Nude machete-wielding cyborg girl

ridingonemptytrains

“Draw me like one of your French combat cyborgs”

Yeah, I don’t draw nekkids very often so this was supposed to be much-needed practice until I watched Pacific Rim again and decided I wanted to draw something mechy. Two birds, one stone. The whole thing looks really off but I'll do a bit more doodling and see what happens.

I'm also aware I've basically just straight up stolen Sundowner's weird scissor-machete from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (http://www.hybridgames.co.uk/series/metalgearsolid/screenshots/metal-gear-rising-revengeance/january-2013-screen-023.jpg) but I just really felt like drawing it for some reason.

ridingonemptytrains

Ok, so I just did a sketch of this cyborg girl and I just had a quick and simple question to ask you guys.



Her transformation is supposed to leave her looking kind of scary and unnerving with the jaw extension, skeletal limbs and deformed proportions (sort of like a mechanical necromorph from the Dead Space game series http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzs9ulV5IL1rpjqk4o1_500.jpg ) but I can't help but feel like I overdid it and now it just looks ridiculous.

What do you think? Scary or silly?

see317

It reads as more silly then scary to me.
It might be because you didn't over-do it enough. 90% of the head still looks completely like the human form.
Take the necromorph head that you posted as an example; while it's still recognizable as based on a human, it's warped so far from that baseline (by the lower jaw being split into two mandibles, the mouth tear going all the way up above the ear, the skin color, the eye color, the slimy texture, etc...) but for all those differences it still looks close enough to human that it fits into the uncanny valley.

It may be this last that's causing your cyborg girl to not be creepy. She looks too cartoonish in either form to be creepy in the same way as a necromorph.

It might also help to draw the cyborg mode from an angle instead of straight on so we can see how the legs articulate. As it is, they just look like long robot legs to me. Not particularly alien, though there are some hints that they've got some weird reverse articulation thing going on.

alexisflower

I don't feel like it's silly, but it's certainly not scary - it's a sharp design and fun style but the composition is orthographic. It reads more like a reference sheet for yourself when drawing the character. If you're going for "scary" I think you could do it without changing the drawing style, but it would need some additional context, maybe a story element, a more dynamic composition. Something less two-dimensional.

earthwormadam

Sometimes scary can also just be unnerving, which I think this qualifies for. I like the design, and I think, as mentioned, realizing the design in a more 3-D space would make it look less blueprinty.

Also I think doing some concept sketches with the transformation in a creepy setting would completely 180 the tone of this sketch.

ridingonemptytrains

Thanks for the feedback guys. This is the very first picture I drew of the character so that's probably why it appears a little blueprinty. The straight on angle might have been a bad idea and there's a lot of tweaking ahead. I'm working on a sketch of her in action from an angle that shows off more of her warped anatomy. Her lower legs actually do have a joint in the middle that makes them appear somewhat raptor-like but it doesn't really show it this picture.

NakedZergling

The face is still too nice. I think the eyes need to be changed.

Halen

Yea, it's the cutesy eyes that stop it from being horrifying.

ridingonemptytrains

NakedZergling wrote: »

The face is still too nice. I think the eyes need to be changed.

Halen wrote: »

Yea, it's the cutesy eyes that stop it from being horrifying.

I get what you mean but my original idea was that the somewhat cutesy top portion of the face would make the rest of the body seem more jarring and unnerving in comparison. It's the only thing that remains from her previous form (apart from I figure there'd be some kind of glowing red eyes effect up there).

Also, yeah it's the first picture I've ever drawn of the character so I can imagine why it looks somewhat blueprinty. I'm currently working on a better sketch that shows her in action.

Grunt's Ghosts

The right hand looks a bit claw like and odd, but I like it.

ridingonemptytrains

Thank you and yes, the amount of times that hand was erased and redrawn I can't even remember. I couldn't get it to look quite right so eventually I just settled.

Devilboy999

I like the way the arms and legs are drawn. They remind me of Chris Bachalo's art style. I'm pretty impressed at how straight the lines are on the machetes. What is the inspiration on the style of cybernetics you went for?

The_Rat

ridingonemptytrains wrote: »

Thank you and yes, the amount of times that hand was erased and redrawn I can't even remember. I couldn't get it to look quite right so eventually I just settled.

I think you might have the thumb on the wrong side of the right hand, it looks like the person has two left hands.

ridingonemptytrains

Devilboy999 wrote: »

I like the way the arms and legs are drawn. They remind me of Chris Bachalo's art style. I'm pretty impressed at how straight the lines are on the machetes. What is the inspiration on the style of cybernetics you went for?

Honestly, to begin with, I was going for a look with her cybernetics that was similar to a medieval knight's armour with a sci-fi twist but decided halfway through drawing it that I wanted her prosthetics to be more "human" shaped. Something that could fit under clothing. I guess in the end I just went for somewhat generic robot limbs though.

Devilboy999

ridingonemptytrains wrote: »

Ok, so I just did a sketch of this cyborg girl and I just had a quick and simple question to ask you guys.



This is great! If you want to fluff this out more, then you should take a look at pictures of the main character from "Tetsuo: The Iron Man". Tetsuo is a great example of a clustered and incoherent metal forms in a interesting way. Masamune Shirow's art style of cybernetics might also interest you for this, and your machete-lady-cyborg.

Devilboy999

ridingonemptytrains wrote: »

Devilboy999 wrote: »

I like the way the arms and legs are drawn. They remind me of Chris Bachalo's art style. I'm pretty impressed at how straight the lines are on the machetes. What is the inspiration on the style of cybernetics you went for?

Honestly, to begin with, I was going for a look with her cybernetics that was similar to a medieval knight's armour with a sci-fi twist but decided halfway through drawing it that I wanted her prosthetics to be more "human" shaped. Something that could fit under clothing. I guess in the end I just went for somewhat generic robot limbs though.

It looks great. I saw your sketch book dump, and I'm really excited to see your webcomic. I mentioned in another post of your Masamune Shirow ("Ghost In the Shell"). I think you'd really enjoy his stuff, as well as Adam Warren ("Empowered") who has a similar thesis on the way technology, especially cybernetics, should look.