Mecha Sketching

>>15173936
Git gud.

Draw more stuff - architecture, machinery, people, plants, ect.

Really, that's all there is to say at your level.

>>15173936
Study your peers - see a mecha you like? Dissect it visually to figure out how it fits together. If you plan tk draw gundam types, study the human body and of course study mechanisms. There are many, many resources online if you look from tutorials to fully scanned how to draw giant robots books to utilise (I have that book and its a pretty simple introduction to mechas and kibble to make it look good)

Of course the main thing is practise of the basics such as learning to draw cubes and prisms as all mecha, no matter the complexity are formed of these base elements - Master this and mecha design is infinitely easier as you can imagine the design as a whole

>>15173946 #
>> 15173962 #
What I'm getting from this is that I need to draw in 3D. Either that, or I'm just REALLY bad.
Regardless, how is the design itself?

You don't NEED to draw anything in perspective if orthographic design (front, back, and side views) are going to work for whatever it is you want. But yeah, you should draw more things from looking at things you like. Not only will you be getting practice, you'll also be stocking a mental warehouse of how to draw certain things. With a "stocked warehouse" you'll be able to "pull things off the shelf" at will and stick them together.

>> 15174563 #
I am using references though. The arms are elongated scopedog AT arms with customized shoulder armor, the concept of the hull is based off the razorback Heavy Gear, and the ski feet were inspired by the erdspinne AT.

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Heavy Gear

>>15173936
The design itself is pretty cool. I like the way you divide up your proportions and really appreciate the simplicity, or should I say, the lack of unnecessary greeble and over-paneling. It looks like a somewhat believable military weapon akin to the Scopedog.

As >>15173946 said you should practice drawing in 3D more cuz it's painfully obvious that your mech wouldn't look like that in a photograph.

The fact that you're using nothing but flat lines for everything signals to me that you don't actually know how to add depth to an object. Try drawing that mech in a 3/4 angle and you'll see what I mean. Drawing the same thing at different angles REALLY helps you git gud.

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Op here. Here's a WIP of the Hagen in 3D, as requested by >> 15177961 #. I have no idea what 3/4 is as an art term, so please forgive me for not asking.

>>15180525
Drop the chicken scratching now while you're still getting started. It becomes harder to kick the more you use it as a crutch.

>>15173936

Honestly the best advice for you is to practice drawing people. Once you get the hang of doing comic book style designs (wire framing, then shaping it out with circles, add details, refine shapes, draw an outline, then erase the sketch marks) you should be fine.

>>15180525
i liked this

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>>15173946

>>15177961
>cuz it's painfully obvious that your mech wouldn't look like that in a photograph.

Frankly speaking, a number of the folks currently puttting out BT-illustrations draw stuff that only looks good from that one perspective shown in the illustration. It's just that you don't nktice until you actually try to turn the image into a sculpt.

>>15173936
Perfect the art of hip thrusting.

>>15173936
>>15180525

You have no structure in your drawing. Your first image is of a very boxy mech, but on the second nothing is lining up properly.

Rule #1 - Stop thinking you can draw something right from the top of your head and start from the absolute basics. The majority of crappy fan artists out there do this and it's what stops them from ever improving.

Rule #2 - BOXES. Lots of basic perfect 3-d boxes. Once you get that you can start adding other shapes etc... until you have a good number of basic geometric shapes under your belt.

If you can't draw 3-d shapes you probably shouldn't be drawing.

There is literally a dozen things you should be learning before you even THINK of drawing a anything from a reference... But if you are only focused on stubby little boxy mecha, it should be an ok start.

Try search on youtube for some art classes or something.

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>>15188895
>Frankly speaking, a number of the folks currently puttting out BT-illustrations draw stuff that only looks good from that one perspective shown in the illustration.

Battletech has always been bottom of the barrel as far as art is concerned. They're too cheap to hire anyone worth hiring and simply get random fans off of Deviantart to sketch some shit for them before the payday arrives and they forget to send the cheque for their work.
It's been horrible in the 80s and it continues to be horrible to this day.

But really, Battletech is the very last place to look for art or design advice.
You might as well figure everything out by yourself.

Op here.
I guess mecha design is too hard for me. Sorry for wasting your time.

>>15173936
First you should start by not ripping off the Walker Gear.

>>15189488
It'll get easier the more you practice drawing stuff in real life. You have no idea how fast you'll improve once you can draw a simple box from every angle.

>>15188967
You didn't post a very good example yourself, to be fair