TF2 - Seekers 01

And away we go with the Seekers. Lots more variations of sketches went into these, but these were the top picks of the bunch. And originally I was trying to get the G1 styled head into the design as well...


...and so this is what I came up with. Maybe I'm trying to redeem the movie Starscream a bit? I've said it to anyone who has asked, I actually love the design of the movie F22, I just don't think he should be called Starscream. So anyways, I thought I'd maybe be able to get away with something here.


Not quite, but JT was pretty excited about going in that direction as well, but again, as the Art Director, he has the responsibility to maintain the movie-verse style, so with minimal adjustments, we sent this one off to Hasbro.


Initially the design was met with a lot of enthusiasm, with comments about it being true to the G1 Seekers, so I went on my merry way finishing the Protectobots, assuming it was approved. But I guess someone at Hasbro got cold feet, and asked for another submission, this time making it more like it would fit in the family of the movie Starscream. So I whipped up these sketches...


...and settled on this one. I added some tone and sent it off, and this is the one that got approved.

So close, kids, so close...

SDCC '09*

I'm off to San Diego Comic Con for a few days, I'll resume posting on Monday.

Anybody attending on Friday can (allegedly) get a sneak preview of my first Transformers cover at the IDW panel at Noon, I believe it is part of the Joe vs Transformers Panel, held in 32AB.

*UPDATE - Whoops, Andy forgot to add it to the slideshow. Sucks for me, but it should be published in Previews for a November solicitation in just a couple of weeks...

TF2 - Protectobot Head Revisions

Fix these, please. As with the Combaticons, I went back in to revise the shared heads of the Protectobots.


I did a series of sketches to get the ball rolling, some crazy ones, but some pretty cool ones, too. After all these heads, maybe some of these other ideas will show up in future designs?


And here are the final turnarounds for the individual heads. Much better...

With that, I'm off to comic con for a few days, I'll be back posting Monday, starting with the Seekers!

TF2 - Protectobot Sniper 04

Look out! Sniper! Again!

And so here is the final, after all the revisions and vehicle changes, he finally makes it to final. Hasbro requested the tail rotor be up on the shoulders, but I used the tail for the legs...so in the transformation, I actually have the tail come through the fuselage, and drop out of the bottom, leaving the rotor behind to fill the space left by the engine components that swing out to form the arms. Not too complicated is it?

The landing skids, plus a few additional elements, make up the rifle.


The back view isn't too hard to explain, these sniper class guys are so skinny, that pretty much every vehicle cue that's not used on the front, is on the back. So it makes it easier to figure out where the parts go.


Again, feet are a little over-sized and clawed. Sigh. It's kind of the nature of the beast, when you have to reconcile approved front and back view. One cool thing to note, is that JT had me flip the doors back and down, originally I had them flared out and up, like the traditional way the cars have them, but this way is pretty cool too.

TF2 - Protectobot Sniper 03

So after I got back from vacation, the two major revisions requested were the Combaticon Warrior (discussed previously) and the Protectobot Sniper vehicle mode. Hasbro wanted the rotor changed from a jet, to an enclosed blade, like the Combaticon Siper.

Easy enough to fix, I pretty much had the element finished, just needed to resize it to fit the tail, and repaint it in Protectobot colors.

Why you ask, did they want to change the rotor? I think it may have something to do with the Blazemaster figure. With a repaint, and just a bit of additional tooling, that figure could easily become a figure of the Protectobot Sniper.


So anyways, I made a few adjustments to the robot design, and started in on the final bot views...

TF2 - Protectobot Sniper 02

And here is the FIRST vehicle submission for final. Kind of combo of two different helicopters, with a jet propelled stabilizer in the back, instead of the normal blade system, with a police deco.

And as I mentioned previously, the color scheme graduating from a white base on the Scout, to a blue base on the copter. Also, 0121-B is a reference to my wife, it's her birthday...;)


Not to much more to say about this vehicle. I had two previous vehicles already done in this style, so the deco and themes were pretty well established - it was mostly just about designing the body. But this copter was a lot easier to do the turnaround views, with it being a more conventional body shape; the Combaticon Sniper was a lot tougher to match consistent lines/forms in all views. This copter is much more like a car, so in that aspect, it was a lot faster to do.

So I turned in all the Protectobot /Combaticon vehicles, and went on vacation. When I got back...this chopper had to go back to the shop...

TF2 - Protectobot Sniper 01

The saga of the Protectobot Sniper begins. I didn't realize what a go-around this guy was too...


The beginning of the development sketches, again supposed to be a skinny guy, but these sketches aren't quite 'there' yet. But enought find the basic shape and placement of vehicle cues.


His arms, shoulders, and torso were created from the tail and upper fuselage, and his legs dropped from the rear and bottom of the fuselage.

So this guy was to be the first pass for the submission to Hasbro, but JT and I were a bit at odds with the chest, and the canopy glass being such a big part of the torso. He kept on and on about the fact the a Sniper would never have glass showing at the target, the glare would be a tipoff- and with real world logic, I totally agree. Of course, I knew you would never see that in the game, so the arguments began! From my point of view, the basic transformations for a helicopter would be front facing, so a TF coming would be able to 'drop' right into bot mode. That was my side of the logic argument, and one other thing...


There was a rule during the first movie, that glass couldn't transform, it either showed or disappeared. I believe it was a request from Hasbro to make the toys a bit easier to engineer. So I kept to that standard, but apparently, it didn't matter any more. I thought that the first movie tried to keep to that as well, but maybe by the time the second one got going...well...when has Bay cared about logic...or plot...

So these were a few passes at a compromise - it didn't matter to me if he showed glass or not, but I really wanted to have the canopy element make up the torso/chest. It just made sense to me.


So I went back to the drawing board and created a few more looks for the chest area.


That led to this, which is what we sent in to Hasbro for approval. I changed a bit of the transfomation, and made the tail create the leg elements, while the engine and upper fuselage made up the arms, leaving all the rest for the body.

I drew him in a cooler pose as well...I think this is where some of the problems of impression arise - I know in my head what these guys are going to look like, which isn't very fair to a group that's expected to give feedback to me, and even though I realize the two submission images may give a very different impression, the first being a little dowdy, and the second much tougher, but by the time I get to final turnarounds, they really wouldn't be much different. Why don't I just draw them cool every time? I try, baby, I try.

So while we waited for feedback on the bot design, I got started on the vehicle finals...