Art Mecha

Here's a couple good tips.

First of all, what role do mecha serve? What sort of world is it?

It it a wild, almost-super hero-ish world? Then you can get away with all the transforming, 'Getter Robo' style robots you want. Wings, horns, eyes, mouths, throw whatever you want on. These don't need to be too realistic. They could be 100 metres tall and still ignore the pressure they are putting on the ground.

But if its a more realistic setting, let the reason the mech is there influence its design. Whats the terrain the mech will be working in? Swamp, jungle, desert, space, arctic, temperate? How will it move in this environment? Be sure to consider balancing the weight of the mecha evenly. Is it a scout vehicle, or did mecha over-ride the tank as the heavy weapons platform of choice? How is it piloted? Joysticks? Mind control? Controlled by moving your body the way you want the mech to move? Something else? Are they even manned? Is there anything about the enemy that would influence the mecha design?

As for drawing, here are a couple sites that might be handy.

http://www.polykarbon.com/tutorials/mecha/mecha1.htm
http://members.tripod.com/~NuGraphite/tutorial.html


Also, feel free to experiment with different chassis styles. A couple basic rules of thumb.
-Ostrich style legs will provide a faster run (but ess stability)
-multi-legged, 'spider' mecha may be slower but are much, MUCH more stable than bipedal mecha.

Also, make sure there is a good reason why mecha are still used in a far-future sci-fi tale, because its no fun if a spaceship can just blast them while its in orbit. Maybe very good ECM (electronic counter measures) make it too hard to get a good shot in from a distance on the ground, let alone space (which would explain why so many mecha fights are in close despite stated weapon ranges of several kilometres). Or maybe its a covert operation to knock out a satellite relay dish so that ship CAN get in and blast away enemy mecha without risk? (in such an operation, odds are Power Armor, not full sized mecha, would be used).

Anyway hope this was some help.