Mechanical Heads
Inspirational Artist: Rube Goldberg
Waverly-Shell Rock Sr. High
Art Explorations
RUBE GOLDBERG
RUBE GOLDBERG
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Rube Goldberg (1883-1970) was a Pulitzer
Prize winning cartoonist, sculptor, and author.
Reuben “Rube” Goldberg was born in San
Francisco, on the 4th of July 1883. After
graduating University of California Berkeley,
with a degree in engineering, Rube went on to
work as an engineer for the City of San
Francisco Water and Sewers Department.
RUBE GOLDBERG
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Rube, an avid cartoonist, decided after six months,
engineering was not his calling. He shifted gears and
instead became an office boy in the sports
department of a San Francisco newspaper.
In this capacity, he began to submit drawings and
cartoons to the editor, until he was finally published.
Success was immediate, and Rube soon moved from
San Francisco to New York where he began working
on drawing daily cartoons. This led to syndication,
and the rest is history.
RUBE GOLDBERG
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Rube was a beloved national figure as well as an
often-quoted radio and television personality during
his sixty-year professional career.
Best known for his INVENTIONS, Rube’s early
years as an engineer informed his most acclaimed
works.
A Rube Goldberg contraption – an elaborate set of
arms, wheels, gears, handles, cups, and rods, put in
motion by balls, canary cages, pails, boots, bathtubs,
paddles, and live animals – takes a simple task and
makes it extraordinarily complicated.
RUBE GOLDBERG
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The promise and pitfalls of modern technology make
Rube Goldberg’s inventions even more relevant now
than when they were originally created.
From think-tanks in Silicon Valley, the New York
Times, and Sunday morning’s Meet the Press, hardly
a day goes by without the name Rube Goldberg
being invoked. In fact, Rube Goldberg is an
adjective in Webster’s Dictionary.
RUBE GOLDBERG
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A documentary film of the Rube Goldberg Machine
Contest is set for release in 2009. A coffee table
book of Rube’s work is being published by Abrams
in 2010 – along with a calendar and children’s popup book.
At a time when the U.S. is looking to inspire young
minds, Rube Goldberg’s legacy represents the best in
American innovation, humor and unconventional
thinking; an inspiring model for us all.
RUBE GOLDBERG
Simplified Pencil Sharpener
RUBE GOLDBERG
Dodging Bill Collectors
RUBE GOLDBERG
Picture snapping machine
RUBE GOLDBERG
Peeling Potatoes.
RUBE GOLDBERG - Review
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The legendary cartoonist, graduate engineer, and
Pulitzer-Prize winner Rube Goldberg, became
famous for his humorous drawings of incredibly
complex machines performing very simple tasks.
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In the words of Rube Goldberg, his machines were
“a symbol of man’s capacity for exerting maximum
effort to achieve minimal results.”
Examples
RUBE GOLDBERG
W-SR Student Examples
Student Examples
Student Examples
Student Examples
Things to incorporate into drawing.
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The 5 senses (see, hear, smell, taste, feel)
Various “mechanical” activities (chewing,
breathing, swallowing, hearing, seeing, etc)
Brain functions (cognitive functions)
Things you Remember (“memory bank?”)
Survival functions
Interests and hobbies that are in your head.
What type of things fill your thoughts?
Things to incorporate into drawing.
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Power source?
How do you see?
How do you hear?
How do you chew/swallow/taste/talk?
Ventilation – nose & mouth – lungs?
How does you brain communicate with the rest of
your body?
Try to think of creative ways to solve these issues!
** CONSIDER MAKING A WEB FOR THIS!!
Parts of Your Brain and What They Do!
Process
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Start with thumbnail sketches on newsprint
I will draw your profile (12”x18”) using the
overhead and white paper.
Continue to develop ideas and decide how
they link together inside your head.
Transfer your sketching onto the profile paper.
Reinforce drawing with details, shading, etc.
Video-Honda Motor Company
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AllPhysics.wmv
This to shall pass