[Image ID: Drawing of a very large robot with glowing eyes that shine two beams of light down the image. They have their hands out as if holding something. A small starscream silhouette floats between the hands and eyes within one beam of light. The robot has wires that go from between the shoulder blades to the back of the skull. A large turbine hovers behind their back like wings.]
today's daily art: i designed some funky little robots for jo's mindscape in MiOrMa! my cowriter told me to base them off the guardians from BOTW but ive never actually played that game so now im gonna just give people war flashbacks for a thing ive never played oops
Something fairly instrumental to Mecha Sonic Mk 2’s design which I don’t see much art address (and honestly, I’ve been struggling to get it working in my own) is what I like to call “vague space.”
Why is this character so hard to draw? Take a close look at the torso in particular.
You cannot actually make out what piece or part is connecting Mecha’s head or arms to his “body.” In fact, on the original sprite, it’s ALL black. There’s no “torso piece” besides the chestplate which looks almost “seperate” from whatever is holding it there.
This is “vauge space,” and it’s where all of Mecha 2’s mysterious machinery hides.
Mecha Sonic’s actual inner workings are the single most confusing thing about him. The central aspect of his mechanics, however, is that he can “open” himself to show off his eye. (This is metal as hell, by the way, some more Springtrap-ass art of this in existence would be nice)
How in god’s name he actually accomplishes this, though, is unknowable. Yet, when he does “open his eye,” you can see mechanical parts that are normally not visible, those blue bars and beams surrounding his eye.
If it helps, there’s also this Scrapnik Island panel of Sonic kicking Mecha’s head, where it almost looks like it’s bending back on a hinge joint; you can even see the hole at the bottom of his chin where the eye would slide past.
This “unknowability” of his mechanics are what the vague space addresses. We don’t quite know how it works, so having it there means there’s room for interpretation, that he can “believably” pull the eye move.
Every area of complete darkness on the sprite technically counts, but here’s the specific area which I’m referring to highlighted.
Hopefully this helps with understanding how everything about Mecha Mk 2 connects. It took me quite a while to consciously “get” this.
Working on a Mr. Handy mini to print. Planning on bringing painted and unpainted prints to the Illinois Game Con in June. Might work on some eyebots too.