While it is a general rule that form follows function you can stretch those rules quite a bit, especially in the case of magic or higher technology like transforming robots.

I think what PP is trying to show you is that you can be a lot more fluid in your design. You can push both colour and form without compromising your original idea.

I know...i just don't like the unrealistic transformation.

Take a close look at any transformers movie and you'll see all sorts of panelling and gears pop outta nowhere, you just don't normally notice it because the of the speed and fluidity of the animation. All we see is how f-ing sweet it looks. Never mind that bumblee bee somehow added like 5x to his mass when he transformed into his robot form.

That is exactly what I don't like.

It's like....how did Prime's arms, the Matrix and all of his inner mechanics fit into that cab?

I love sci-fi and mechas but the shit has got to be realistic on some level.

To complete your analogy, you asked about your life and then focused on your car.  I pointed out that you had more than the car to worry about and gave you pointers one what to do about the entire set of problems.

haha
yeah I know. its all good.


okay.... I shortened the legs by 6 pixels and added two sets of joints




EDIT:
Actaully I used gundam wing mechas as a reference for my robot.
if you wouldn't mind, take a look at my portfolio at this site....

http://manufacturedart.blogspot.com/p/2d-cgi.html

....and rate my overall production values.
I am interested to know what you think.

Ideally you wouldn't begin with such a large composition and you would focus on the fundamentals that are required to accomplish your goal rather than trying to get it to look right first and then backwards working your way towards securing those fundamentals.

God, that makes so much more sense than what I did with this robot.

I started out this way.  Took a lot of work and rework to learn that I should discard some of my ideas about how to go about creating a piece and adopt new ones even if they seemed really difficult.  Most of the things one tries in the beginning are actually bad for your art and the process of making it. 

Yeah I learned that in writing fictional literature and coding.
but I have yet to correct my bad processes in art.

Aside from doing each piece one at a time, what other methodologies and philosophies do you employ when beginning a piece?

Right on!

Okay.

Give me a few minutes to read all f this and absorb it.

I am going to have more Q's about it.

I feel kind of lost when it comes to joints.

Wow. Thanx for the advice.

It's nice to find advice from someone who has a decent portfolio on the web.

When you are learning it is often best to work on smaller pieces.  The larger a piece is the more work an edit will take to complete....
In the case of your piece here it would likely be best to focus on a portion of it  (top half/head/torso/maybe all three at once) for a while until you make some solid progress on the basics.

That is exactly what I did.

I made the arms first, then the torso, and then the legs. I admit, I should have done the torso first. But, I felt compelled to follow a vision I had  in my mind of the arms at that moment.

Some portions of your machine are rounded with shading while others are very flat in appearance because there is no shading at all.

With the legs, I haven't done any light at all. And I know that. It is intentional.
I am going to change their design.

You don't have a clearly defined light source.

And as far as light and shading goes...none of the lighting and shading that has been done is going stay as they are. I did the shading on the torso as is, for the sake of measure. It's easier for me to assess depth with a gradient than with a single flat color.

Actually, I do all my shading and lighting last. I find that when I do lighting and shading on each part separately the lighting and shading comes out off balanced.

I do things in a assembly line fashion.
I design each part. Then I shade it one piece at a time, as a group and not as individual pieces with no reference to how the others are deigned or colored.

If you read back to my earlier post I discussed how I will be doing the lighting/shading with a metallic finish after the fact. Stick around. You'll see what I am talking about when it is finished.

Thanx again, for the advice. It's nice to know that everyone has a different approach to art.