Automaton Atkins

[ffutures]

This is Automaton Atkins, the automaton soldier described in previous entries. The left hand is a grenade launcher, other is a human-style hand. Not sure about the look of the head, I'm thinking of changing it to look like a painting rather than a photograph. Comments gratefully received.

Comments

[pauldrye.livejournal.com]

When you say "automaton", is he entirely mechanical or a clockwork cyborg? I'm asking because -- to me -- the picture still looks very much like a man. In particular, his putting all his weight on his right leg and bringing the left slightly forward is a posture that humans use to give their leg muscles a chance to relax. Not what I'd picture an entirely mechanical construct being built to do.

I had assumed he was a man with a set of mechanical hands and so on, until you said in your last comment that he's eight feet tall.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

That's a good point aboout the posture - maybe I need to make the legs symmetrical, since he's a steam automaton with a Babbage engine brain. Unfortunately I've been through a couple of dozen Victorian magazines and can't find anything that's really appropriate, and my attempt at modelling it with a CAD package looked way too modern, so I'm having to work with a picture of a real soldier.