BYN: Teaser!

Just a little something-something for BRING YOUR NEMESIS. Lots and lots of sexy BYN news and updates coming very soon...

we are BACK!

Damn it's been absolutely ages since we last posted anything! Summer was completely hectic and it doesn't look like things are going to calm down anytime soon!

Today was the Muslim celebration Eid so here is a little design we did to send out to all our friends in the Middle East.

New Work: The Artist, The Dreamer

Thursday Afternoon Post...

As another week almost comes to an end, I thought I'd share some sketches I have been working on for BRING YOUR NEMESIS.

Also wanted to let you know that ROBOT VC3 has been delayed again, due to another shitty manufacturer taking a down payment then going bust. Idiots. But one good thing that has come of this is that now the robots are being produced by Erick Scarecrow Toys who are totally insanely talented and definitely arent going to do a runner with the money like the other guys.

sculpt v2

Howdy all,

We are very, very close to making an official announcement regarding BRING YOUR NEMESIS, but for now, enjoy these follow up shots to last months work-in-progress sculpts. The lines are cleaner, the proportions are closer to the original sketches and the face has some early detailing. Plenty of refining to do yet, but we are happy at the way things are going.

For those still puzzled by the ceramic maiden with the big lips and even bigger bazookas, come back this week to find out more about BYN, super-tens and Irezumi Girls....

TOP SECRET SNEAKY PEAK

Whoa? What's this? Some super exclusive work-in-progress shots of female form sculpting in the robotandspark lair, that's what!

But what are they for, I hear you ask? Fear not, young jedi, all will be revealed in time. They are for the BRING YOUR NEMESIS project, but apart from that I can't tell you anymore. Secret squirrels hard at work!

We are currently working on the BRING YOUR NEMESIS website -  when that is online, everything will be a lot clearer....

Coming 2010....

BRING YOUR NEMESIS, the follow-up to MY NAME IS ROBOT.

Coming February 2010.

More info soon!

Strange things happen when you smell THIS good...

Don’t you just hate it when your computer fucks up? I was going through some files the other day when the computer just froze. Maybe it was because I had too many applications open, or maybe it was because I was listening to Shabba Ranks “Mr Loverman”…. But whatever it was, macbook pro certainly wasn’t impressed. Turns out the hard drive was frazzled and files were corrupted. I lost all my shit from this year because I hadn’t backed it up yet. Not impressed.

But that’s it for the bad news though and I’m pleased to say we have been very busy last few weeks working on some cool projects. Here are a few things we did for a pitch with Media City based agency Expression. We had to revamp the packaging for Imperial Leathers range of body sprays and come up with an accompanying campaign. We decided to go with the line “STRANGE THINGS HAPPEN WHEN YOU SMELL THIS GOOD” and give some funny examples using hand drawn characters.

More DUCTCHILD stuff

Another cover option for the new SOLO vs DUCTCHILD mixtape. The client wanted something a little darker and more urban than the first concept so we went back to the drawing board and experimented with some spray paints, wall graphics and some stickers... presented a few options and the client was very pleased. This option was our favourite although SOLO felt it was still a little "cute"..... personally, I think the little samurai sword wielding russian bear kicks ass!

ROBOT VC3 3D Turnarounds

Okay so I promised I'd get these online a few days ago but I have been soooo busy (eye infections, breaking big toes and getting into fights with the cat are all very time consuming, dont-you-know?!)

But finally here we go.... at last, the final colourways of robotandspark's very first vinyl toy -  ROBOT VC3... and all in glorious 3D thanks to those sexy swines at Rolling Thunder.

Introducing BUBBLEGUMM (blue / pink) VESPULA (yellow / black) and VIPER (black / neon), the toy is currently being manufactured in China by a factory full of chain-smoking, robot-loving chimpanzees. Dropping later this Summer, the final toys (limited edition of 1000) will be about 7 inches high and come with moving arms so that you can line up all three and get them to simulate a robotic mexican wave or a mechanical macarena.

Haven't got a price sorted yet but have been speaking to a few of the big distributors in the US and Europe so will let you know as soon as something is finalized.

Hope you like - if anyone has any wholesale / distribution enquiries hit me up at rob@robotandspark.com

The First Week of Spring

This was a piece I did for Simone at discoballbreaker for her monthly selection of tunage that gets played in the shelter at al quoz... i think it goes on brochures and stuff. Anyway the theme was Spring / new beginnings etc so I wanted to create some funky little icons that I thought represented this. There's a panda that is growing from an acorn, a flower-power-hippy-looking girl, a mechanical twittering sparrow and an Elton John inspired love-heart.

All very cute and colourful, set on an experimental backdrop (it's the first time that I have really had a play round with photoshop layers for a piece) Anyway it was one of the most fun jobs I have had on in a while and definitely gave me some ideas for the new character set I am working on!

Back on track, bitches!

Yes! Finally got the domain hosting sorted, and although we lost all the data from the old site, it's just a relief to know that it's back in our hands!

Another piece of good news is that we got the 3D renderings of the robot back from the Rolling Thunder guys and they look fantastic! As soon as we get the website up and running again we'll be posting the renderings and trying to get the images on as many toy blogs as possible.

I'm now sitting on the couch feeling very Hannibal-from-the-A-team-esque..... "I love it when a plan comes together..."

SOLO vs DUCTCHILD

DJ Solo vs. Ductchild early concept artwork for CD cover.... 

Robotandspark at ART DUBAI

Robotandspark will be joined by Danesh Mohiuddin at the START stand at ART DUBAI this week. We will be producing a wall mural with some of the children from START on blackboard in chalks from Wednesday onwards so be sure to come by and check it out - it should be alot of fun.

For more info go to the ART DUBAI website...

New character

We decided a little while back that it was time for a change in direction - well stylistically anyway. Tired of the cute and cuddly vector characters, we wanted to create a new set of heroes that were edgier, hand-drawn and more story driven.

So here are the first glimpses of some development sketches I worked on yesterday.... it's still very early days - she doesn't even have a name yet but she has been bouncing around in my head for a few months and now that the robot exhibition is done it gives me a little more time to work on her. She is a little Tank Girl-ish, but cuter with huge exaggerated features (big head, hands and feet). There are going to be comparisons to the Tomb Raider franchise but I can assure you Lara Croft is a f*cking pussy compared to this chick.

So much western character art is influenced by Japanese manga and anime (and rightly so, that shit is the benchmark) and our older stuff definitely was based on cool cartoons and comics we had seen growing up. The designers republic early stuff is a perfect example of east influencing the west and doing a wicked job adding a little British spin on top. But after a few years trying to emulate these guys it's time to shake off the shackles and try to push the creative boundaries out further.... and hopefully this new character is the first of many that will do that. There still are the references to classic anime (the girl's proportions are similar to capcom / udon's puzzle fighter characters) but we are trying to put a massive UK element into the new stuff.

From the very beginning we have changed the way we have approached this project, with a lot more time being spent on developing the characters background and story before even the first sketches were laid down. We are hoping that this gives the new stuff more longevity and hopefully opens up the opportunity for animations or licensing the characters.

So for now, enjoy the little sketch... there is sooooo much more to come.

AHLAN TOP 100

Yessssss!!! We made it!!! Check us out all hot and important in this years top 100 trendsetters in the Middle East!!

Ok, so we didn't actually officially make it per se, but that definitely is a shiny robotandspark robot in the picture there with traffic gallery's Rami Farook.

Not really sure why the little fella is getting his photo taken alongside Rami for the AHLAN HOT 100 but we really like the picture and the exposure so it's all good!

So.... what now?

The exhibition is done and dusted and to be honest it has left quite a void. After spending such a long time planning and putting the show together, with it all finished it feels a little strange not having anything to do! We took a few days off to recover but now it's time to put on the thinking caps and get to work on robotandspark 2009!!

First things first though is to get the new website up and running. With all the confusion and technical difficulties surrounding the hosting transfers we hope to have something online within 10 days before unleashing the new and improved robotandspark website by the end of the month.

To celebrate the success of the MY NAME IS ROBOT show, we are planning a limited edition coffee-table book to celebrate the exhibition, the robots, the artists and photographers. Still looking at the logistics of getting that done but hopefully we can get some funding from some of the third parties that were involved in the project.

After being let-down by the manufacturers in the US / CHINA we have had to source an alternative supplier for the robot toy. So unfortunately there has been a delay in production of the toy, but we are hoping that the new guys can turn the project round by the Summer! We certainly are feeling more comfortable dealing with these new chaps as opposed to the cowboys from drastic plastic....

We are also going to be pushing mr logo big time in 2009. As the economic downturn truly bites the Middle East, we feel there is no better time for a cost effective branding and design service to make it's mark. We already have 3 exciting projects lined up for March.

And finally, a lot of  people have been asking about the follow-up to MY NAME IS ROBOT, and whether there will be another custom toy show. All we are going to say for now is yes, probably at the end of 2009, but it will be even bigger, crazier and more international than our first effort.... 

Computer Simulation

James Clar. Genius. That's all that can be said. No other words are needed. Did you see his creation at MY NAME IS ROBOT? Yes, of course you did. But in case you want another look, go here....

mr logo

By now you might have gathered that here at robotandspark we are quite fond of robots, chickens, sneakers, talking penguins, doodles and murals. Art and design is a passion for us and until we can successfully make a living from what we love we still have to do the more corporate stuff to pay the bills.

So now we would like to introduce you to mr logo, the branding arm of robotandspark. In times of economic uncertainty, we'd like to think that we are doing our bit by offering this service which gives our clients access to branding agency expertise but for a fraction of branding agency prices.

So that's good news for you, your budget and the marketing manager, but real bad news for all those idiot agencies who charge for 30,000 AED for a logo...

Some of the coolest photos ever...

A small selection of photography from the MY NAME IS ROBOT exhibition. Absolutely delicious stuff.... thanks to all the guys and gals that took part. If anyone is interested in having one of these 70cm x 50cm masterpieces on their wall, then give Rob a call on +971505535509.

Pics by Ashok Verma, Candy Kennedy, Dave Kennedy, Tariq Dajani, Pat Weedon, Graham Tooby, Martin Beck and Katarina Premfors.

Enjoy.

AAAARRRGGGGGHHH! No website...

OK, so this is probably the worst timing ever after having an exhibition and handing out hundreds of business cards but the web hosting guys have shut down their offices. Not cool. We have transferred the domain to a new host, but it will take a few days to get all the technical stuff sorted. Please be patient, and apologies in advance for any emails that get bounced back.

If anybody needs to get in contact urgently, please hit me up on robertjamesgibbs@gmail.com

Wow. Now I feel tired...

I know it has been 3 months since I have blogged here but that's because I have been busy with the exhibition, ok? In case you missed it, check out the MY NAME IS ROBOT to catch up. All I'm gonna say is the show was incredible. So many people turned up, the response was excellent and the the contributing artwork was amazing. Seriously, I don't think it could have gone any better.

That being said, I am definitely going to need a few days to relax because the last few months have been ridiculously hectic! I had some family and friends over to Dubai for the exhibition so I am going to spend some time chilling by the pool and maybe topping up my tan! But before I do that I need to get some more info up on here! Here are a few shots from the exhibition. Thanks again to everybody who came down to thejamjar to show their support!

Doodlebug

It's always a strange feeling when you run out of room in your sketchbook - especially when said sketchbook had been such a valiant accomplice. This particular one was A3, 110gsm white cartridge paper with 50 sheets, spiral bound and a nice glossy cover to boot. I almost didn't want to chuck this badboy away as we had shared so many great memories. But in the garbage he had to go, and what better way to honour his life than by immortalising him on the internet?! I took a few snaps of some miscellaneous doodles scattered throughout the sketchbook and collaged them together. My favourite is probably the one with batman speaking some foreign language...

Robot Angel of Death

Here is a work-in-progress shot of the robot that I am working on for the exhibition. I wanted a darker more sinister personality for this interpretation so I came up with the character "The Robot Angel of Death" complete with Nike Air boots, angel wings and devil horns. There is still a bit more work to do before the sculpt is finished - notably some tidying up around the back of the wings and some tweaking to the trainers. Once this is done I will make a mold of the new design and get the whole thing re-cast to ensure that the piece is nice and strong but also so that as one single piece of resin the paint job will look even across the whole model. In terms of paint job I was thinking matte black all over with maybe some silver detailing on the face.... although as with everything it's always a case of MIUAYGA (make it up as you go along!)

Super Cool Vid: Jean Claude de Castelbajac Spring / Summer 3001

Full List of Artists

Ahhh street turtles, welcome back!

As promised, here is the final list of participating artists for the February exhibition. Lots of diversity, lots of disciplines and way more talent than you can shake a big hairy stick at!

Robotandspark, Chor Boogie, Lisa Guevarra, Rollan Rodriguez (AKA DOGBOY, The Brown Monkeys), Lewis De Mesa, Eduardo Yap, Joseph Domer, Buffi Jashanmal, Renata Giovonnoni, Diya Ajit (AKA CHROMA), Hani Reza (AKA SEVEN O.B.), Vivek Premachandran (AKA UBIK), The Tribe, Leo Burnett, Tonic, Malek Ghorayeb, Kris Richardson (AKA RICH K), Zaid Alwan, Tony French, Khulood Khoory, Nina Jaitha, Cynthia Wong, Roula Ghalayini, Bianca Bernstein, Nawal Khoory, American University Dubai (AUD), Stuart Harris, Darwin Guevarra, Carine Bouery, Leanne Church, Yalda Jafari and Caroline Ghantous! Phew.....

THE NAME OF THE ROBOTANDSPARK EXHIBITION IS... (DRUM ROLL PLEASE!)

It took quite a while to decide on something that we liked; it had to be cool and catchy, something original while staying true to its urban origin but without ever coming across as arty pretentious. The branding had to be very clean and simple, one colour for versatility and block-like so it could be used as a stamp on various collateral later down the line.

Over the next few months, we will be releasing little teasers of information regarding the robotandspark exhibition next Feb. A lot of work is being done behind the scenes to get everything as perfect as can possibly be. The final list of artists is complete and all have taken delivery of their robots! There are some seriously fucking cool dudes involved now....

Full list of artists will be confirmed right here later his week.

Albus Cavas

So there I was, walking through Al Quoz, minding my own business, just checking out the local scenery when what did I come across? Oh, just Albus Cavas, Chroma and UBIK doing a totally cool live mural at The Jam Jar - possibly Dubai's first ever real piece of urban street art?! Pose and Chor Boogie from Albus Cavas are over from the states checking out Dubai and trying to spread the love in the short time they are here. The guys will be doing a workshop at AUD, a 15 second art break on MTV Arabia as well as making an appearance at next years robotandspark exhibition. 

EXHIBITION DATE

Due to some complications at The Jam Jar the exhibition has been put back one month. Opening night is now Thursday 19th February 2009..... I suppose it just gives us more time to make it even sexier!

WOBLEK

Hello y'all!

Back from a massively sweeeeeeet vacation in Greece and we are feeling more focused than ever. So while we have been putting a lot of time and effort into organizing the forthcoming Robotandspark exhibition in January, we have also spent some time looking at some new characters.... and here is a sneak preview of a new addition to the Robotandspark line-up..... his name is Woblek! All we are gonna tell you for now is that the style of Woblek (and all our other new characters) is a lot darker, aggressive and intense. Don't let the cute sherbet orange logo mislead you - this little fella is gonna be one tough motherf*cker.

We kinda felt that the style of illustration of previous Robotandspark stuff needed a revamp so from now on it's back to the drawing board for a more expressive and hand drawn feel (think Jamie Hewlett meets CAPCOM) and that the exhibition in January would be a good time to close the chapter on the old shit and introduce the new Robotandspark. There is going to be so much good stuff coming out over the next 12 months, new work, new website, new characters, a new toy...... we can't wait!

The robots have arrived

Now the date has been set for the exhibition, it's time to start getting this show on the road! First port of call is getting the robots finished for customization. And here they are, fresh of the delivery truck! I just hope Vince doesn't mind me storing the boxes in the Tonic offices!!!

Robotandspark at The Jam Jar

Hello blog dolphins! "Where have you been?" I hear you scream... well the answer is working. Working like crazy on setting up the coolest art show in Dubai. And now, finally, we can exclusively reveal that we have secured a venue for early next year! Robotandspark will be dropping at The Jam Jar in Al Quoz on Monday 19th January for three nights! We looked long and hard for a space that was appropriate for what we wanted to do and there was only one place we wanted to exhibit at.... we're just thankful that Rachel and Hetal from Jam Jar were so accommodating. So now the dates have been set it gives us plenty of time to put together the most exciting exhibition Dubai has ever seen. Stay tuned for more information, but for now just enjoy a few shots from inside the gallery. Look at all that delicious white space!!!!

my Color my Idea

Found this cool website from Pantone where you can create a profile and customize your own individual color from the pantone references.....

www.mycolormyidea.com

Robot the toy takes internet by storm!

Ok, well not exactly by storm but it's definitely getting some decent exposure. The lil fella appeared on vinyl pulse on Thursday night and has popped up on a few blogs over the weekend. People seem to be feeling Robot so fingers crossed the love keeps spreading!!!

Robot Prototype Finished

Just got these pics from Martin AKA Tweekhed last night - the robot prototype is finished, primed and looking goddamn sexy as! Look at those curves, look at those smooth surfaces just waiting to be painted on!!! Robot is looking delicious, and that's OFFICIAL!!!

Just a quickie...

Martin has just finished tweaking the robot prototype - enhancing some of the lines on the visor and making the feet rounder and chunkier. Check out the pics below, I think it's looking sweeeeeeeeet now! Just waiting for it to be primed, then it can get sent for resin casting!!! Woop woop!

But what the hell is robotandspark?

Not what, but who?

Robot is a robot, and spark is a penguin. They are best friends. They love ice cream, japanese cartoons, thunder and lightning and corona with lime. They are also quite partial to Bill Murray and some of his earlier work (Robot thinks Groundhog Day was the pinnacle of comedy in the 1990's). These crazy little fellas share a flat in London and spend most of the day watching TV or hanging around with celebrities. Some of their best friends include reggae superstar Shaggy, moustachio marvel Tom Selleck, tabloid queen Lindsay Lohan and superstar chef Jamie Oliver.

If you want to be a BFF (best friend forever!!) of robotandspark just look them up on facebook and add them as a friend... just no poking. Robot really hates it when you poke him.

The Brown Monkeys

Anybody who is anybody who knows anything about art, culture or coolness in the Middle East knows about the Brown Monkeys. These guys are a collective in Dubai that are at the cutting edge of anything cool, whether it is film, illustration, photography, fashion, music, advertising or branding. Robotandspark loves the Brown Monkeys, and vice versa. Check the upcoming cliche magazine exhibition in June for some sexy BM work. In the future there will be some sweet robotandspark / brown monkeys collaborations.... but until then, you're just gonna have to get your BM kicks from brownmonkeys.com!!! Seriously check this shit out, these are some seriously cool kids.

Big up Dogboy, monsterfunker, pretty monkey, suavecito, dozign, art life flip and ujiedesign and all the other badboys at the Brown Monkeys... robotandspark salutes you!

Robot: The Toy!!

We have been working very hard at breaking into the vinyl toy market.... it's something we have always loved and something we have always wanted to be part of. After deciding that Robot should be our first foray into toys, the first step was to take the 2D vector drawing into a 3D shape. Once this was completed we then needed to find somebody who could take these sketches and turn them into a sculpted prototype. So thank goodness we bumped into Martin, AKA Tweekhed, (a UK based designer / illustrator / sculptor who is totally kick-ass). Martin has been working on the prototype for the last few months now but it looks like it is almost ready to be primed and resin cast for production. We are still a good few months away from getting a finished version from the factory in China but it's cool to finally have something to show for all the hard work and efforts everyone has put in.

The robot toy (still no official name yet - all suggestions welcome!) is going to be an integral part of what robotandspark does in 2008 and early next year. Unfortunately we can't go into too much detail just yet, but as soon as we have some concrete information in place we will let you know. All we can say is this is going to be huge, not just in the vinyl toy world but on the Middle Eastern art scene as a whole. We are so excited about this......

cockfight!

Just a little something I've been working on recently..... an online game for fighting chickens. Think streetfighter / mortal kombat / pokemon / something with crazy chickens in!!!

There's robot chickens, superhero chickens, slam dunkin' afro-stylee ghetto chickens..... basically all the stereotypes are in there (maybe apart from the stiff upper-lipped, tea-drinking, monocle-wearing, colonial Victorian British chicken!!!)

More info if the game ever makes it onto the worldwide web, for now here's a selection of characters.

the graphic art of robotandspark

Hellllllllloooooooo world! At last we can start to post some cool stuff on the blog...!! We've been busy beavers for the last few months but finally it's time to reveal the fruits of our labour! And first up is our corporate brochure: the graphic art of robotandspark! It's a collection of our favourite artwork, photographed in some of our favourite places (but mostly London). It's limited edition (304 hand numbered copies) and we plan on sending it out to like minded artists, companies, collectives in the region just as soon as the website is up and running which should hopefully be in the next week or two. It has taken a long time to finally get this finished but it was always going to be difficult finding something we were completely happy as an introduction to the fabulous world of robotandspark!

Anyway here is a few cheeky little glimpses as to what's in the book. And who knows? You might be lucky enough to have one of these delivered to you in the next few weeks!!

Blog Cherry

So here it is... the very first robotandspark blog! Robotandspark has gone worldwide! Hurrah! Well, sort of... now I know having a blog isn't the most impressive thing nowadays but I guess it's better than nothing at all. And I know I've been promising to get the website up and running for ages now but unfortunately the guy who was supposed to be putting it together is a fat, useless, lazy, custard-loving toe rag. He obviously spends more time eating cake than building websites! So for now this blog will be the website.... but to be honest I quite liked the interactivity of having this on my web. Plus I can update this shit as much as I want!

But for now, welcome to robotandspark - the website / blog - and stay tuned because I'm going to be posting some real cool stuff on here very soon. I have to go now though as Dogboy is pestering me for some window graphics....