This piece is one of them I am working on right now, I am in process of more than one, something I am trying not to do. In my Steampunk game, there are item cards you can find, some are useful in-game, others are simply treasure. This one, could go either way frankly, but will probably have a limited use. The drawing is not quite done, but I am uncertain what direction I want to go to finish it. I remember seeing my friend’s grandmother wear a wrist piece for sewing that had several things on it. I have seen other ideas like that, some actually were used and some are expansions for the Steampunk theme. Which is this? I am not sure, but it also has a bit of armor to it being a hard leather gauntlet.
Gauntlet Sewing Kit
There are a couple of details I need to correct or smooth on the piece, but the foundation is there and it is mostly complete. I drew quite a bit of it sitting outside for lunch – pleasant but bad lighting for computer use.
I am finally posting this drawing. Frankly, I’m not entirely pleased with it and have had a terrible time figuring out what is actually causing the aspects I do not like in these drawings. I am not sure if it is the medium, the brushes, me, or what. I am pleased with my progress and the development in the depth of an image and use of layering but still find lighting an issue. Oddly, I am usually good with shadows, it is the highlights that get me. Certain materials and textures are a challenge for me. Metals, Skin, and stones are especially challenging to build up color by color without metallic colors. I need to understand a few things in Photoshop better. Overall, good progress and development, just not what I was initially intending. Makes a difference when you know someone well I think.
This is one of my favorites so far, but partially because I just love sari
Today’s Picture was drawn from an image at DressRepublic.com
The pattern is a little different, but recognizable. I love Sari, I was going to make my wedding dress out of the material but went with leather instead. Some of my roommates in Hawaii had beautiful Sari and we would get dressed up in them and I would go to temple with them sometimes for dinner and to watch the dancing. I loved it, they are gorgeous, comfortable, flattering, and incredible materials. I have collected some images from the correct period Sari and want to include them in my Steampunk game. Besides, they are great practice in how material moves and hangs with the types of materials used and the draping.
Working with my Wacom today I found myself doing a whole new style of art. For one thing, I have to learn portraits and people if I am going to do the art for the game. As such, I did several stages of a test male in a Victorian suit and cravat. I have an art style in mind that is somewhere between a slightly cartoonized old photograph and an old sketch. It requires either being able to draw all the right tones in sepia or drawing it all in color and making it sepia, so far I prefer the result of the second. I am beginning to remember more of the material recreation drawing I learned in college taking design. In the Interior design portion of my program we had a couple of classes that required exact recreations of a variety of design and construction materials using colored pencils. The Wacom is a perfect medium for a quicker version of this method. It is a good skill for this project although it can be very time consuming and I am out of practice. I am uncertain what my final art style will be, as I work, I find I like the images in color for the people. I may combine art styles and use different ones in different parts of the game if they blend together. I have been drawing in Photoshop. I tried GIMP but it doesn’t work right with my Wacom and I am not yet clear how to fix the problem. These are drawn only except for the one I made a sepia version of.
This is my original drawing, done in Sketch-Up.This is an art rendition done in GIMP and Photoshop.
I designed this unit off a modular shelf unit I saw some time ago. I used gears instead of tubes and designed 3 possible shelf sizes to fit however is needed into the gears. Each gear can be added or removed separably for reconfiguration of the unit. The units are 1 foot in depth and internal diameter but could be any size, even mixed sizes, because they are gears, they can be fitted more solidly than tubes. You could do the gears out of metal and the shelves in wood or reverse.
Redraw and coloring done in GIMP and Photoshop combined.
Many of my furniture designs are done taking a piece of material or a piece of furniture I have or see and modifying it to fit my idea or a theme. This one is just a small wood spice shelf, seen in the center of the piece. It could be done with that piece or be redone in metal in the same color or tone. I have been redesigning pieces we have to fit the Steampunk Alice theme. I have not really been able to work on making them yet, but will have all the designs when I do. Not sure why the sides look so Klingon but they kinda do. The lines and the idea of the lines came from a gate or castle in Alice I think, not that it was like this at all, just where I went with it. Somewhat of the mirror mirror tone looking at it now isn’t there? Lots of influences and things blended. Maybe not strictly Steampunk but the materials and lines fit so it goes.
Today’s pieces are all developing ideas. They are complete pieces in themselves but based on drawings by others. Probably the storage shelves are the least recognizable from original. However, I chose these because they each inspired drawing or images in my mind I want to develop more before working on. The shelves use the Chinese influence that was growing in Victorian times because of the newly acquired Hong Kong. I also want to do some using the other influences that were entering the design and furniture heavily at the time and nearby. I quite enjoyed studying those influences in design classes. These influences appeal for several reasons: one, the styles tend to be dramatic and interesting, and they go well with steampunk. Two, the travel and incorporation of things from other cultures and places really fits my approach to life and Steampunk. Three, the influence of a newly emerging global society and the impact on life, science, design, economy, and more fascinates me and is a very helpful study when trying to understand people, culture, economy, and more. Four, they are interesting cultures and designs in and of themselves, and the aspects from their history that have similarities to Steampunk are work finding. without further ado…
The brass and wood with sinuous details fit the Steampunk feel and it is a Victorian base. I added those and the somewhat Chinese Lacquer feel.This is just a developing idea based on an image from the Doctor Who Facebook page. I want to do a drawing and Photoshop it completely from scratch. I did not do the base image.Yes, its fairly simple and has only subtle links to the topics at the moment, but it is an idea I want to do from scratch both on computer/pencil and an actual table or model.
Sometimes it’s nice to make art just for art’s sake. In this case, I used the images of several of the jewelry pieces I have made recently and turned them into art through Photoshop and GIMP. I also know that when I have my shop set up I can recreate any material or treatment I like in my editing.
Writing, art, Business, and practice, any medium is fair game.
Art's Folly 