Venado Cyborg - Cyborg Deer

Last Wednesday a friend called to tell me that an article she's been writing for the local newspaper will be published soon and she needed some pictures to go with it. She asked if I could get an illustration done by Sunday, and heck yes I did:

"Cyborgs, draw your interpretation of them," with full creative freedom! After discarding all the obvious bot types from popular culture, Robocop, Giant Mechas, and countless anime characters, I figured there's not many animal or plant cyborgs out there, and soon enough I was doodling robotic mermaid tails on cats (mmm, whales) and automated watering cans on cacti.

It wasn't until I drew a bull with hammers for horns that I realized antlers would be so much more interesting, think of all the tools that could be attached, a deer or an elk with antlers like a Swiss knife! The most tools added in the comp stage were about 8 (including: a hammer, a clock, a magnifying glass, a wrench, a magnet), but I narrowed it down to what you see above, because 1) I wanted them to interact with each other (create a story) or serve a function other than being there for quantity, 2) I wanted elegance versus the sharp intensity of metal from a traditional cyborg (apparently even cyborgs can be traditional).

Unfortunately, my deer of the many tools wasn't handy enough for the mood/continuity/style the editor was looking for in the pictures, so the illustration was killed.

Regardless, this was a very satisfying project. Full creative freedom plus two of my favorite subject matters: animals, and combined objects; and I finally figured out some tricks I've been trying to get the hang of in Photoshop.

Always learning something new with each illustration.