Since our last issue of Steampunk Art Update we saw some truly mind-boggling examples of this sub-genre, with more creative "steam" and inventive "spunk" than can be found anywhere in modern art scene: many of these examples we featured now and then in our Biscotti issues... but now's the time to spotlight two artists that particularly stand out, and mention other upcoming talent.
"Requiem for Industry", art by Almacan: Kazuhiko Nakamura - see more of his "Mechanical Mirage" works
Let's start with art by Sam Van Olffen (see his site) from Montpellier (South of France) - he describes himself as a Graphic Sampler. His preferred graphic composition is the result of various pictorial elements removed from their original context, which are then combined with one another to create something.... different. Sam's influences include literature, palmiped and... cathedrals.
Sam Van Olffen photographs real-life objects, and combines them to create a new, darker, fantasy reality, as a DJ might create a new sound:
Our favorite is the "Post-Nuclear (Bio-Tox) Romance" series: a date in a cafe... and a gas mask wedding:
Very evocative architectural visions:
During the Hampton's Antique Galleries steampunk exhibition last summer Sam Van Olffen works provided a gorgeous backdrop to the lighting designs of another outstanding artist - Art Donovan.
Steampunk tripod light, and the "Shiva Mandala" (Illuminated Astrolabe) - more info
Art Donovan makes lamps that light up the space not just with electricity, but with singular brilliance of their design:
Victorian Concept Mayhem, and Other Mechanized Atrocities, by Keith Thompson
We featured some sizzling concept art by Keith Thompson before, but his imagination keeps pumping out more and more bizarre vehicles, robots, various un-dead and other un-savory monsters (check his site for more)... some are quite dark, so viewer discretion advised.
"Originally a byproduct of alchemical study, the Mollusc Tree is now harvested for both medicinal and culinary applications"... On the right, are the "Halfling Executors of Megalys" (cover art for the Arcane Codex Megalys book by Nackter Stahl Publishing).
A scrivener automaton - "The Scribe" - working in a rather wealthy merchant's library:
World War Two design sensibilities play a major part in Keith's military vehicle concepts:
Iron Grip: the "War Zeppelin" and ST-38 tank
"Jonah's Fortress", click to enlarge
The "Romulus" is a wicked-looking robot concept, with or without its armor -
Pre-order "Leviathan" (a rather grandiose illustrated steampunk book) by Scott Westerfeld, illustrated by Keith Thompson - soon to be published by Simon and Schuster - click here
Steampunk Walking Cities... what more could you possibly want?
Daniel Dociu dreams big. Simply steampunk vehicles and mad scientists are too small in scale, why not paint the mobile cities - sort of glorified "Howl's Moving Castles"? Check out how radical this looks, and you'll agree that sometimes the bigger is truly the better:
Reminds us of the scenes from China Mievelle's "Perdido Street Station"... same crazed apocalyptic mega-city approach. See more of this artist work here.
Finally, this image we've already shown once in our Biscotti issue, but it has the quint-essential steampunk quality: enjoy, and visit Alex Broeckel's awesome gallery:
^^ ... Which makes sense since Daniel Dociu was the lead artist on Guild Wars: Factions -- as well as the other games in the series. (Actually all of the images posted here for him are from Guild Wars: Factions concept art, not just the last one.)
(And not to get pedantic or anything, but some of those those aren't moving cities... Maybe the Leviathans can be called that although they're more like war vessels, but the other images are just normal cityscape in the game. You can even see it's anchored to rock in the seaside picture.)
I was going to mention Guild Wars too, and Daniel is a major reason why it's one of the most beautiful games out there. I have the "Eye of the North" expansion which is just gorgeous. Immense architecture, sprawling winter landscapes, and that on a really old PC with graphics on "medium-low". Crank up the graphics, you can walk your character around the North with your jaw on your lap.
The pic with the Praktica SLR shout be at the technical museum, Dresden, Germany. it is the old factory of Praktika and displays some touchable models like this.
I can't recall the Bertin Aerotrain to be seen in Truffaut's Fahrenheit.
But there's for sure a futuristic suspended train in this movie, the SAFEGE prototype (see http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Orbit/1061/safege/ for instance). Sadly enough, both projects were abandoned, without much consideration, and left to rot in remote hanger (the SAFEGE firm has patented a kind of monorail system, anyway).
The monorail in 451 was an underslung model, see here: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Orbit/1061/safege/safege.html The Aerotrain would have been much more interesting, though it would not have fit into the mundane landscape quite as well as the more utilitarian one actually used.
Wow, I actually saw the meeting of the waters! We traveled up the Rio Negro from Manaus, though, so we didn't get to see most of the cool stuff you did, but it was still awesome... If you ever go back, I would recommend trying to see the "fish festival." I don't remember much about it as I was maybe nine years old at the time, only that people came from miles around to watch performers dance in spectacular fish costumes in a concrete soccer stadium, and it was amazing. to give you an idea of the size of the celebration, the small village it was held in was out of beer for a full week.
A correction: It's ribeirinhos. I think so that typical costumes of Boca de Valeria is about the Parintins costumes not from the indians of Amazonia or it's just for the foreigners
I'm from Manaus, and this is one of the wonders of the city which is one of the city's in Brazil that's going to be the World Cup Soccer Championship. If you don't know it, come and visit!
Ehh... that's good that you're posting your P.P. like that, however.. I don't believe that the ability to change it at any time w/o direct user notification is a good thing (and even though IANAL I believe it may be illegal too...) Otherwise please keep up the good work, I check on DRB daily for your cool articles, especially of CCCP tech!
The proper rendering of the acronym is "Wing In Ground effect".
A high-flying aircraft's wings force the air downward, and the reaction (Newton's Law) holds the plane up.
Close to the ground, the downward-moving air hits the ground and rebounds. The upward-moving air adds a bit of energy back to the system; that is the "ground effect". If the wings are in the ground effect zone, the ekranoplan doesn't need as much power to fly.
The bigger and heavier the ekranoplan, the more air is forced downward and the stronger the ground effect. A big one is therefore safer, because it can go higher. An ekranoplan makes its entire flight in what is actually takeoff and landing mode for a "normal" airplane, and takeoff and landing are the most dangerous parts of the flight.
I'm not an airplane geek, I'm just a science fiction geek, but if someone would put out a line of these in small plastic models, I'd definitely be hooked and start building and collecting them!
Some of those look straight out of Mobile Suit Gundam---not at all surprising when you consider that many designs in Japanese anime are inspired by Russian rocket and aeronautical designs. Thanks for a great pair of articles on one of my favorite planes! (boats?)
Here the information and a photo Ekranoplans: http://images.yandex.ru/yandsearch?p=0&ed=1&text=%D0%AD%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BD&stype=image
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Last picture is from guild wars expansion :)
^^ ... Which makes sense since Daniel Dociu was the lead artist on Guild Wars: Factions -- as well as the other games in the series. (Actually all of the images posted here for him are from Guild Wars: Factions concept art, not just the last one.)
(And not to get pedantic or anything, but some of those those aren't moving cities... Maybe the Leviathans can be called that although they're more like war vessels, but the other images are just normal cityscape in the game. You can even see it's anchored to rock in the seaside picture.)
I was going to mention Guild Wars too, and Daniel is a major reason why it's one of the most beautiful games out there. I have the "Eye of the North" expansion which is just gorgeous. Immense architecture, sprawling winter landscapes, and that on a really old PC with graphics on "medium-low". Crank up the graphics, you can walk your character around the North with your jaw on your lap.
Okay, so I'm not crazy...I thought those Daniel Dociu pics looked like artwork from Guild Wars: Factions.
i would suggest yoshitaka amano's art for final fantasy 6. very steampunky.
check it out.
Fantastic artwork.
We ran an interview with Keith Thompson about his artwork last month. You can check it out at http://www.dieselpunks.org/forum/topics/interview-keith-thompson. He really is crazy talented.
~Tome
Great interview, thank you Tome
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