Treble: The Techie Guy

Treble is an African American guy who is into hi-tech stuff and latest gadgets. Out of all the submissions, Godfrey did a good job. The wardrobe looked great as commented by Scott, although the body type was too skinny and similar to Jeter. He is a cool brother. He is the audio expert so Scott wanted to put gadgets on him that suggests his character.

Andrew had some difficulty drawing Treble because he was not an ordinary guy. He tried different versions of hair for him to make him looked cool; from corn rolls (as first suggested by Scott) to Afro hair and dreadlocks. But it all comes down to a "bandana" covered hair.

I'm giving you guys a little suspense for the colored version. Mark is still working on it.

Only 79 days left!

The countdown is putting a lot of pressure on me now. Progress on MechTechs has slowed because we have lots of storyboards projects that must get done first. Scott have been busy too with other projects, so I have limited time to communicate with him regarding approvals. Yesterday, it was a good thing that he spared a little time for me. So far, Godfrey, was assigned to revise the main villain to be more futuristic and to have more of a blend of modern elements. So far the submissions of the evil characters were exemplary and very detailed, however, they had more of an old-school Chinese look. This character will also be used for the teaser, so he needs to be done ASAP since I have only a little more than a month left before the Comic-Con Manila. Although the character hasn't been approved yet, I'm letting you view the proposed evil characters now to see how Godfrey's work-in-progress.

Teaser Layout for Comic Con Manila 2008

We have moved forward with layouts since we're behind on our time frame. Here's the teaser for the first issue. I'm not posting all the layout sketches because you need something to look forward to, right? Mikhail started with several layouts and we had several revisions made. Some of the layouts were approved. As we go along with this project, our Creative Director, Scott sees more ways to improve it. So we keep adding more elements and details and removing the unnecessary stuff. Along with these layouts, Mikhail is tasked to do another teaser for the upcoming Comic-Con Manila 2008 and Komikon 2008 to be held in Manila, Philippines. We plan to give away posters and postcards and some stickers at these events.

Lotsa Revisions

Today I got a lot of instructions from our Creative Director, Scott Ownbey. And a big "OPPPSSS" on Russ; unfortunately Andrew needs to revise his face to look like the old face we used for the Comic-Con 2008 postcard. Andrew needs to add some techie stuff also so that he won't look too "ordinary". I'll soon post the final Russ. Aside from Russ, Andrew is finishing some elements for another character, Treble, and doing a very minor revision on the cute pet dog, Genghis. Watch out for those characters especially Genghis. He's actually my favorite aside from Jeter & Holly. The above sketch is a teaser of our pet.
On the other hand, layouts were also started by Mikhail but revisions are being done now for four layouts. Hopefully it's done by tonight so we can move on to more layouts. We're really behind on our time line. More updates coming soon.
For those who have a Deviant Art account, check us out at http://mechtechs.deviantart.com/ I would appreciate your comments on our characters.

Meet Russ, RJ's cousin

Russ is a good ol' boy. He's a southern redneck who got the job at Molton Mecha because he is R.J.'s cousin, although he is a brilliant fabrication master as well. Russ does great work, but he likes to take his time which drives R.J. crazy. Russ hangs out with Jeter all the time at work where they are always creating little robots that do the most useless jobs.

Russ wasn't in any design submissions from our artists. I guess this was because of his character being the good guy with a warm, likable personality. I think our artists prefer drawing the tough characters with more challenging descriptions. Andrew was tasked with creating Russ with the above mentioned character guide. Scott thought the first sketch of Russ was "excellent." However, minor revisions were needed since Russ is human. The elf ears were eliminated, a sleeveless jacket was added and the long sleeved undershirt was rolled up. Revisions were made but it took time because the face was not consistent.

Mikhail was then asked to tighten up the sketch of Russ with the revisions in mind, so that Andrew could move on with the other characters. Mikhail drew three faces to be reviewed by Scott. But with so much work on hand, it took Scott some time to look at the sketches. So to move on, I posted it on the Deviant Art site and asked for help from the viewers. Unfortunately, when Scott saw the faces, he was not satisfied because they were different from what was first approved. So there were four more done before we got an almost-finished Russ. Since we were pressed for time, the 4th sketch was used for the San Diego Comic-Con Mechtechs postcards even though there were revisions that needed to be made to his face. Andrew continued to revise it and finally got what we were looking for. The first color version of Russ was used at Comic-Con. The coloring of the approved Russ was tweaked by Mark Taduran.

The Making of the Crazed Designer

Jeter has finally been created. After several revisions from the facial features to the colors, Jeter has been approved for release.

Jeter is the crazed Mecha designer and engineer of Molton Mecha shop. He likes to pack customers' Mechas with a few spur-of-the-moment and highly experimental 'extras' - ejector seats, self-destruct buttons, anti-matter powered transmission systems, rocket-powered jump packs, etc. - usually without remembering to tell the customers about it. He's a genius, although possibly an unintentionally homicidal one. He dreams of being the one to build the ultimate Mecha, and has been scribbling designs for years. Requires close supervision by RJ, to prevent him killing off their customer base.

Godfrey's submission was too comical but the idea was there. Andrew's sketch of Jeter was almost there from the very beginning. However, Scott needed to see some tweaks on his features. It became a rush assignment for Andrew because Jeter was to be used for the Comic Con teaser. A different Jeter was used for the postcards but minor improvements were made. And so Andrew created a new face for Jeter which was revised twice and finally approved. The colors also were revised and the approved one was colored with light earth tones, more of khaki and brown. The approved colors was done by Mok Vivas, the other colorist for Mechtechs.

98 Days To Go!

It's been a depressing day for me today! I don't have an artist! Can you imagine that? Mikhail's suppose to do additional layouts today but he's down in bed, sick with the flu. Andrew is sick too.

We're still on our way to improving Jeter and Russ' faces. Jeter is almost approved. And we have another character being developed, Treble. But Andrew is having quite a hard time sketching him. Scott sent references so hopefully Andrew will get it this time.

Mikhail started his layouts last Sunday, but I'm still waiting for Scott's approval.

Argh! What a day! As for me, at least I had time to do my other jobs for HR, evaluations and company ID renewal.

The Only Woman of Molton Mecha

Holly, the only woman in the Molten Mecha crew, is a trainee mechanic. R.J. doesn't approve of her. Not because she's a woman or because she's young and attractive. Not because she's a slacker, but because, as everyone knows, humans just don't have what it takes to make good Mechtechs. She's determined to prove him wrong.

Holly's character description, according to Scott, is hot and sexy. She has a funky, short hairstyle. The first thought for her hair color was blonde with pink highlights, but lime green was more unique and better for her character according to colorist, Mark T. In addition to the funky hair color, she has piercings and tattoos.

With this in mind, Andrew sketched his version of Holly and it was approved by Scott. Scott loved how Andrew drew Holly's face because it was very true to the anime-style. Minor revisions were needed to change her outfit, giving her daisy duke, low rider shorts that slightly reveal the sexy thong she's wearing underneath. Andrew sketched a second Holly carrying a big metal piece of equipment, however, he was not satisfied with this choice and decided to make another version with her carrying a big multi-purpose gun.

The colors were basically Mark's idea of how he visualizes Holly.
"I sent a reference to Scott and he liked the hair color of the character, so I decided to make her hair green. It's more funky and manga-ish. I chose orange and green because they're a perfect combo..fresh and funky..yet girly...the neutral colors of her other accessories also contrast these colors."
-MARK TADURAN, Head Colorist-Mechtechs

Watch Mikhail Do His Magic on Artist Cam

We have started creating our characters but this time, you can watch how our artist do it in real time. Just go to www.mechtechs.com and enter your username and password.
This Sunday at 8:00 a.m. we will be broadcasting Penciler, Mikhail doing loose pencil sketches and rough out pages for the first issue. Anyone who wants to see a real talented artist at work, you can’t miss this never before seen, behind-the-scenes action. This will be our first broadcast, so let us know your thoughts. We want to hear from you as you are a big part of our progress. Please leave your comments here or you can email me at mechtech@storyboardsonline.com.