Eddie, A Study in Brushstrokes

The Final Look

The base colours and then all the wear, tear, damage, and rust. Time hasn't been too kind to Eddie!

I imagined a world where people could acquire these Eddie robots, whether as android companions, friends, assistants, etc., and how they probably would have customizable options. I wanted a possible custom skin that was based on a traditional painting.

I did a lot of research on what would look better, and at the same time would fit the theme I had in mind - a conjunction of future tech, and traditional medium (retrofuturism!) - specially through environmental paintings. Eventually I settled on the work of Paul Oscar Droege, specially for its pleasing palettes and gradients, which I can handpaint onto Eddie so it has a traditionally painted look.

After some exploration, this is the look I settled on, with the more important elements I want to include.

I really like the light tones of this image, and the blue palette. In science-fiction, we so often see sleek, perfectly white robots and androids, but I wanted my design to have a mixed look. A robot is supposedly more futuristic, a result of advanced technology, and yet this one looks like it's been handpainted; the joints are painted the same colour as the arms and the overall palette to hide them as much as possible - only two of them are golden, but that's a color accent, a purposeful design choice to enhance the painting; it has imperfections, and you can see the brush strokes and the ink, like watercolour; it has rusted in some areas, and there's paint missing in others, and you can see the gold from its metallic base peeking through. I love when gold paint is used in paintings to enhance them, such as with kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery.

This Eddie Robot has been a loved companion, but time has taken its toll on our little friend here, like it also does with art in general.