Plaid Creature

Le Fabuleux Destin de Robocop

You want amalgamation, you got it. Paul-Verhoeven/Jean-Pierre-Jeunet style!
I proposed a few subjects last week: Amelie, the 400 Blows, Robocop, and Chow Yun-Fat.
While I know some of you requested CYF to be in this, I couldn’t figure out a good way for him to be noticeable (whilst wearing Robocop garb).
Plus I felt as if there might be too many competing elements. Both Amelie and the RC are such strong characters that it would be overkill to add CYF in there (plus, he really kinda deserves a pattern all to himself *possible foreshadowing for next week*).

So I began this project with a shotgun blast of a track
Alech Taadi (feat Cheb Khaled)
and got to work. (If you recognize this song, it’s because you’ve heard it before. In fact, I’m fairly confident most of the Doctors have heard this before.)

I started with a work area of 6×6 inches at 300dpi in PS CS4. A bit larger than my first attempt at pattern making.
I figured it’s enough room to play around and contain multiple elements. I spent a good amount of time this week mulling over how the hell these two subjects would even come together, because seriously… it’s Robocop, the 24-hour supercop, and Amelie, the eccentric loner looking for love.
One would have to sacrifice their world for the other.
So I moved the RC out of Detroit and into Montmartre.
Surveyed my DVD copy of Amelie and picked out scenes I felt could work.

These became my initial base elements. Now to Robocize them…

A little tracing…

A little coloring…

A little nothing…
the coloring became a problem for me early on. I found the colors to be too bold.
Solution: -85% Opacity

It’s a tad easter-ish, but it’ll do for now.
Perhaps I’ll add another layer and add some more color to punch up certain items.
I’m actually still working on this project (like right now!) and hope to have it completed later. Each of these little drawings takes close to an hour and a half for me (it’s because I’m an old man).

You can see that the upper element needs some finessing. I’m not even sure if I should have the RC sans helmet. Is it even noticeable that it’s him? Or does it just look like some mental case?
Anyhow, stay tuned… this post will get updated again later today.

+LATER TODAY+
SOOOOoooooooooo
It’s still not complete..
But I’ll post what I have so far
And PROMISE PROMISE PROMISE to complete it next Monday…

Anyhowsen, hosen… from where I last left off…

I colored in and slightly edited this scene. I still think he looks a little mental without his helmet.
Amanda agrees.
I did the Command-J/Guideline routine and added some new pre-visualized elements in the middle.

Attempted to keep the theme and shape similar.
Started working on em…

Eventually wired em down further…

There’s still much more work to be done. So unfortunately, I’m going to have to leave you hanging this week.
I will have this completed by next Monday along with another post. I’m considering red ribbon as a connecting element between each scene. I’m not really sure how effective that’s going to be though. Any suggestions?

Also, should ED-209 make a cameo somewhere?

THIS IS DR. SALVATRON BROADCASTING LIVE FROM AN ABANDONED COMPUTER TERMINAL IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC.
+TRANSMISSION END+