Mecha Designing with Ian Chan

Reported by:
Rachel Koh Huey Shin JR2Z(3)

      On 7^th June 2021, Kuen Cheng Cartoons Club organized a webinar featuring Mr. Ian Chan about Mecha design. He was an Asterisk Academy graduate. The seminar was held to pique students’ and Club members’ interests in the subject and improve the average skills of creating stunning Mecha illustrations in school.

      Ian started by introducing Mecha as humanoid mobile robots which exist because of war. It is helpful to humans in the construction and sports. It comes in all shapes and sizes depending on its function. Furthermore, Mecha designs can vary depending on six popular world themes.

Cyberpunk has gangster culture.

Futuristic is peaceful, clean, bright and tidy.

Steampunk is steam-powered. Victorian fashion was seen everywhere.

Dieselpunk gives off a postmodern vibe.

Scrappunk has technology based on scraps.

Solarpunk is a balance between technology and nature.

      According to Ian, the purpose for Mecha design is fundamental and generally falls into five categories such as military, sports, medical, construction and culinary.

      Students are encouraged to look for inspirations from real-life equipment, themes and other’s work. However, our guest speaker of the day reminded the students to use other’s work only as a reference. “Copying is a big no-no,” he stressed.

      Silhouette is an important factor in getting a better idea of what their design will look like. Through silhouette, the designer can design striking iconic shapes that will stand out and become easily recognizable from a distance.

      Body parts can also be exaggerated to give the Mecha a fascinating look. Sometimes, exaggerated parts play a crucial role in categorizing the heavy or light type of Mechas. Besides exaggerating body parts, students can also widen them to make them look big.

Body parts that can be exaggerated include joints(red), main parts(blue) and secondary parts(green).

      In addition, different shapes give different feels to the Mecha.

Square, rectangle and cuboid feel blockish, heavy and slow.

Cone looks normal while cylinder looks fast.

Triangle, diamonds and pyramids look aggressive, fast and threatening.

      Keeping to the original design and shape flow can make the design look clean. If not, it would look weird and incompatible.

A G-Shock watch shape flow spreads out from the middle.

      A good Mecha design is a design that looks like it will function properly. The best part to highlight its practicality is through the joints, hydraulic tubes and real-life equipment. “Art is inspired by real-life,” reiterated Ian.

      Finally, Mecha designs should be balanced as it needs proper footing and foundation. “Whether your Mecha looks human or not, it must have a ground footing that keeps the center of gravity,” he emphasized.

      Before the webinar ended, there was a Q&A session where he shared his experience as a Mecha designer. Overall, this was a helpful webinar as Mr. Ian Tan explained the concepts of Mecha in an informative manner.