Steampunked

Another day, another exciting discovery.

I was thinking about drawing the mechanical workings inside my sea monster and decided to have a go on the old Google machine. While scrolling through an image search I stumbled across an exciting website: http://steampunkworkshop.com/

Steampunk is a movement which is inspired by a collection of conflicting themes - Science Fiction, alchemy, Victorian ideals and a steam powered world of the future.

An effective embodiment of these elements would be the Japanese film Steamboy by Katsuhiro Otomo. In this film, characters exist in an 'alternative' Victorian age, with industrial and technological differences to the historical fact.

Researching this style has introduced me to an exciting fashion and crafts movement, which may offer an effective reference point for my own work.

A festival celebrating Steampunk will unfortunately be occurring after my final submission, but I'm not sure I can pass up the opportunity to dress in an appropriate costume...

http://steampunk.synthasite.com/

Today I started some drawings inspired by this research, and set about designing the laser cut workings inside my monster. I took photographs every few minutes as I drew, and finally combined them together to make a little Quicktime movie of my progress.

Some interesting Steampunk links:

http://steampunkworkshop.com/node?page=2

http://thesteampunkhome.blogspot.com/

http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/steampunk/

http://www.gailcarriger.com/steampunk.php