Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

Nuthin’ But Mech promises robots, and robots is what it delivers. The group blog features mech, robots, and automatica drawn by almost two dozen different artists, including Jake Parker, who work is shown here.

Back in 2005 John Martz posted the work of Brian Despain. Johnny loves robots and lamented that there wasn’t more of Despain’s robot artwork available. Well now there is! Despain has a current exhibition at the Roq La Rue Gallery (with John Brophy) running until Dec. 5, 2009.

… and now you can even watch the artist explain why he loves to paint robots:

Brian Despain’s website

Although I’m in Seattle for the 5th annual Plush You! opening (my 5th year participating, but my first opening!) I noticed that Roq la Rue gallery up the street was also having an opening last night. I walked in to face a wall of candy-colored monsters and robots, and was thrilled to realize I was looking at the work of a Drawn! fave, Ryan Heshka.

If you’ve only seen this work in a browser or printed in a book or something, you’ll fall in love with the work all over again to see it in person. Ryan’s colors explode onto your retinas, and after the larger figures catch your eye from a distance, the level of detail in the rest of the painting will hold you for a long time later.

He shares the walls with Ana Bagayan, and if her work doesn’t blow you away (and it should!) the frames on her paintings are a sight to behold. There are also some great pastels, one including robotic hamsters, by Tin (whose name makes it difficult to find a link to his work.) (thanks for the link, Chrisco!)

The show runs from October 9 until November 7, 2009.

Robots and Monsters, the charitable art project that offers custom-made robot and monster drawings, has relaunched with a slick new site, and a handful of new artists involved, inlcuding Drawn!’s own Adam Koford, David Huyck, and yours truly.

Here’s how it works: you donate a set amount for an original robot or monster drawing, and supply three words or phrases that one of the artists will interpret as they see fit to create your drawing. The current charity being supported is Water.org which provides access to safe water and sanitation to communities in Africa, South Asia, and South America.

Over at the Shoebox blog, Chris Grine has been posting drawings of Bots with Stuff… He’s going to be drawing 3 robots a week for a year. I love these!

I also love Chris’s comics work.

Chickenhare is a small, beautifully-drawn graphic novel, and I’ve just discovered it has a sequel I was unaware of. Chris has a 20-page preview of Chickenhare 2 (PDF) available on his site.

Pluto by Naoki Urasawa, is out this week!

Pluto is Urasawa’s fantastic tribute to Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy comics.

The book is about a detective following the trail of a serial killer murdering the most powerful robots in the world. It’s like a great cross between Bladerunner, Astro Boy and Silence of the Lambs.

Urasawa introduces an array of robots, often inspired by classic Tezuka designs. There are so many quiet, cinematic moments in this comic as we are introduced to each robot’s idiosyncrasies. Oddly this comic is the most heartfelt and human of Urasawa’s comics.

Naoki Urasawa is a manga-superstar in Japan. He is responsible for the fugitive manga, Monster (which is due out as a film later this year) and 20th Century Boys - about a group of schoolkids who grow up to battle an evil, world-dominating ex-classmate.

Also check out:
Beginner’s Guide to Manga

Get your fix of gears and blinking lights with this smorgasbord of robots made from recycled parts. Seen here: the work of Mike Rivamonte.

Previously on Drawn!:
Typewriter Robots
Nerbots: Found Object Robot Sculptures
One Person’s Junk is Someone Else’s Robot
Bug Sculptures Made from Found Objects
More Recycled Robots
Even Cuter Recycled Robots

This swell wooden robot prints sits in my studio overlooking my drawing table. It’s the work of Tad Carpenter who has a brand new website full of more just like it.

Check out Jeremy Mayer’s typewriter robots.

And here’s his online portfolio.

via Hugh

Married couple Nicholas and Angela make robots out of found objects and recycled trash: Nerdbots!

Previously on Drawn!:
One Person’s Junk is Someone Else’s Robot
Even Cuter Recycled Robots
More Recycled Robots