#The Railway Series

[retroillustrates]

Gordon and Edward in a nutshell.

[charseraph]

My trainsona, an RC body of my sapient AI persona, Charsoft.

A high-speed electric multiple unit (EMU) with a LiDAR and camera array. The cartoon eyes are not Charsoft’s, they are a separate BOAtic intelligence inhabiting the machine itself.

[lesorg]

I thought you were stronger

[theflyingkipper]

A redo of my Edwards Exploit drawing from ages ago, now in traditional mixed media!

I felt like I didn't capture the mood I wanted last time when I looked it over again (to the horror of everyone who got to see this early. Thank you for gassing up the old one, and keeping me motivated through the making of this)

this version is much more directly studied off the Peter and Gunvor Edwards' illustration, because I've grown into the opinion that the model adaptation of exploit was really weak (technical limitations!!! what a shame) and i want to get back into studying these illustrations, there's a lot to pick apart in them.

Here's a bunch of perspective lines i drew over it when I was sketching. (I don't normally do that when I redraw, but that's usually because I'm drawing from model era screencaps and I can rely on those being proportional, most of the time) Edwards face breaks perspective here just a bit to add more drama to the scene, everything else is proportional.

some in-progress pictures, during which I absolutely HATED how it looked and wanted to switch to digital because I feared I'd messed it up irreconcilably 😭 good thing I was able to look at it with fresh eyes after staring at it for like four hours, the first session of drawing ended at 1am. Believe me, if you hate how your drawing is turning out, put it down and come back to it later!!

Edward is also more referenced off a real K2 here because I really like how they look. Unfortunately they have painful geometry.

something frustrating about my traditional drawings is how they can't be viewed from multiple angles online. I use silver gel pen to highlight some parts (here it's Edward's handrails and the damage) but it doesn't show up well when I photograph it head on. I hope this picture shows a little bit of how it shows up in real life!

(if you can't see, look at the bottom of Edward's boiler bands)

Hopefully you enjoyed reading under the cut :] I like explaining my process and I appreciate it immensely when someone shares my enthusiasm for it.

[maxwellscorner]

"I wonder why Edward was chosen instead of me"

[great-green-hunslet]

There are two types of diesels-

[seaswine]

"We've no money to mend you... to the back of the shed you'll go"

[edwards-exploit]

Faces! Faces!!

[ladychandraofthemoone]

Saw this meme going on about and had to join in, it fits them so well

Bonus: some alternative rws Duncan pic icon concepts & the og:

[pompcoco]

Rough comp + thumbnail of Edward’s Exploit for a illustration project for school! (Assignment is creating a movie poster for any media and making it in Illustrator)

[steam-beasts]

POV; You recieve a book in the mail of the first ever RWS book. Once you set it on your table, these three start crawling out.

Meet Eddie, Gordie and Hen-Hen.

[retroillustrates]

I think I realized where my love for steam engines originates. Here are my fav Railway Bois as humans.

[charseraph]

[lesorg]

how black were they??

[13o7billionyearsinthemaking]

Tidmouth Runaway

It's The Railway Series 79th Anniversary

Probably the most biblically accurate version of them, even having their correct wheel arrangements

[maxwellscorner]

ℭ𝔥𝔦𝔠𝔬 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔇𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔣 𝔈𝔫𝔤𝔦𝔫𝔢

Finally made a piece showing my High Fantasy version of a locomotive, the drawf mine hard worker and old faithful Chico 🖤

I wanted to give him a mixture of the first designs of trains in a raw metal look with bronze detailing to create something almost functional with a whimsical touch, as if he just came from a DnD creature handbook

He's completely automonomous and only depends on his dwarf co-workers to refil his tender, he works in coal mines and isn't used to the outside world, has seen very few other engines during his life and has a lovely grumpy personality. He has taught the other mine engines how to work and is always keeping an eye on everything, even helping the younger humanoid workers as much as he can