Design Concept and Visual Language

I’m a big fan of Evangelion, and I find its EVA unit designs particularly inspiring. Although they are essentially biological armor, the design cleverly combines the elegance of the human form with the bold, heavy aesthetics of industrial machinery. I see this as a compelling starting point for my own exploration.

I also took notice of one of the early design approaches used by hard surface designer Vitaly Bulgarov, which features a very distinctive visual style. His design methodology is clear and systematic — building up details step by step to reveal rich mechanical layering. Studying this style will be very beneficial for improving my own modeling practice.

A key direction

This design (as shown below) reflects one of VB’s signature approaches — a clear, mechanical-like logic that builds from the inside out: starting with the internal structure, then the muscle layer, and finally the outer shell. It balances smooth, streamlined shapes with rich layers of detail, much like real-world mechanical design.

In my final major project, I want to create a story about a robot reclaiming its memories. Therefore, in this project, I aim to practice more hard surface modeling and focus on robot design.

After doing some initial research, I began by exploring a few different styles of robots — such as the three distinct designs from Love, Death & Robots, or the more organic, bio-inspired approach seen in Evangelion.

At the same time, the structural composition of the robot is also an important consideration — whether to go with a seamless, streamlined outer shell or a more layered and mechanically exposed design. These are aspects that require further research and experimentation.