Look for inspiration
Well sure not all of us have the gift of being creative, but it's also true that every person has the ability to imagine an be creative in different levels and areas. We want to make a robot, right?, so check out some robot designs and notice what do they have in common, having that established, it will be easier for you to design your original robot character.
Create the canvas
First of all, we need to create our canvas, which is going to be 800 px X 800 px, more than enough for us to place our artwork, the other important values are RGB color mode and 72 dpi, these last to are making reference to the fact that we will be working for screen instead of printed medias.
Time to start our robot
OK, the first thing that we're going to do is the left arm of our robot; using the pen tool, let's trace the following shape (remember that for making straight turns you need to click over the last anchor point and then continue drawing, otherwise, you will be making curved turns).
Try not to use many anchor points because that will reduce the smoothness of our shape.
Now we need to colorize our robot's arm, use a gray tone for the stroke, which must be at 1 pt and basic brush.
As for the filling, we are going to use a radial type gradient, -129 angle and 100 % aspect radio.
This was a practice exercise for us to determine the proper gradient for the filling, it's time to make some extra adjustments to make our robot's arm to look great. Using the knife tool, let's make some divisions similar to those on Futurama Bender's arm, hopefully our robot doesn't get as beer addict as our beloved Bender ha ha.
Take a look at the first cut, all the rest are exactly the same.
Complete all the divisions until you finally get something like this:
With the divisions made, we proceed adjusting each part's properties, let's start from above. The stroke will remain the same across the whole arm, is the fill what we're going to modify, but not on its color properties, just in terms of the gradient position. Hit the G key to see the gradient modifier, all you need to do is switch every part's gradient position so we can work out a nice volume vibe.
Notice that the G key allow us to modify the gradient beyond the standard adjustments, let's see all the remaining part to see where the gradient handler needs to be placed on each occasion.
Zoom out and take a look at the arm, it looks great, isn't it?.
Next thing to do is the shoulder, which is basically an ellipse filled with a gradient and a stroke. Using the ellipse tool, draw the shoulder and give it a 2 pt stroke.
If you hold Shift while making specific shapes, you can make them perfectly symmetrical.
As for the fill, let's use a 5 color gradient (radial type, 0 angle and 101 % aspect radio) and move the gradient center (G) towards the left side of the object.
As for the other colors, here are the screenshots.
Now copy paste the shoulder (Ctrl + C, Ctrl + F) and there are two things to do initially, first, remove the stroke and second, use the knife tool to divide it in two pieces, then clear the left part.
This is because we are going to make a shadow over the shoulder, is on these details where we reach quality on any design. Also move the gradient's center to the left.
It looks nice but I'm not satisfied, let's play with the transparency and switch the blending mode to multiply and the opacity to 50 %.
Next part is the torso, simply use the pen tool to draw it and give it a 2 pt stroke.
Regarding the fill, we used a 5 color gradient (radial type, -29 angle and 100 aspect radio) and moved the gradient's center to the left.
And these are the color values left.
Using the pen tool let's add a little detail that will indicate the area where the robot's head will be placed.
The stroke properties will be 1 pt and basic brush.
Copy paste this line and move it a little bit over the original, then change the stroke color for a dirty green.
After this part, we are moving towards the right arm and for start, we're going to make the hole where the arm goes into, use the ellipse for fulfilling this purpose.
Use a 2 color gradient for the filling (radial type, 0 angle and 100 % aspect radio).
Copy paste twice (Ctrl + C, Ctrl + F) this element, leave the first copy on the exactly same position as the original and as for the second copy, increase its size a little bit and move it towards the right.
Then select both copies and look for the pathfinder window at Windows>pathfinder.
Make sure that you still have the two copies selected, then click on the second button of the first row at the pathfinder menu. Apparently nothing will happen, but it did, we've just cleared the inner ellipse area from the big copy. We can now change its filling for a 2 color gradient (linear type and 0 angle).
With this base ready, we can start making the right shoulder, so grab the ellipse tool.
Assign to this shape a 2 pt stroke, basic brush.
We need a 5 color gradient for the filling, radial type, 0 angle and 98 % aspect radio.
Check below the remaining color values for this gradient.
Coming up are the left hand's finger, simple task for us , using the pen tool, draw the basic shape and place a 1 pt stroke on it.
As for the fill, let's go with a 5 color gradient (radial type, -106 angle and 100 % aspect radio).
And these are the other color values that conform the gradient.
We are done with the first fingers, now let's move on to the division stage, take your knife tool and let's the operation begin.
Now we have our finger cut like this.
Like we did with the arm, let's adjust the color properties of each one of the divisions. The stroke will remain the same all the time, so the adjustments will only occur in terms of the gradient.
Then we make the main body of the hand, for this purpose we use the ellipse tool.
For this object we will use a 1 pt stroke, basic brush.
And how should we fill it?, yes, with a gradient (radial type, 0 angle and 100 % aspect radio) .
These are the same color values tan before, but just in case, lets check them out one more time.
Move to the right so we can start making the right arm, trace it using the pen tool.
And use a 1 pt line for the stroke of the object.
And now the gradient that fills the arm, you know what to do, the fill parameters will be radial type and 199 aspect radio.
And the other color values are the following:
And then comes the division, so grab the knife tool and start cutting.
And it will look like this.
As you know, every division must keep the same properties than before the original was cut, I'm talking about both the stroke and the filling gradient. All we need to do is hit the G key and start adjusting the gradient centers.
And done with this part, so far our robot character must be looking closer to this.
Let's add another finger to the left hand, select the pen tool and start vectorizing.
We are using a 1 pt stroke for this finger.
Filling goes like this, a 5 color gradient (radial type, -116 angle and 100 % aspect radio).
And now take the knife tool and make the cutting, you already know
how to do it 
.
You must leave the finger looking like this.
And as usual, keep both the filling and stroke properties untouched, then hit the G key and start making the proper adjustments.
The two left have the following gradient's center position.
Great, we are doing fine so far, it's to finish this hand by making the last finger.
As usual, we set a 1 pt stroke for the exterior of the figure.
Then comes the gradient filling (radial type, -116 angle and 100 % aspect radio), the colors are exactly the same than the ones used on the other fingers.
After that, you know that it's time for the cutting to start, so hurry up and select your knife tool.
