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"QUANTUM SHOT" #575
Link - by A. Abrams

      "Eye Has Not Seen, Nor Ear Has Heard..."

      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.
      
Here is an epic image "Le Cirque Rouillé" (Circus of Rust) - click to enlarge: (images courtesy: Sam Van Olffen) 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: "Siddhartha Pod" lamp - more details 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 - Click to enlarge, also check out very neat spaceship concept Finally, a gorgeous, baroque-styled "Dajjal" robot: (images credit: Keith Thompson) 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: "Steam Octopus" (click to enlarge): (art by Alex Broeckel) READ THE FIRST PART HERE! -> Also see our whole "Steampunk" category! ->



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YOUR COMMENTS::

10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Last picture is from guild wars expansion :)

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Blogger Tometheus said...

^^ ... 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.)

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Blogger brian t said...

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.

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

Okay, so I'm not crazy...I thought those Daniel Dociu pics looked like artwork from Guild Wars: Factions.

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Blogger Unknown said...

i would suggest yoshitaka amano's art for final fantasy 6. very steampunky.

check it out.

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Blogger dabounca said...

Fantastic artwork.

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Blogger Tome Wilson said...

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

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Blogger Avi Abrams said...

Great interview, thank you Tome

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Blogger Neal Asher said...

Excellent stuff, with hints of Blur's 'Gentleman's Duel'. Quite a bit of Fossian stuff too.

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Blogger Avi Abrams said...

Welcome to the home of goggle-eyed and coffeine-fed, Neal. Glad to hear from you, the master.

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