Drawing believable machinery and lifelike robots starts here.

From robots to spaceships to guns and time travel devices Jake Parker teaches the ins and outs of drawing realistic machinery.

Learn machine anatomy.

Like studying the anatomy of humans to understand how to draw them correctly, so too must you study and know the anatomy of machinery. In this class Jake deconstructs complex machines into basic, understandable components. These are broken down into these sections:

  • Structural parts
  • Power Supply
  • Locomotion
  • Manipulators
  • Weapons
  • Sensors
  • Paneling and Armor
  • Cockpit and Controls

In this class you will learn:

  • The 4 principles of designing machinery

  • How to apply these principles to a range of subjects

  • How to analyze machinery and apply real life reference to your drawings

  • How to make complex machinery look functional

  • How to create a hierarchy of focal points

  • Methods of working up from a thumbnail sketch to finished drawing

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About the Instructor

Illustrator/Cartoonist Jake Parker

For the last 25 years Jake has worked on everything from animated films to comics to picture books. For several years he worked for Reel FX and Blue Sky Studios on such projects as Horton Hears a Who, Rio, and Epic. He is the creator of the popular Inktober drawing challenge. Jake currently works as an illustrator and cartoonist on children's books and comics. He works out of his home studio in Arizona.

Course curriculum

    1. Intro

    2. Categorizing

    3. Anatomy

    4. Power Supply

    5. Locomotion

    6. Weapons

    7. Sensors

    8. Panelling

    9. Size Principles

    10. Demo

    11. Downloads

About this course

  • 11 lessons
  • 2.5 hours of video content
  • 10 Videos
  • 1 Download

Reviews

5 star rating

Excellent!

Kim Hyndman

Really enjoyed Jake's Robot tutorial. I have been drawing for years and found many wonderful tips and suggestions while taking this course. Thanks Jake!

Really enjoyed Jake's Robot tutorial. I have been drawing for years and found many wonderful tips and suggestions while taking this course. Thanks Jake!

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5 star rating

Useful

First Last

I have to say that this course gave me a very good understanding on how to think when drawing machines,robots, etc.

I have to say that this course gave me a very good understanding on how to think when drawing machines,robots, etc.

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5 star rating

Just what I needed!!!

Matthew Enstrom

Thanks for having this course on Robots. I have followed Jake on youtube and tried figuring out how to make robots and Mechs more realistic. Jake Parker put ...

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Thanks for having this course on Robots. I have followed Jake on youtube and tried figuring out how to make robots and Mechs more realistic. Jake Parker put this class in to simple steps that helped show me what I was doing wrong and how to correct it. Thanks again for this class.

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5 star rating

Informative as Heck!!

Kadeem Davis

This course was so eye opening. I was just making my robot designs humanoid based not even thinking about anything outside of the power source and weapons. t...

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This course was so eye opening. I was just making my robot designs humanoid based not even thinking about anything outside of the power source and weapons. this is really helps create more of my comic world thank you!

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5 star rating

Finally!!

Adrian Kuhn

This is a great class. I love how it was broken down into a digestible format. Machinery is not my strong suit, and seemed quite intimidating. This has given...

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This is a great class. I love how it was broken down into a digestible format. Machinery is not my strong suit, and seemed quite intimidating. This has given me a lot to study and a productive direction to go.

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5 star rating

I had a blast!

Carina Povarchik

Really a great course by Jake, you won't find this super organized and in detail of how to draw machinery course out there anywhere. Fantastic material, and ...

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Really a great course by Jake, you won't find this super organized and in detail of how to draw machinery course out there anywhere. Fantastic material, and watching him drawing robots is so much fun!

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5 star rating

Very Informative

Edwin Castro

Your breakdown of the essential parts of machines has been very informative, and since I've taken a long time to complete this course, I've found the princip...

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Your breakdown of the essential parts of machines has been very informative, and since I've taken a long time to complete this course, I've found the principles here have helped me a lot. Now that I've seen the full course, I might even rewatch it. Thanks so much!

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5 star rating

Super Amazing

Mohammed Muslih

Wow the course is super amazing if you want to draw robots like me then i highly recommend this course , Jake Parker made it easy to understand and follow . ...

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Wow the course is super amazing if you want to draw robots like me then i highly recommend this course , Jake Parker made it easy to understand and follow . 5 star for sure.

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5 star rating

Fantastic breakdown of what makes a great robot!

Shae Humphries

Jake did an awesome job of going through the individual 'complex' parts that often scare artists away from creating mech art. In this lesson he gives a super...

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Jake did an awesome job of going through the individual 'complex' parts that often scare artists away from creating mech art. In this lesson he gives a super easy to follow checklist of sorts to ensure that any robots or machines you happen to draw look believable and awesome!

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5 star rating

In depth instructions

jeff badanoy

5 star rating

Finally to sketch machines like Jake

Mushtaq Anis

Always wondered how realistic, simplistic and beautiful jake's robots looked. I tried copying but didn't make sense or get anywhere. In this course Jake guid...

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Always wondered how realistic, simplistic and beautiful jake's robots looked. I tried copying but didn't make sense or get anywhere. In this course Jake guides you to the elements of building a machinery which is really cool and opens up a wole new world of machinery and robots that one can create by modifying those elements and make the robots look real. Glad i took the course

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4 star rating

Great fundamentals

Jeremy Wilson

Jake really hits home on one of the points that makes this course so educational. Most tutorials online will not describe what thought goes into the creation...

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Jake really hits home on one of the points that makes this course so educational. Most tutorials online will not describe what thought goes into the creation of your robot or mechanical design, rather they focus more on detail and finishing tips once you've already come up with what your robot will be. Jake's course gives an overview on real life mechanical design and the functionality of robot types. He then shows how to implement this understanding in several demos.

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