Saturday, 14 December 2013

Know How!


I've been commissioned to draw some odd things in my time and one of the strangest was this robot for Know How! magazine in 2002. 

 Know How! was a lighthearted educational / activity magazine for young children which was published by Egmont UK. To appeal to modern kids the tone was cheekier and more irreverent than educational mags of the past and was more like Horrible Histories than Look and Learn. So when the editor wanted a cutaway illustration of how the body works she sent me a rough and asked for the figure to be drawn as a glass robot and for the 'gross' factors to be included. And yes - that meant they wanted the robot to have a willy - but as he was a robot it should be in the form of a water tap. 

 This illustration spanned a two page spread in Know How! No.5. This is my art before the text was added. The mag was always great to work for as you'd never know what you'd be asked to draw next!
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7 comments:

  1. Manic Man14 December 2013 at 17:18

    interesting way to do it.. not the first time I've seen that kinda idea but very good idea and well done.. but I bet a female version for the girls would have been 'unthinkable' for them... sigh.. no matter what people say, there is still a huge amount of sexism when it comes to things like that.. Dolls can have penises. but not vagina.. sorry, but end of the day, I have no view on if they should or shouldn't have them, but only one gender is sexism..

    sorry for the ranting ^_^;

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    1. Lew Stringer14 December 2013 at 18:26

      I don't think sexism came into it at all. Showing a tap was just funnier. Not sure what dolls you're referring to but Action Man had nothing 'downstairs' I'm glad to say.

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    2. Manic Man14 December 2013 at 20:48

      most likely and yep, funnier, I was more referring to the wider ranges of stuff and.. well. if you are ever in a toy shop with dolls, not the 'action man' type but the baby dolls like .. well, I don't know any brand names, but a lot of them are now more 'realistic'.. in fact, I believe while not as detailed, even Action Men have a much bigger 'bulge' in the right place..

      times have changed a lot and I've just found out, some 'female' ones are being made, just not really commercial in UK shops yet.. just male ones..

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    3. Lew Stringer15 December 2013 at 00:18

      It's been a long, long time since I was in a toy shop and I've never really checked out the dolls. I'll take your word for it. :-)

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  2. Peter Gray14 December 2013 at 17:47

    Very well drawn and I've seen a naked robot before with a tap for a willy in my kids general knowledge book....so you got it right for robots...a robot naturlists park would be something!!!!;0)

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  3. Tiniebras15 December 2013 at 21:33

    Love this. Its somewhere between the Numskulls and the old Eagle cutaway illustrations. Also, is it just me or have all the little men inherited Stan Devilles nose ? :)

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