Mech shape & form:
Angular or Organic designs? Front Mission or Evangelion ? What are the different forms and shapes that define mechs? What are the techniques used to draw them?

       

Most mechs fall under two main catagories. Either they look very mechanical, with straight lines and sensable joints or we see the more organic looking mechs and robots.
When designing a mech you can either start with the shape and form that your model or design will eventually take or you can start with the ol faithful stick figure to get the basic framework down. Once you have and idea about the stature, you can either create a more angular mech making limbs more square shaped with beveled edges or you can have more humanly or animal definition where the design reflects muscularity and fluidness.



If you are good at drawing traditional angular mechs then start of with that. Then once you are happy with the general shape of the mech start drawing ove rthe lines adding more curves and cylidrical parts. If you are good at drawing more organic mechs like the eva then draw your mech first. Then start adding more angularity to the shape. Reduction and addition over and over again. The example shown is the exact same model in 3ds max that is first desined as a basic blocky and very rigid mech. Then adding some tesselation and mesh smooth midifier in max, the same model looks like a somewhat different creature. The mechs here are not for looks but to demonstrate the easy switch to the two main catagories of mech forms you can achieve by this method.