Friday, October 07, 2011

Frontier Legacy


Final Frontier

No. 10 in the "Nouveau Robotica" series, this heavily Spaghetti Western inspired design "Frontier Legacy".
Akin to my previous 'cosmonaut' design, this was a slight style departure from the traditional Art Nouveau adapted for a more Western fare.
It was a also a chance to draw something uniquely "American". After reading the frightfully good "American Vampire" comic series, which opens on the Western landscape, I wanted to do a design that had just as much unique culture as the other European influenced robots. There's something to be said about the last frontier of Western expansion and our ideals as a country that were formed through it's founding.

The design itself hides clues from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" in a double tribute to Italian (Sergio Leone) and American (Clint Eastwood) tastes. Graphic symbols are nestled within like the six-shooter barrel, nooses, wagon wheel, poncho pattern, and + signs-turned-Civil War crosses.
One of the most dramatically and musically loaded scenes in cinema history, I wanted to depict that final scene in the movie transposed to a mechanical measurement.
An extra hidden detail is the pattern on Clint-bot's chestplate which is taken from the iron oven door trick that Marty McFly employs in his duel in "Back to the Future III"-- Itself a parody of "A Fistful of Dollars". A copy of a copy of a copy is new... right ?

The first print run made its debut at the Alternative Press Expo last weekend with strong appeal.

A xylene transfered and hand painted version was made for the previously posted art show at Catalyst artspace-- proudly owned by Jackson Root ! See his work here.

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