Icarus

This idea was sparked in the car when driving back from Gent comicon. We saw some hot air balloons flying by and that's when I thought of a kind of inventor-robot developing some wings for him to fly. A bit like Da Vinci's flying machines.

For the design of my inventor-hero, I looked at Da Vinci's drawings of his 'flying machines'. I didn't want a pose with both wings spread out, because I felt it might be a little too static. The wings are obviously too small for such a heavy robot, but that's something he will no doubt discover later on today! :)

To give it the Da Vinci-feel, I worked out a sepia background with some 'technical' sketches in pencil as a backdrop for the main character. I also added some details to give it a bit more life.
I remembered that Da Vinci used a secret code in his research note-books, just in case they fell into the wrong hands (because some of his research was cutting edge, but sometimes flirting with what was legal or acceptabe at the time-period). I used the same secret code in this painting: I mirrored the lettering done on a computer and then copied the mirrored text by hand. If you look at the illustration in a mirror, you'll be able to read a part of the adventures of our robot-inventor :).
I'm quite happy with the result. I like his goofy face, maybe he'll invent a time machine in a delorian next! :)