I ran into these random robot sketches in a notebook while making notes for the Robots of Doom story.

Well, the story of The Robots of Doom is still being written and revised, but I thought I would post the very beginning:

The Robots of Doom

The Troubles Begin

With pebbles flying everywhere and a cloud of dust following behind, the Professor careened down the rocky trail, very nearly out of control on his high-wheeled bicycle. He was failing miserably at avoiding the bigger rocks and was being bounced all over the place.  “Ooof, no wonder they called these old bicycles bone-shakers,” he muttered while pedaling furiously.  He was deliberately not looking behind him because his last glance back had scared the bejeebers out of him.  Through the trees he had seen the red glow and lumbering shadow of the giant robot that was chasing him. Now was not the time for looking back, now was the time for pedaling! 

Even though he wasn’t looking back, the noises of trees crashing and brush breaking were letting the Professor know that the robot was definitely getting closer.  And now he could hear the clanking and whirring of the robot itself. “Pedal, old man, pedal!” the Professor berated himself, “If that thing catches you the kids will be on their own.”

The Professor’s niece, Ruby, and nephew, Roscoe, had been visiting for the summer and were in the house that morning when the world changed, and not for the better.

More rocks meant more trouble for the Professor and after hitting a particularly big rock he was nearly launched off the penny-farthing. Luckily, he grabbed the handlebar streamers just in time to keep him on the bike and slapped his top hat back onto his head.  “Why oh why haven’t I been working out more? Or at all for that matter? I certainly would have made time to hit the gym if I had known I’d be racing for my life!” he thought.  Then he put his head down and pedaled with everything he had, which, in his case, eh, wasn’t a whole lot. Now, was that the heat from the robot he could feel on his back or was it just fear making him imagine the worst?

I think this piece is done. I'll have to give it a look in a day or so to decide. The line work was done with Prismacolor pencils on tracing paper and the color was done in ArtRage4, except for the sky, which is Photoshop.

Had an opportunity to start painting color in ArtRage.

Ok, haven't posted anything here in forever because, until recently, I've been really busy with commercial work. I've been writing a Robots of Doom book. It started as a picture book, morphed into an early-reader chapter book and then morphed again into a young-reader chapter book. I guess it'll basically be shooting at the same age group as the Lemony Snicket books.  Anyhoo, I needed a new character in the book and decided to do a new illustration because it's easier to write about something if I can actually see it. So here is the line art for the new illustration. Hopefully, I can get to applying color tonight while listening to Prairie Home Companion.