-challenged folks out there, that's 144 times that I rolled ink onto a linoleum block, plopped down a piece of paper, and rubbed the back with a wooden spoon to transfer the ink. 144 times over two days. Tomorrow I get to go through, pick out the good ones and then go through them all again for signing and numbering. Today's robot is a quick self-portrait of how my spooning arm feels right now. Anyone want to give me a massage?

December 4th, 2005 :: "Tough Decisions"

2005-12-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

Every new year, I make a small edition of prints and send it out to my close friends and relations. Sort of my version of the whole Christmas card phenomenon, but New Years is so much cooler than Christmas. This year, I decided to portray the decision of all Portlanders in choosing their drug of choice. Initially, I was going to have the robot juggling a cup of coffee, a bottle of microbrew, and a baggie of weed, but I decided to go with just the coffee and beer for this sketch. In the end, I scrapped the whole robot concept for the card, so I decided to put it up here instead.

December 3rd, 2005 :: "Crow's Nest"

2005-12-05T00:37:00.000-08:00

More shameless self-promotion. I made this painting specifically for a pirate art show at a local coffeeshop. It didn't sell during the show, so guess what? It's for sale! It's acrylic and ink on a 7" by 9" wooden placque. The placque extends about another inch beyond the painting, creating about a one inch black border. Only $60! Buy it here: BUY ME!

December 2nd, 2005 :: "Robo-Outlaw"

2005-12-03T17:51:00.000-08:00

This is the first woodcut I ever attempted, almost two years ago. I wasn't really happy with how it turned out, so it never made it past the test print stage.

December 1st, 2005 :: "Robot Dreams"

2005-12-02T13:59:00.000-08:00

This piece is entitled "Robot Dreams" and was sent to me by the artist, Heather. Go check out more of her work here: http://www.badkittyartstudio.com. Thanks Heather!

If you are an artist who works frequently (or at least once) in robots, feel free to email me an image along with the title of the piece, your name, and the URL of your website if you have one.

November 30th, 2005 :: "The Bloodening"

2005-12-01T00:30:00.000-08:00

I've decided to end one of the craziest, but happiest months of my life so far with a piece that is much, much darker than I usually put out. Duality and balance and everything I suppose. Enjoy.

Also, is the title of this piece a reference to anything? It was the first thing that popped into my head, but I have the feeling it was on The Simpsons or something and just happened to burrow its way out of my brain.

November 29th, 2005 :: "Robopoca-bag"

2005-11-30T16:00:00.000-08:00

This is the ROBOPOCALYPSE logo, sprayed onto a messenger bag my roommate created completely out of duct tape. Neato.

November 28th, 2005 :: "What If They Were Robots?"

2005-11-28T23:56:00.000-08:00

The pilot episode of a so far un-sequelled series of Flash animations I was planning. Each episode would be a different historical figure's "grand moment", but they would be a robot. Hilarious, I know.

November 27th, 2005 :: "Robo-Tender"

2005-11-28T23:45:00.000-08:00

Pulled this one out of the archives. I did the original sketch for this while drunk. Really, really drunk.

November 26th, 2005 :: "No Neck"

2005-11-27T12:18:00.000-08:00

A little different style than usual from me.

November 25th, 2005 :: "Oh"

2005-11-26T20:14:00.000-08:00

This was a pen test to see if I wanted to use a pen or a brush to ink a robot comic I was working on a while ago. The brush test turned out horribly, but I still ended up choosing it over the pen.

November 24th, 2005 :: "Robot Attack(s)"

2005-11-25T12:07:00.000-08:00

Warning! Cheap sales alert: I promised I'd post two robots today. What I didn't promise was that they wouldn't be roughly the same robot. These are two prints that I created a year or so ago. The red robot is in a smaller edition of 10 as opposed to the edition of 20 for the gray robot. $15 each or buy both for $25. What a deal! Buy them here : BUY ME!

November 23rd, 2005

2005-11-24T09:55:00.000-08:00

I don't have anything to post today, it's Thanksgiving. I'll try to post two tomorrow.

November 22nd, 2005 :: "Cute"

2005-11-23T12:02:00.000-08:00

Five minute pen sketch. I've been accused of my work being "cute" before, but this may be the cutest thing I've ever drawn.

November 21st, 2005 :: "Radio Bot"

2005-11-22T13:13:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you gotta take the bad with the good when you're trying to scrounge up one robot a day. This is what happens when I try to draw with far too much caffeine in my system. Stay away from coffee kids.

November 20th, 2005 :: "Mica Bot #2"

2005-11-21T12:40:00.000-08:00

Second painting in my upcoming series of little robots, painted on sheets of mica.

November 19th, 2005 "Mica Bot #1"

2005-11-20T18:22:00.000-08:00

As long as the last few days of posts have been regarding a series of working on, I thought I'd keep that up. This is the first painting in what should be a series of 10 small paintings of robots, painted on sheets of mica. I've got two painted so far. Number 2 will be up tomorrow.

November 18th, 2005 :: "Robo2"

2005-11-19T12:13:00.000-08:00

OK, here's a better scan of the final "Robo2" print. Tomorrow I'll be getting back into the regualar thing of a different robot every day.

Robot-A-Day Contest!
This will be the second print of three in the "punctuation" series. See sidebar for contest rules.

November 17th, 2005 :: "Robo2 - Step Four"

2005-11-18T17:02:00.000-08:00

Everything set up and ready to print, including the most important item, a "refreshing" beverage. Ink is spread out onto the mirror to get a thin coating on the brayer.

Ink is then rolled onto the linoleum block. Align the paper against the wooden corner and lay the paper on top of the block. Then give it a good rubdown with a wooden spoon.

The first print!

Finished! I'll pick the best 20 out of these 27, number, and sign them, and rip up the rest.

Robot-A-Day Contest!
This will be the second print of three in the "punctuation" series. See sidebar for contest rules.

November 16th, 2005 :: "Robo2 - Step Three"

2005-11-17T17:34:00.000-08:00

OK, that beautiful mess is my "portable" illustration board/printing rig and all supplies needed for printing. The second picture is the lino block comfortably wedged into place by means of and old FedEx box. If I were doing a multi-color print, I just need to pull out the original block and pop in the next color's block and will be confident that everything will register pretty well. (Or at least good enough for me. I like things a little messy.)

Tomorrow: Printing and the final product!

Robot-A-Day Contest!
This will be the second print of three in the "punctuation" series. See sidebar for contest rules.

November 15th, 2005 :: "Robo2 - Step Two"

2005-11-16T13:10:00.000-08:00

On to step two; cutting the linoleum block. The first picture is after all the robot's "innards" had been cut out, and the second is the final, cut block. After this step, I usually glue the lino to a piece of cardboard backing, which gives it a little more stability during printing.

Robot-A-Day Contest!
This will be the second print of three in the "punctuation" series. See sidebar for contest rules.

November 14th, 2005 :: "Robo2 - Step One"

2005-11-15T13:30:00.000-08:00

This is the first step in creating a lino print; transferring the image you want onto a piece of linoleum. In this case, it required drawing the image directly on the block with a pencil. This bot is nice and symmetrical, so no worries about needing to draw anything in reverse. Hooray for that!

For the next few days, I'm going to be posting the various other steps of how I create a print. I've been printing for years, but I'm completely self-taught, so if anyone who has been properly educated in relief printing wants to tell me I'm doing something wrong, feel free too. I won't turn down advice. The rest of you, well maybe you'll learn something.

Robot-A-Day Contest!
This will be the second print of three in the "punctuation" series. See sidebar for contest rules.

November 13th, 2005 :: "Robo1"

2005-11-14T13:07:00.000-08:00

This is the first in a series of three primative "punctuation bots" that I'm working on right now. For the next few days, I'm going to be posting my process shots of the second print: putting an image onto the lino, cutting it, all the way through to the final printed product. Hopefully, someone will find that interesting.

Robot-A-Day Contest!
See sidebar for contest rules.

November 12th, 2005 :: "Elektro"

2005-11-13T10:26:00.000-08:00

Going old school for this one. Elektro was created in the late 1930s by Westinghouse. He could walk, talk, smoke, and had a pet dog later in his career. He appeared at the 1939 World's Fair and was even in a movie. Thanks Elektro, someday you will rule us all.

November 11th, 2005 :: "El Hombre Mecánico Del Fuego"

2005-11-12T13:06:00.000-08:00

November 10th, 2005 :: "Friends"

2005-11-11T16:35:00.000-08:00

Awwwwwww. I started this drawing in a park. A park with squirrels.

November 9th, 2005 :: "Sickle 2.0"

2005-11-10T00:26:00.000-08:00

While searching through my robotic archive last night, I remembered this little gem. It's from a site I was co-creator of, Nich Cosmos and the Cosmonauts. It was the story of four, 1960's, Russian Cosmonauts and their rock and roll adventures in outer space, or at least that was the plan. A side part of the site was Hammer and Sickle, weekly vaudeville-styled comedy skits done by a talking hammer and sickle. This was the second to last Hammer and Sickle skit ever finished, and was released a little over a year ago. It probably doesn't stand up as well on it's own as some other episodes, but you know, this one has a robot in it. (It was supposed to be part of a multi-week storyline that never happened.) I urge you to check out more Hammer and Sickle. There are 40 more short episodes to choose from, and a lot are actually pretty funny. Click Here.

Novemer 8th, 2005 :: "Reel To Reel Robot"

2005-11-09T12:43:00.000-08:00

This is a horrible cell phone camera image of a robot sticker I found on a trash can. I wish there was a way to figure out who made this. Anyone know who did this? Tell me!

November 7th, 2005 :: "R-A-D Header"

2005-11-08T01:33:00.000-08:00

Look up. Yeah, that's my selection for today, the new header for this page. Kind of a 3-for-1 deal I suppose. 6 robots in only 4 days! I'm getting ahead of myself.

November 6th, 2005 :: "Deflated"

2005-11-07T11:04:00.000-08:00

November 5th, 2005 :: "Meat"

2005-11-06T15:07:00.000-08:00

A quick coffeeshop doodle. A massive steak would be great right now.

November 4th, 2005 :: "Whoops"

2005-11-06T15:05:00.000-08:00

One down, 364 more to go! This is me playing around with a new brush pen and subsequently wishing I had much steadier hands.