Wild & Wacky Robots

Harcourt Books Robot Illustrations

One of my favorite commissions was illustrating futuristic-themed books and stories for Harcourt Education School Publishers. They were part of a series of classroom handouts and educational activities for 3rd and 4th graders. All I was given were these directions:

"Make a fun world of robots and a wacky what's-it machine."

That was it! Below is what I came up with and some examples of the process I went through when I made these books covers and story pages.

To see more of my art, please visit my website.

ROBOTS illustrated by Joe Lacey for Harcourt Education Book Publishers. © Joe Lacey

THE PROCESS

Each picture started out with rough thumbnail sketches. The book covers were 3/4 page wraps - a full cover with spine and about 1/3 of the art wrapping around the back of the book. This always adds a challenge, as I can't let important elements fall off the main page, I have to be aware of the title placement and the spine needs to be kept clean of detail.

When the thumbnails are approved, I draw tight pencil sketches. I like sketching by hand on paper. It's often quicker than trying to sketch on a digital tablet (although, depending upon the illustration, I sometimes do just that). The sketch is scanned and used as a guide to make the flat color vector art in Adobe Illustrator. I send a screenshot to the art director to see what the colors will be, but more importantly the positioning of the illustrated elements. Sometimes, there are unexpected changes in size or direction. It can be very easy to move or scale the vector art to correct these changes.

One of several fast thumbnail sketches I made to help figure out the basic design of the book cover.

Tight pencil sketch done on vellum paper at 100%. This sketch was scanned and used as a guide to create the base vector art in Adobe Illustrator.

Completed vector art made in Adobe Illustrator, This art was exported as layered Photoshop document where the final "painting" was completed.

Interior end pages.

The final art is painted digitally using Adobe Photoshop. For these illustrations I used a WACOM digital tablet. It would be near impossible to this kind of art using a computer mouse, never mind the damage you will do to your hands and wrists! Today, I use an interactive pen display and "paint" directly on the screen.

Digital painting is a lot like traditional airbrush. I select areas to paint, adjust spray pressure, and manually apply the digital paint using a stylus. I try to avoid using too many preset textures and effects, trying to keep the art looking as hand painted as possible. The art is either sent of flat or with  editable layers still intact, depending upon the client's needs.

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INSPIRATION

THE WACKY WHAT'S-IT MACHINE illustrated by Joe Lacey for Harcourt Education Book Publishers. © Joe Lacey

Nothing beats a robot that looks like it was made out a tin can or three cardboard boxes! This is why so much of my inspiration comes form older toys, movies and TV shows. The trick is to make it look updated without being derivative.

My original vision for The Wacky What's-It Machine was inspired by Ideal's Mr. Machine with little alien helpers. I loved it! The art directors did not. I was sad. So, the second one was more of a Wizard Of Oz inspired robot with munchkin styled aliens. I loved it! They did not. Again, I was sad. OK, third time's the charm. Let's think Robbie The Robot from Forbidden Planet. Yay! That one worked! They loved it! Everyone was happy and I was able to go onto the finished painting.

The first of three tight pencil sketches I made for this book cover.

The second of three tight pencil sketches I made for this book cover. the new heads and characters were done on overlays.

The final tight pencil sketches I made for this book cover. the new heads and characters were done on overlays.

Completed vector art made in Adobe Illustrator, This art was exported as layered Photoshop document where the final "painting" was completed.

Interior end pages.

The machine is a Dr. Seuss Meets The Wacky Races with a touch of Rube Goldberg sc-ifi tossed in for good measure. I wish this had been turned into a toy! Illustrating all these crazy and colorful gears and gadgets got me ready for the Crayola factory themed Maker Kits that I illustrated several years later.

LEROY. Original boat design for one of a series of sci-fi short stories for kids. Harcourt Education. © Joe Lacey