SP1-NKH is a curious, voiceless, teenage robot who collects garbage for a living when he stumbles upon a priceless treasure that makes him a wanted man – robot or otherwise, he has to stay on the run to keep his family safe.
How did your character emerge from the blot exercises?
While creating the blot exercises, I realized I had a tendency to stick with one of two characters. Either they were long, gangly, and awkward, or bubbly and friendly, if not somewhat pompous. I was drawn to this character during the blots because of the way a head emerged suddenly from the bottom.
SP1-KNH in his early development. (pronounced Spinch. Yes, like Spinach. He doesn’t mind because he…well. He’s a robot. He doesn’t know what spinach is. Kind of embarrassing, if you ask me. Every time he runs into a human gang member chasing him down they call him Spinach. It always takes a second for his system to calculate whether he should be afraid or not because the word just sounds so silly. Is it a mean term? A command perhaps? An invitation for tea? His data bases can’t recall. Better run anyways.)
SP1-KNH
How does your illustration style support the mood of your character?
For the final execution, I envisioned SP1-KNH in a rough, dystopian world filled with bright lights, exotic neon, tempting alleyways, and alien bugs. Being a robot Spinch fits in enough, but his damp colouring and out-dated parts hashed with scrapes and rust make him stand out just enough to show he doesn’t belong. Since Spinch wouldn’t talk, the expressiveness of his arms and eyes are crucial to communicating with others. His rope-like arms and neck create a teenager-like hunch in his back, with no real choice or disposition to him. The only exception to this is his eyes, lively and versatile, showing that he is still a soul full of life. I wanted him to feel gangly, shy, child-like, but still curious and kind. In his world, Spinch would be compared to a toy left in the lost and found.
Lighting, Tone, and Color
In this isolated image, we can see how beaten up and wiry Spinch is. Although he sits on a flat coloured background, we see exactly what a juxtaposition he would be against a lively environment. We easily associate someone like Spinch with back allies, dirty floors, and scrapyards.
Here in his final illustration, we see Spinch examining a new friend by flashlight while he is hunted down by city gang members. He is illuminated by pure light, making him seem innocent and curious while the threat lurks behind him (highlighted by red neon, to show they are menacing). In the background, we see an innocent shop-owner (highlighted by the green neon lights to show his innocence) pointing them in the direction of the boy with the glowing treasure in his pocket. The scene is very dark, as Spinch would do the majority of his garbage-rummaging by night alongside alien raccoons to avoid suspicion.