Robot Portraits

163 Megan Beachbot

2012-01-24T12:46:00.000-08:00

The things on her waist are supposed to be nuclear hand warmers. Hard to figure out what to do with pockets if you're not wearing a jacket.

162 M&M

2012-01-24T12:44:00.001-08:00

2012-01-18T06:58:00.000-08:00

Despite my lack of high traffic, I am choosing to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA.) I've already contacted my Reps and Sens and voiced my concern. You should act as well. Let site owners regulate themselves. Force congress to enact targeted legislation, not blanket censorship to combat an overblown Hollywood/RIAA problem. No one likes to have their work stolen, but censoring the internet is not the way to do it. Let's be smarter about this.

Visit http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt and look up who represents you, and let them know that you are against this legislation and you encourage them to find smarter alternatives to stopping online piracy.

Carry on.

161 Angel Cat

2011-12-30T10:43:00.000-08:00

160 Mark v1

2011-12-30T10:37:00.002-08:00

159 Snowbots

2011-12-30T10:37:00.000-08:00

158 Matt

2011-12-30T10:35:00.000-08:00

Done for a site avatar which is a great use, I believe, of robot portraits.

157 Dork Trek

2011-12-30T10:33:00.000-08:00

For the good people over at Dork Trek.

http://www.dorktrek.com/

156 Reality Amuck

2011-12-30T10:22:00.001-08:00

Fellow cartoonist. You can check out his strip at http://www.racomics.com/

155 BA and Bean

2011-12-30T10:21:00.000-08:00

154 Heather

2011-12-30T10:20:00.000-08:00

153 Mel and Matt

2011-12-30T10:18:00.001-08:00

152 Tuscon

2011-12-30T10:16:00.000-08:00

Tried to give it a Tatooine look with some moisture vaporators. Don't think I pulled it off.

151 Nassau

2011-12-30T10:15:00.000-08:00

I only called this one Nassau because of the trinket the dude is holding. Usually I name it after the subject but if the client doesn't give me their name I have to make up something. I don't even really know if that's what it said, but it sounds pretty cool.

Christmas!!

2011-12-13T06:38:00.000-08:00

Due to the next few robots portraits being gifts, I won't be posting any of the new drawings or videos here until after the holidays. If you're sneaky about it, I'll still be uploading videos to my YouTube channel so people can show them with the drawing, but that's kind of a necessity.

Also, if you're a Tumblr fan, I've started reposting all my old portraits and presidents and 700 Robots. Hopefully that will also kick start getting the 700 drawings going again during down times.

Have a wonderful Christmahaunakwanzika and Happy Festivus.

150 Eyes

2011-11-22T12:57:00.000-08:00

I only called this one eyes because the subject was kind enough to make theirs up for the photo.

149 Birdie

2011-11-22T12:55:00.000-08:00

148 Engineer

2011-11-22T11:48:00.000-08:00

Who would have thought the logo for the Army Corp of Engineers is a castle? Learn something new every day.

147 Jetsonesque

2011-11-22T11:05:00.000-08:00

This was a nice portrait to complete. It's a repeat client; both the daughter and the mom had previously ordered drawings. It felt good to get another order for the whole family because they liked the others so much.

It's called Jetsonesque because they wanted the background to look like the Jetsons but not the robots themselves. I hope I pulled it off.

Orders Complete

2011-11-20T08:51:00.001-08:00

Orders Complete
Originally uploaded by xadrian.

Orders Complete

If you haven't ordered a custom robot portrait for the holidays, I would do so soon. While it doesn't take long to do each one, finding time to do them is increasingly more difficult. I would suggest placing any orders soon so you can get it in time.

Carry on!

Neatorama Giveway (Sort Of)

2011-11-09T08:59:00.000-08:00

***UPDATE***

For those coming in now, the contest is over. Sadly, with 7 +1s, I didn't win, but I was in the top running. I just found out about it too late. But thanks to all who gave it a vote.

Neatorama is doing a shirt giveaway. The person with the most +1s on their comment gets a free shirt. I'm making a counter offer, if you +1 my comment and I win a shirt, I will draw you a robot for free!

That's right, FOR FREE!

I don't know yet if I'll do a full 5x7 or a trading card size or what, but I will honor anyone who favorites my comment as long as I win.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/118244567705567065501/posts/CdpRdQANzpQ

And if I don't win, remember, Christmas is coming up and if you want a piece of art, you'll have to order soon. I'll need time to draw and mail, get those orders in!!

Carry on.

146 Cyberhosen

2011-11-08T10:31:00.000-08:00

I believe this is my first order from Australia, which is weird considering what they're wearing.

145 Bots in Barcelona

2011-10-25T10:29:00.000-07:00

144 Space Dancing

2011-10-25T10:27:00.001-07:00

143 Darth Austin

2011-10-25T10:26:00.000-07:00

I always like doing Star Wars related drawings. Plus, since I'm a small operation, I don't fall into the...uh...jurisdiction of the Empire.

142 Greg and Candice

2011-09-12T14:01:00.001-07:00

141 Anniversary

2011-09-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

Couple things about this one. First, drawing was captured via my 'droid. I was running late and didn't get a good scan. The scan is really only for me and the video production, I have yet to run into anyone that's complained about not having a good scanned image.

But that leads to the second part in which the machine I use to make these movies is sadly my office PC (shh, don't tell.) My old laptop had compatibility problems and ended up just being too slow. My work machine is on Windows 7 which means this is Movie Maker 6. Not much of a change but some things are a bit new.

Anyway, it probably doesn't look all that different. It was a cute piece to create.

Rise of the Urban Eagle is out!

2011-08-09T07:21:00.001-07:00

Rise of the Urban Eagle

Written By Ed Gehres, Jr.

Illustrated by Ben Rollman

Release Date: August 2011

A book and activity application designed specifically for children, this is a story about an unlikely hero. It features both a fully illustrated story and three separate games and activities all in the same application. Download of the application is free. Pay only for the content that you and your children like and want. Designed for children ages 5-12.

For more information visit the Rise of the Urban Eagle page on the Apple AppStore.

140 Meeting

2011-06-29T11:22:00.000-07:00

I didn't know the boyfriend's name so I named it meeting. It's him meeting the girlfriend's parents for the first time. Ah, young robotic love. All sparks and processors.

139 Flowerbot Nat

2011-06-29T11:20:00.001-07:00

Client wanted an drink included. Not REALLY happy about this one. Just feels off. Wasn't rushed or anything, but I'm not happy with it.

134 Jason

2011-06-21T09:04:00.001-07:00

134 Jason
Originally uploaded by xadrian.

This is my neighbor again. His wife commissioned this one.

138 Seaside

2011-06-21T09:01:00.002-07:00

137 Kennedy and Josh

2011-06-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

If you don't recognize these two, it's okay. After all, if you're reading this you're probably one of these two people. Kennedy and Josh were also the Mustache Jaynebots. They've dressed things up a bit this time, though I'm a might partial to the shirts before.

136 Wood Robots

2011-06-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

Not really wood, but their last name is Wood so I thought...anyway.

Featured Artist

2011-05-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

Yours truly has the honor of being a featured artist for Bored in the Basement shirts. Those following Robot Portraits will recognize one of the designs. I'm not sure how long these will be available but I feel they'll be up for at least a month. I get direct payment off each shirt so the more ordered, the more I get in the end. If you can't, please let others know.

Cheers!

135 Snob Kiss

2011-04-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

I didn't skip one, there is a 134 but I haven't got it scanned yet.

Robot Cast

2011-03-30T11:48:00.001-07:00

Robot Cast
Originally uploaded by xadrian.

My girlfriend broke her foot about a month ago. She had a temporary cast and then a real cast. This is the 2nd actual fiberglass cast. (Anyone remember when they were plaster?)

Anyway, we got some silver sharpies and I drew a robot leg on it. Turns out people really dig it.

133 Spudinator

2011-03-11T07:36:00.000-08:00

A couple years ago, I moved to Pflugerville, TX with my family. We'd lived in Austin for a couple years but got burned on the last house we bought and decided to rent outside of Austin. As we were moving in, a neighbor came over to help. He was really nice and we'd talked a couple times about what each of us did for a living and for fun. After that we stopped talking as most Americans do; there just isn't a lot of neighbor-ness any more.

A week ago I get an email from someone asking if I can do a robot portrait. They also notice that my email is in Austin and that's cool because they are in Pflugerville. I open the attachment to see that it's my neighbor. He'd apparently been keeping an eye on this little project for some time and had always wanted one for his friend. So I was able to draw it and walk it over to him at which point we spent a long time talking about model making, Make magazine, Lego, sci-fi, fantasy and just general geekiness.

After spring break he said he'd bring his trebuchet to the park down the street and show the kids. The world is small and funny some times.

I didn't do a video of this drawing, but instead, here are some videos Jason and his friend Sean made of all their projects. Yes they remind me of Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman.

Trebuchet:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7619407764264468704#

water rocket:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8941076924019852803#

Hovercraft:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1180646592768613137#

Jam Jar Jet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKFUG9wmvII

Potato Cannon

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-build-formidable-potato-cannon-267302/

132 Family Bots

2011-02-24T13:43:00.000-08:00

First time I've had to create a sitting portrait of a family from different photos. I think it turned out well.

131 Rock'em Sock'em Steve

2011-02-11T10:51:00.000-08:00

First video without the use of my workhorse Archos GMini. I had to use my Blackberry but it seems to have worked out well, surprisingly. I may be getting an Android soon so we'll see if this thing holds up for a couple more recordings.

129 Colleen

2011-02-11T10:49:00.000-08:00

The recipient of 129 was very understanding about the whole video fiasco. I think I was reminded that it's the artwork people want. The gimmicky video idea is cool but that's not what it's all about. (At least I hope.)

Regardless, I'm glad they were okay with it. I'm still going to try to get that video file. Maybe I can exercise the device with some coffee and an old 5" floppy.

Dead Camcorder

2011-02-08T11:39:00.000-08:00

It is with much sadness that I announce the passing of my Archos Gmini 402. This little work horse of a camcorder brought me the entirety of the videos for Robot Portraits save for a couple fill ins.

It was originally purchased as a portable hard drive since at the time it boasted 20gb AND had the capability to take pictures, photos, play music and games. It was a multimedia bonanza in the early days of portable all in one devices.

Sadly, it no longer works with Windows, or any copy of Windows I can find. I'm not sure what happened, either XP updated beyond the ability to coexist with it or the USB ports failed. The device still technically works, but without being able to connect to a computer, it's as good as dead. I'm doing some last ditch efforts to get it working again, but I think it may be too late to save it.

The sad part is, I have one video left on it that I needed to turn into a movie for YouTube. Moving forward I'll use my phone to take the videos and the quality may be crap, but it'll be something. I just upped the prices for drawings too and now I feel if I don't offer movies I'll have to lower them again. I'll be doing some tests to find out if my Blackberry can handle it.

Truth be told, I've had two orders this year. It isn't worth it to me to order a new camcorder. If there were dozens of orders a week then yes, I could even save up and quickly replace it. But this is why the Archos had to last so long; the infrequency of the job at hand. It's a testament to all those aging geeks out there who are constantly trying to remain relevant in an ever changing techopolis.

130 Bot Collective (no video)

2011-01-16T09:56:00.000-08:00

127 and 128

2011-01-16T09:52:00.000-08:00

From the same client. 127 Ethan & Jack, 128 Kathleen & Mark

(no videos)

126 Mustache Jaynebots

2011-01-16T09:34:00.000-08:00

125 Overlords

2011-01-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

124 Musical Overlords

2011-01-16T09:28:00.000-08:00

119 Hubby and Baby Bot

2011-01-16T09:24:00.000-08:00

118 Jackbot

2011-01-16T09:22:00.000-08:00

123 Willow & Parker

2011-01-16T09:19:00.000-08:00

121 Fenderbot

2011-01-16T09:16:00.000-08:00

New Prices

2011-01-03T11:37:00.000-08:00

If you haven't taken advantage of the awesomeness that is customized robot art work, don't fret. You can still place orders to receive personalized portraits of your family or friends. Starting in 2011 the prices have changed. You can still get 5x7s and 8x10s but the prices are now $20 and $40 respectively. There's still the small card no video option for $15 and remember that Paypal isn't the only way to go.

There are a few drawings and movies to post up and then I'll start back in with some 700 Robots.

Happy New Year everyone!

Delays for Holidays

2010-11-24T07:26:00.000-08:00

The blog might go quiet until after the first of the year as recent (and hopefully future) orders are all gifts and folks have requested I don't post anything until after the presents have been given. In the mean time I'll try to rustle up some 700 robot drawings over the break to keep you occupied.

Cheers!

122 Evil Droids

2010-11-24T07:21:00.000-08:00

The request was for a drawing for a fan of Star Wars and could I turn these guys into evil robots. As a huge Star Wars fan myself, I relished the opportunity.

120 Frantzbots

2010-11-11T10:56:00.000-08:00

A little out of order, but there are some going as holiday gifts so the clients have asked me not to post them.

Washingtron Tshirt from Zazzle.com

2010-10-26T14:32:00.000-07:00

Washingtron Tshirt from Zazzle.com

Not for a limited time, not for the first 50 buyers, but for the rest of time! Stop by my Zazzle store and pick up the absolute one of a kind Robot President shirts. I will be uploading all 44 Presidents so this would be the perfect opportunity to shop for that hard to please Millard Fillmore buff.

Carry on.

117 Zombot

2010-10-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

Don't cross the memes! No, actually, do. In fact, if you're dressed as a pirate, hobo, zombie, ninja or any other Internet genre celebrity, I'd love to draw you.

116 Mr. & Mrs. Roboto

2010-10-22T10:11:00.000-07:00

I liked the name on this one too. Corny, yes, but perfect.

115 Alex Dressed Up

2010-10-22T10:08:00.000-07:00

Second of the family request.

114 Cara Triumphant

2010-10-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

This was the first of three for a whole family. I love doing those. First it's more money (hehe) but secondly I just saw my family this weekend and two different houses had multiple drawings up and it just looks cool in a set.

Plus, as I told this client, I love drawing kid robots.

113 Whit v2

2010-10-22T09:57:00.000-07:00

Rev'd Whit was one of my early clients. He came back to order another for the logo for his site.

112 Robot Revolution

2010-09-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

The title was just assumed. Two guys, wearing vaguely Eastern European armed forces hats? Asking that it be in the style of a propaganda poster? What would you do?

Anyhoo, I like these types. I've done one before and it was fun. Plus the music I found on Jamendo was weird as hell.

111 Kent the Builder

2010-09-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

I only say The Builder because when Kent sent me the request, he said he was sorry he didn't get me a photo sooner but he was busy actually building a robot.

It's fantastic I get so many requests from actual builders. It's not like I expect anything different, but it's a little affirmation that these don't completely suck.

111 Jeff and Mom

2010-09-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

For his mom's birthday, Jeff requested this drawing and the music to go with it. The music is him singing (and I'm guessing playing too) a cover of House of the Rising Sun.

110 Fingers of Steel

2010-09-12T13:19:00.001-07:00

This is Ethan. He has Juvenile Diabetes. Each year his family organizes a JDRF walk and their team is Ethan's Angels out of Winston Salem, NC. They walk to raise money and hope that some day Ethan or kids like him will be able to live without their pumps and the fear that the disease will some day win.

This year their theme is Fingers of Steel. They asked me to do a drawing for their shirts and I was honored to do so.

109 Sarah "Octopussy"

2010-09-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

The request for this one came with the information about the subject saying that she also liked black cats, octopuses and rock'n'roll. The best I could do is make a logo, but "Octopussy" was just too fun to pass up.

107 Zach & 108 Zach and Whitney

2010-09-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

106 Jeri

2010-09-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

This is Jeri Ellsworth, self taught Make superstar. You can read about her here. I'm very honored to have been asked to draw this for her by Make's Gereth Branwyn.

105 Asya the Terrible

2010-08-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

The only thing terrible here is how long it took to get these done. Asya is an artist herself, check out myownself.com. These were wonderful photos and I actually think at this point my art did them a disservice. I picked up "the Terrible" from her email address. She seems to be quite friendly.

104 Little Chris

2010-08-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

The angle on this one made it one of my favorites.

Robot Presidents For Sale

2010-08-18T09:13:00.001-07:00

03-Jefferson
Originally uploaded by xadrian.

Originally, I'd drawn these for a small art project. A few people bought a couple after that, a poster ended up on Zazzle and a shirt was featured on RIPT Apparel.

I actually still have most of the original drawings and will gladly let them go for $10 a piece. I don't have some of the more popular ones, but they can be redrawn if you want them. I'll let you know if I have them on hand already.

Use the 5x7 no video option if you want to send via PayPal or just email me and I'll hook you up.

If you don't know, these are done on 5x7 (sometimes 5x8) index cards, just pencil. I might be using some cut bristol later to redo them, but it's about the same material.

Carry on!

103 The Muppets

2010-08-05T07:49:00.000-07:00

A request came in for a drawing of this young couple on their engagement. The person kept calling them The Muppets - nicknames he had for them. He used it more than once so I felt obligated to use it as the title. This was also the first rush job I'd done as they wanted it for the party happening two days from the request. I hope they enjoyed it.

102 Jeremy

2010-08-05T07:34:00.000-07:00

No before shot and no video (per request) but I wanted to comment that I really like the tie on this one.

101 Sweetie

2010-08-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

This is also a first. A fellow named Jeff sent me this. It's him and a coworker/friend with what looks like a spider monkey. Maybe he can comment on it and let us know for sure.

So, first time I've done a robot monkey. I've done a giant gorilla before but not from a photo. So thanks Jeff!

100 Andrey

2010-08-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

That's right folks. I've done 100 of these for you (and some for me.) Thanks to a gross miscalculation on my part, it's very likely that this isn't the 100th portrait. It's probably either 98 or 102 depending on how you do the math. I mislabeled a couple and did a couple that didn't have numbers as gifts.

Anyway, I'm VERY excited to post this one as well because the request came from Moscow! I'm 37 years old which means I grew up with Carter and Reagan and Bush and Gorbichev and Yeltsin. It was the fall of the Soviet Union and the return of Russian Federation. Everything in the media - movies, television, newspapers, comic books - was about the big Soviet Machine, the Communists, the Reds. We lived in fear of nuclear annihilation and we knew little about Russia.

I'm glad it's not that way any more. I realize it's been almost 20 years since some of this has happened, but some things are hard to let go. Getting a request for a drawing from Russia is easily one of the coolest things that's gone on here at Robot Portraits.

99 Woodward Family

2010-07-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

First time for robot cats.

98 Of Wine and Robots

2010-07-16T07:55:00.000-07:00

A friend of my girlfriend wanted this for her parents anniversary/father's day. We're a little late.

97 Rob-O-Matic

2010-07-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

96 Flo

2010-07-01T09:23:00.003-07:00

96 Flo
Originally uploaded by xadrian.

95 René and Daniel

2010-07-01T09:23:00.001-07:00

95 René and Daniel
Originally uploaded by xadrian.

94 Tim and Lisa

2010-07-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

Slow Going

2010-07-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

I got caught a little off guard by the influx of orders for Robot Portraits. I've been doing my best to get them out as soon as possible, but I know I'm falling behind. This is just a word to those remaining folks who have orders outstanding, I am working on them in the order they came in. School has taken its toll and tests come faster in the summer. With the long weekend coming up in the US, I should be able to get some done and sent off.

Thanks for your patience and patronage.

93 Matt & Family

2010-06-30T06:49:00.000-07:00

Only reason I put & Family is because I didn't get the name of the lovely bride and their dog.

Robot Prez Shirt RIPT

2010-06-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

I wish I could have posted this sooner but I missed out in the morning. Anyway, go to RIPT Apparel and get a Robot President T-Shirt. It's only up for today so you have to act now!

www.riptapparel.com

Robot Prez Shirt RIPT

2010-06-22T10:00:00.001-07:00

Robot Prez Shirt RIPT
Originally uploaded by xadrian.

On Monday, June 28th, this shirt will be available on RIPT.

riptapparel.com/

Please consider purchasing one or at least posting about it. Thank you.

92 Merreck and Emily

2010-06-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

91 Curt

2010-06-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

90 Dwane Sweazie

2010-06-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

I got this request from an artist in Houston, Dwane Sweazie. He asked that I put his music with the video. That's the second time I was able to do this and I was really happy to.

89 Kiltak

2010-06-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

EIC over at Geeks are Sexy. I like this one. I admit I didn't add the swing, but I like the colors.

85a Karolina - Mark II

2010-06-10T07:39:00.001-07:00

85a Karolina - Mark II
Originally uploaded by xadrian.

This was a replacement drawing for one I did early. I have never done this before but the previous drawing looked like something I may have drawn 15 years ago. It was just horrid and I can't believe I'd even though about sending it to someone, let alone asking for payment.

So this may mark an improved standard of quality at Robot Portrait. I can't promise it will last long, but I pledge to spend a little longer drawing each one. Yes it may not be worth the $15 I get (or a portion of that from Neatorama) but it's worth it to my peace of mind not to have junk art with my name on it.

That's all, carry on.

88 J-Bot and Zaktron

2010-06-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

Girlfriend's roommate and her boyfriend asked me to do this one. I realize I didn't give the girl much..."girlness" with metal boobs or more classically girly curves and such. I sort of ignored that and focused mostly on the pose. Semi-conscious decision?

87 Rain

2010-06-07T11:36:00.000-07:00

Name ideas? Rain Maker 2k? A. Dora Bol? Cutetron?

86 Jenny (Geeks Are Sexy)

2010-06-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

Geeks Are Sexy and Neatorama held a giveaway contest a couple weeks ago. One lucky winner received a drawing by yours truly. I hope they enjoy it. It's my first portrait to be sent to Australia.

85 Karolina

2010-06-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

Payment Options

2010-06-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

I realized the other day as I was struggling with my own financial transferring issues that perhaps it would be beneficial for people to offer a cash/money order/check options for ordering Robot Portraits.

So starting today, if you'd like to order a portrait but don't have a credit card or Paypal account, you can send a personal check, money order or cash. I'll have a link on the right under the Paypal buttons that basically emails me a request.

After that it's the same process. You can email or snail mail a photo and I'll turn it into a roboticized version. This is also important to reiterate, it doesn't always have to be a photo of someone. If you want just a random robot, you can ask for that as well or one based on a name only.

With non-Paypal orders, keep in mind the turn around will be subject to the speed of the post office and banks. I won't start it until I receive payment so add that to the time it takes to get the drawing back to you.

Hopefully this will allow more orders for me and more flexibility for you. Win win, right? So now what's your excuse. :)

Carry on.

84 Brent

2010-06-03T14:35:00.000-07:00

So, here's a before and after just to see how it looks on the blog. I might have to change the format, I think it's too skinny.

83 Nicole Bot

2010-06-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

I was thinking of doing before and after pictures as well, side by side instead of just finished drawings. Anyone think that'd be a good idea?

82 Dan

2010-06-03T09:53:00.001-07:00

81 Michael

2010-06-03T08:24:00.000-07:00

I'm worried about using people's actual names in the titles. Maybe I should start suggesting people give themselves a robot name. For instance, this could be Michaelbot, Mikotron, Auto-mike-tron, MIC, MMP0, M.I.K.E., Golden Rod, Metal Mike 3k, etc.

80 The Jeepneys

2010-06-02T14:08:00.001-07:00

80 Abe Dawn
Originally uploaded by xadrian.

Technically this is #81 as the one before was already set to 80. I don't know why I did this, but it also meant I numbered the rest one off as well. Oh well. Probably only matters to me.