Transforming Collections is a visual archive of third party Transformers art and photography authored by Philip Reed of Battlegrip.com. Phil reached out to me to contribute a robot illustration depicting one of the fan-made robots featured in the book’s collection. I decided the perfect tribute to Transformers and its heritage was to use the refined, airbrushed visual style of the 80s’ “Generation 1″ Transformers packaging.

The illustration started with a rough sketch which was eventually translated into a more refined vector drawing. The more precise drawing allowed for proper masking of elements when digitally painting hard-edged forms. This approach more accurately recreated the painstaking masking and airbrushing techniques.