Friday, March 15, 2024

Late 2023 to Early 2024 Work

I've tried to keep busy between challenges, because I don't want to be the guy that only works on art challenges. After this year, I may put a pause on them. Before I share my 2024 March of Robots work, I wanted to let you see what I have been working on since the last Inktober.

Let's start with a donated commission. For the second year, I was asked by a friend to donate a drawing for a silent auction. Because I am so busy, I don’t typically have time to do commissions, let alone, pro bono work. However, I’m a fan of what Best Buddies (Texas chapter) is doing and I’m happy to show my support — even if it’s just in the form of ink and paper.

Here’s an original drawing of a couple of Best Buddy ‘bots, leaning on each other for support. 


After taking a small break after #inktober2023 I decided to take a stab at the @drawmearobot November 2023 DTIYS challenge! That month the prompt and prize is from @dfunkt.robot and the challenge is to transform a pair of sneakers into a SneakerBot! 

After seeing lots of entries, with bots inspired by the latest and most popular sneakers, I decided to go old school. This bot is a tribute to a true classic—the Converse Chuck Taylor All Star High Top—the original basketball court shoe of choice.


I really enjoy the fun prompts of @drawmearobot DTIYS challenges. I decided to participate in their final challenge for 2023. 

That month, participants were asked to create a robot of their favorite food. Since pizza was already taken, tacos and french fries were my other options. Fries won. 

I don’t think fries from the place with the golden arches are that good, but they are iconic. This bot is spending a good amount of time waiting on the ketchup to eventually season its fries. Anticipation (queue the 70s jingle). 



This is NOT an official entry for January 2024’s @drawmearobot DTIYS challenge.

Unfortunately, the prompt—a single line drawing—is a little outside of my wheelhouse. 

Instead, I decided to do a ‘bot making a self-portrait in the single line style. As you might notice, this is highly inspired by one of my favorite narrative artists, Norman Rockwell and his painting “Triple Self-Portrait”.


As we transitioned from 2023 to 2024, this ‘bot is busy pondering what the new year will bring. Hopefully, things will be much better because 2023 was a bad year for me.



This next ‘bot was told to keep its room clean and put away its toys.

I’m just playing around with some random ideas, in order to finish this sketchbook out. Since I do #inktober and #marchofrobots on single sheets, it takes a bit more time to get through these. I’ve got a few more pages before I retire this one.



One of the things that I wanted to do this year is play around with unexpected physics—shift the center mass of my bots to, maybe, defy weight and gravity. Here is a test.


I really enjoy the fun prompts of @drawmearobot DTIYS challenges. I decided to participate in their challenge for February 2024. 

That month, participants were asked to draw themselves as either a Hero or a Villain (or both! BUT on one slide please). I decided to make myself into a hero bot. Of course, I had a lot of difficulty doing this, since I don’t really see myself as a hero.

I went a bit off center with this one. Since my last name is weZENsky, and I see myself as a pretty mellow and calm person, perhaps my super power could be the ability to bring ZEN into any conflict. Using a bit of inspiration from classic super hero comics (and perhaps a bit from the 60’s Batman TV series - Wham! Pow! Zap! Bang!), I thought it would be fun to show this Super Hero Zen Bot, bringing that calm into the fight at hand, drawing it to a peaceful end. 






February 14 is also Americano Day (for me). I made this sketch for my wife to celebrate the day.

“What is Americano Day?”-you ask. Allow me to explain. 

Back in 1995, my really cute barista made me my first #americano on Valentine’s Day. Within a few weeks, we were dating. Within a few months, we were living together. Not long after that, I told her to marry me - and the next year, she did. Every year since, I enjoy an Americano on this day. 

Happy #AmericanoDay to my wonderful wife and the love of my life, Wendy.