Positronic Brain MKII

A follow-up to my previous Positronic Brain pic (see this and this.)

Positronic Brain Revisited

The Positronic Brain is one of my favourite pieces of work, however one bit has always been bugging me. The brain. When it came time to create the chrome casing of the brain it became apparent I'd need to actually create some kind of environment. I  came up with a slightly-futuristic room for the sake of creating realistic reflections, at the time not realising how prominent it would be in the final piece. At first it seemed to work, but when I really started to look at it afterwards I grew to dislike it. It really spoiled the scene for me. It detracted from the mood. The environment wasn't right. It was like seeing the sound stage and craft services table reflected in C-3P0. So tonight I finally got around to reworking it and spent a few hours crafting a more apt environment.

A picture tells and a story, and God is in the details.

To see the original version of this picture and where it came from, and read about what this picture means to me, check out this post.

Positronic Brain

EDIT: There is an updated version of this work here.

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I'm a big fan of Asimov's robot stories and I particularly like the concept of the positronic brain (meaingless as the name was), which has since made it into several other science fiction titles. I like the idea that truly effective humanoid robots would need something beyond programming; that they would need something more complex and even more physical to achieve the level of interaction (and even learning) needed for societal integration. It bridges the gap between robots/computers and a living, organic mind. It offers a much greater chance to unplanned or unpredicted behaviour. It begins to bridge the gap between soulless machine and life.

The picture was based on this previous piece I did, only this time I wanted to go for a more realistic look. It gave me a chance to try creating different kinds of metal surface, which was challenging and fun.

Close-ups of my original drawing.

Sunken

Wow, here's another find. Something I started at least three years ago and somehow forgot about. I quite like it so far. Might revisit it.

Advent | 18 | Seen the Light

Advent | 16 | City View

Advent | 13 | Hairbrained

Detail:

Something Dark This Way Dwells

After failing with making a new avatar I just started some frustrated doodles, which quickly became this.

Advent Drawing 21: "Christmas in the year 2525"

Heading home for the holidays and the socialising this brings pushed me a little behind. So here's a bonus alternate version!

Advent Drawing 10

0.1mm pen tip proved too big and the paper was a little too absorbent.

Fornax

Mostly marker pens and a touch of coloured pencil. This is the second character from a work in progress who'll be starring in his own animated short for my course.

Spaced Out

Forgot about this sketch. Was just a doodle at first but I soon decided to add some colour.

Dancing Machine

I came across this site again. Thought I'd have another go with it!




Fornax is a working name for him. Not sure what his finish is going to be like, but here he looks quite grimey here, like an old but well-oiled engine part.

In the Cockpit

Just a rough 10 minute job in Photoshop to experiment with halftone screens. I'm considering using a style like this for this project.

Insults

Sketch of a character for a project:

Robot, Space, rough

Something I started drawing today. Much more still to go.

EDIT: I'm abandoning this one for now. I've been drawing this character a lot and I don't like the proportions in this one.

iRobot

Alternative layout to the original picture. I have a print of this one on my wall now and it looks quite good.

Asimov Sells Out

This started as a joke but has turned out to be one of my favourite pieces of digital art. I wish it was totally original and not a parody now.
I might make some wallpapers out of this, maybe with some different colours.