Transformers Draw thread (It's kibblicious)

Artist: Wow, this fandom is so great, look at all these amazing characters
Artist: ...how the heck do I draw these handsome stacks of colorful legos.
Artist: Seriously, my previous experience with drawing robots is to put rivets and seams on a normal looking person. How????

Drawing robots is hard, and no one understands. Post your robot draw attempts hear, all skill levels welcome. Lets learn about improbably robot anatomy together.

RHETORICAL QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Does Rodimus smack himself in the head with his shoulder stacks if he raises his arm up close to his head?

 

Impractical shoulders for everyone. Just off the top of my head-- Skids?, Fort Max, Ratchet... canon designs, especially for those with tanky-type or boxy alt modes, favor cube- or rectangle-based limbs, which do not actually lend well to humanoid shoulder articulation :P

I will probably dump a pile of OC sketches here when I can be assed to upload and collect all of them.

 

Have the ones you drew for me of the genericons in the meantime, @Loq. =P

Spoiler: Two speedsters and a drone

 

*pokes head into thread* one day I will. actually scan the ridiculous number of sketches of OCs I have. and it will be awesome.
though most of my designs tend towards sleek and rounded or spiky :P

 

so today's a day off of art for me because i finished my all-summer project of getting prints ready for artist alley, but i did pick up my tablet, try to draw knockout for approximately two minutes, and then give up for the rest of the day

more thorough attempts forthcoming tomorrow

 

IMPORTANT RODIMUS NONRHETORICAL ANSWER: his shoulder spoilers actually rotate up to 180 degrees vertically backwards, mostly staying parallel to his body. While they can rotate horizontally, this is usually 45 degrees or less.

How they don't run into his spoiler on his back is a fukkin mystery.

(I will dump Real Pics when I get home, but might throw up some sloppy sketchbook junk in the meantime. I will also try and hint down a fantastic tutorial on hiw to design transformers OCs!)

edit: Also whenever I get home, I can dump my reference screenshot folders into a drive or something. Noting a canon design for OC building is handy, and I have nearly 360 views of a couple characters.

 

Douple posting to drop that OC tutorial link. I start with the alt mode instead, because I think that informs a lot of the designs, but this has some interesting thoughts re: complex kibble and the way shapes flow through designs.

 

actually: have a webcam picture of one of my OCs posing like a pretty pretty mess

Spoiler: Scanner was just working and the camera turned on by itself

 

You can always use your phone, thats what i do.

The thing about roddy's shoulder stacks is that they never change position, no matter what angle his arm is at (even though they should, because his shoulder joint is underneath the unflexible form of the stack, they should move backward every time he extends his arm out in front of him.). Preserving Roddy's sillouette > anatomical logic.

The reference folder woukd certainly help! I have over a hundred pics of rodimus for a project if anyone is interested.

MY PICS. here's some pics of various characters. I copied from the comics. It's one step above tracing but ehhh?

Spoiler: the sons

My friend requested tailgate punching out cyclonus. The bae doesnt know his own strength

 

I feel this, here's my attempt. The face is....ok, thr rest is pure frustration.

Spoiler: a real....knockout

 

i'm gonna crosspost my idiots at some point, but one thing that took a lot of time in the pic i did of tailgate: THE HANDS
more specifically, the fingers
dear unicron primus the fingers. such much fiddly bits. i refuse to believe they arent wedged somehow because how else do they work.

for my own i start with the alt mode as well b/c i want the transformations sensible and actually working if i ever get my hands on a 3d printer to make them.
but i'm also the kind of person who tries to cover joints as well as i can because joints are weak points that need protected from rogue flying bits
(i cry a little bit every time i see open joints in comic)

 

plz dump reference, gathering refs is my least favorite thing of drawing, already having refs would be amazing ;^;

 

I gueeeeess its time for a sketch spam!
[disclaimer: this took me way longer than it should have to put together due to technical difficulties. BLUH]
Link to the whole gdrive folder since embeds don't work
First up! Just a bunch of OC designs.
Inject
Refractor
Augeo
Switchblade
Half Life
Spintrack
Ropenet
Nightlight
Wavesong
Starbuck
Sawtooth

 

Then, because I apparently have been drawing them a liiiiiiittle more, hah. SO they get their own section :P
Scanner 1 & 2
Sensorsweep 1 & 2

 

And then... well I sometimes have too much fun designing hypothetical children of my and other people's OCs. So have the babies.
Pulse
Gestalt Team Curaverimus (Pulse and her sisters, not pictured: sixth member Rush)
Whirlybird
Starglide
Newsflash
Locasta, Mirra & Reflecta

 

Since we have the thread set up now: venture forth into DT robot land oh god so many robots.

And here's an old Starscream from when I was first trying out square brushes.

Spoiler: starrr

I haven't done that google drive of reference images, but for Rodimus specifically, have a couple back and side views that really help with his spoilers and such. Please ignore my awful filenames.

Spoiler: rodimus refs

 

Hey does anyone know how to simplify down complex canon robot design for quick sketches and sillyness?

 

I'd say go mostly for Major shapes and Identifying details?
Kinda like the christmas special did it. Not every wire needs to be put in and details can be alluded to. As long as the sillhouette is identifiable enough you should be good?

 

Does anyone have any reference pictures for Drift's back?