Evolution of an Evil Robotic Chimp
November 27th, 2006
Over the last little while, I've documented how this site is changing. I thought I had arrived at a pretty stable look, but if you are a keen observer, you may notice that the the hanging robot on the side of my site has changed. How do you start a blog post about a robotic chimp that's hanging out on your site? It's hard, but I wanted to chronicle the evolution of the hanging robot, and see if I couldn't find him a name.
This story starts with an innocent email from a good friend and colleague (and skilled artist), Cliff. He wrote ...love the new look, but hate that hanging robot on the side
.
The rest of the conversation pretty much went like this (to be honest, I've deleted most of the emails, and my memory isn't what it used to be. Cliff is much more eloquent then I'm about to give him credit for):
-
...love the new look, but hate that hanging robot on the side
-
Thanks, appreciate the compliments. I like that robot, he stays
-
Hate him
-
Don't care. You think you can do better, then go ahead smart-guy
-
I'll see if I have some time later
Then a week passed, and I had pretty much forgotten about the whole thing. Cliff's a busy guy with a successful freelance career, and I thought that was the end of it. And all of the sudden this shows up in my inbox last night.
Had a few minutes, was goofing around with Illustrator. You can have robo-chimp if you want it.
I laughed pretty hard. I saw an eerie similarity between it, and the evil monkey from Family Guy. I wrote I love it, but I'm looking for more of a bad 1950's science fiction movie type of robot
. Then I left my email for a few hours while I went to meet with a client. Little did I know that my inbox was building up with a steady stream of robo-chimps!
-
Here's a quick revision more in line with your suggestions. Let me know if this is still too evil then I can flip the switch on his back to good.
-
Or these?
-
Glassy head 50's robot. Enjoy
And at the end of it, here's what I saw (each is linked to a full size)! I've included the original at the beginning so you could see the full evolution.
I like the last one... a lot. I think he'll become a mainstay on the site. So now there are only 2 questions!
- Which is your favourite? Comments are very welcome!
- He needs a name. The robot at the top of the page is Peepo, and was named by the original artist, Simon Oxley, but the robots on the side and bottom don't have names yet. Thoughts?
Edit: Ok, I have added a rotating classname to the sidebar to swap between all 6 images. I have to say that I love it.
This entry was made on November 27th, 2006 @ 8:22 and filed into Noteworthy, Personal.
James wrote on November 27th, 2006 @ 12:37
The glassy head has its charms, but I think the Cylon (number 5) is a little more evil. The original is kinda cool as well though with his oversized claws and tiny head….