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Synthespians: Robots, Cyborgs and Programs. Oh My.
If there is anything I like more than movies, it's remembering arcane details about movies. Growing up, I always just assumed that everyone else knew exactly what the robot in Space Camp was named (it's Jinx), or what kind of car April in the A-Team drove ( it was a Renault LeCar). Imagine my surprise when I began to discover that other people didn't quite have the same encyclopedic knowledge of these, obviously important, details.

So, combining this "gift" with my illustration background seemed like the logical place to go. I started last year creating a poster of 77 cars from movies and tv. Instead of going for a detailed, realistic approach, I chose a simplified and minimalistic look. Working exclusively in Adobe Illustrator I tried to simplify the forms down to the bare minimum, including only the most important details. Not only were they fun to draw that way, I liked how they reminded my of toys, and reflected the sense of childhood glee that movies and tv shows often create.

After the first Star Cars poster I decided to give robots a try. But, I quickly discovered a problem. A lot of our favourite pop-culture robots, aren't actually robots. RoboCop? He's a cyborg. Gipsy Danger? Well, that's technically a battle suit. So, I decided to expand my criteria to include, not just robots, but synthetic characters of all sorts. Synthespians became the obvious name to call the piece. I began amassing a list of my favourites, which quickly ballooned to over a hundred. I trimmed it down a little from there, trying to pick iconic characters that represented their particular genre, universe or franchise well. Or, in some cases, I just really wanted to draw them. Sadly, some favourites didn't make the cut, but who knows. Maybe I'll have enough for a volume 2.

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[image source: Scott Park]
[source: Vive Les Robots!]