This piece spawned from a simple idea--

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I want to make a big robot.

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It's a common desire that every artist has undoubtedly thought at some point. I looked to 20th century cameras as reference, and combined a camera with elements of mining equipment to create this technological beast.

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The mech is a guardian of the environment, and it uses magic crystals as its power source. Therefore, its large drill is used for harvesting the crystals, and its four legs with opposable digits are used to navigate the rough mountainous terrain.

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The guardian defends the valley which it calls home, and the crystals that reside there. In my scene, the mech is old and defunct, with its limbs partially sunk into the ground and plants growing on top of it. 

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The final piece is a game-ready scene in Unreal Engine 4, with procedural terrain generated using both Gaea and Unreal's tools. Foliage was created in SpeedTree and scattered in Unreal. The turntable for the Guardian was rendered in Marmoset Toolbag.

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The Mechanized Guardian's design was largely inspired by that of the guardians from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.