Keyboard Builders' Digest /
Ergo Mech Fan Art
Philip Lalonde writes about fan art: mashing up the graphic design and keyboard hobbies to create new ways to stare at beautiful keyboards.
Published December 9, 2023
Introduction
Hello, my name is Philip Lalonde aka u/JadePug aka DougClutch. I’m a software developer and IT Analyst based out of Ontario, Canada. I’ve been a hobbyist graphic designer for over a decade, and more recently a software developer. I like to sprinkle nice designs on whatever hobby I’m interested in, from longboarding to linkedin; I like to leave things a little more beautiful than when I got there. I’m excited to share some behind the scenes of my journey into creating my keyboard art! It all starts with this desk pad.
After nearly 2 years of use, my trusty desk pad is worn out, so I set out to design a new one for myself. I started with drawing an MX switch and after posting on the Keebio discord, someone shared a CAD file of a switch, which quickly turned into a rabbit hole for me. A few hours after this conversation, I came back with the beginnings of my Ergo Mech Island series!
Ergo Mech Islands
The idea stuck when I realized many keyboard makers provide top and bottom plate files which I can download and use as a base for my designs. And this was the beginning of my keyboard art project! I started by drawing the outline and base of the island. And slowly built up dozens of hand drawn assets to build this world with.
I am excited to share a closer look at some of these small details which I think create a fun and immersive experience in these drawings.
Some Choc farmers based on the bottom plate graphic from Keebio’s Choconum – Kailh Choc Numpad. I played around with adding personality to each one with hats and tools etc. One thing I struggled with on this project was balance. I worked on each element keeping in mind the scale, line width, color and perspective to help everything look like it belonged in the same world.
These are the meadow details, flowers, mushrooms, grass, and ‘texture’ elements I placed many of these as finishing touches to help add flow and balance to the islands.
These animals were the hardest part, and also the most fun to draw. Getting the perspective right on the fence, water trough and hay bales was especially tough!
Before beginning the island, I started experimenting with the veggies. I knew I wanted it to look like a farming game and so I drew a couple test farming plots to make sure I would be able to get the look I was hoping for.
This ‘customs house’ is from the Kyria island. Each half of the world has its own shack. I loved adding the hand lettering here, I tried out several fonts before doing it myself. The ‘exact’ nature of fonts just didn't fit with the vibe.
I left the trees and bushes intentionally rough looking. I still second guess this decision, but the idea is for them to seem organic and be less ‘interesting’ than the other parts of the world.
The Ergo Mech Island series is on pause for now while I work on other projects, however, this is not the bottom of the mechanical keyboard art rabbit hole! One of my favorite parts of this project was all the really nice keyboard folks I met. autoferrit suggested the Vulpes Major from fingerpunch to me which led to a pretty epic collaboration.
Ergo Mech Fantasy Map
Perhaps you have seen the Lord of the Rings themed Vulpes Majora build by PyntieHet on reddit:
This post launched the next big installation in the series, the Ergo Mech fantasy map! Absolutely chock-full of ergo mech lore and details, this was another really fun project! I based the detail in this heavily on Middle earth and took a lot of inspiration from JP Coovert who has a lot of beautiful map tutorials on youtube!
This style came with its own complexity. With only lines and one color, there is nowhere to hide mistakes! In the end I still took a ‘painterly’ approach to this and embraced the hand drawn nature that adds so much charm to the original maps of middle earth. I’ll share some of my favorite details below:
The Durocks just off the coast.
Of course the person who inspired the drawing needed a witch's hut!
And you can’t forget the Kailh Box Navy.
If you look closely you’ll also find a shout out to autoferrit who brought this whole project about.
I had a lot of fun with this one obviously. And that’s ultimately what this project has been about. Moving forward, I’m on the lookout for inspiration to strike again. And I’ve even started building out more interesting keyboards including this custom painted Ergo Mech Island concept build I’ve got in the works (A custom painted Fingerpunch Luakeeb)
All of these designs are available for free on GitHub! I also have some of them up on Society6 and Redbubble, but I encourage you to print and use them on your own as well! I have some common resolutions of each design, but if you have a specific use case, please reach out and I am happy to try and accommodate!
The Ergo Mech Island series includes 3 boards:
The Fantasy Map is available in the Vulpes Majora repo above in 3 colorways.
| Philip Lalonde (31) |
|---|---|
| Handle | JadePug, DougClutch |
| Location | Ontario, Canada |
| Description | split keyboard enjoyer |
| Occupation | software developer, graphic design hobbyist |
| Joined (the hobby) | 2021 |
| Niche | keyboard art, vanilla/basic splits |
| Fav. switch | Outemu Panda |
| Fav. keycap profile | MDA |
| Other hobbies | guitar, being a dad |
| Links | jadepug.com, society6, redbubble |
Published on Sat 9th Dec 2023. Featured in KBD #2023.
Related
Mint chocolate artisan keyboard
I'm used to artisans, but these mint & strawberry chocolate themed Lime40s are the first artisan keyboards I've ever seen (designed by eukalin_, posted by hiddenbox4).
Mason60 - Art Series
Sneak peek into how the Mason60 keyboard cases and wrist rests are made.
Matra Alice 90
The Matra Alice 90 is a French 8-bit computer first marketed in 1983. Posted by videoface.
Engraved Adelais case
An amazing engraved Adelais case by dinhthai060.
Cast aluminum keyboard case
u/earth_hair made a moon-themed cast aluminum keyboard case for a design and manufacturing class.