Eleven themes of steampunk illustrations

The aesthetics of "steampunk" mainly come from the dress style of the 19th century Victorian era and the steam-powered machinery developed during the industrial revolution. Known for its typical nostalgic attire and gear-laden accessories. But the popularity of the "steampunk" movement is also due to another aspect: illustration art.

In the context of steampunk, artists have conducted a large number of depictions and created different works

These works are distinguished by elements and can be roughly divided into 11 themes

The main charm of steampunk comes from the clothing, appearance and behavior of various unique characters

Such as spaceship captains, mercenaries carrying rocket packs, flying pirates, etc. are very common in steampunk Characters

In this type of illustrations, artists often spend a lot of pen and ink, using bright colors and a large number of scenes to highlight the characteristics of the characters

Steampunk emphasizes the breakthrough of imagination Traditional innovation

Therefore, the manufacturing of robots is also a creative thread that cannot be ignored

Artists use neat elements such as clockwork, gears, and transmission devices to make robots look unique and fragile. Extraordinarily interesting

The robot giants are more interesting than the robots mentioned above

Because they are bulkier and more destructive, they are the beings that can bring the entire storyline to a climax

And usually they become tools of the rebels

So artists always enjoy describing the wanton destruction of these big guys

Spaceships, airships They are one of the basic themes of steampunk

They carry the dream of the entire future technology and embody the most interesting aspect of steampunk culture

Occupy an important position in steampunk illustrations

Any fantasy subculture will derive related drawing techniques

Interesting steampunk stories are also indispensable for the existence of intricate design drawings

They may go through The rendering and coloring are very exquisite, or it may be an extremely random sketch

In the virtual time and space of steampunk

Abstract art can best show its unique beauty

In this time and space, mechanical power is omnipotent, and you can even see weird and interesting pictures of machines and animals merging into one.

Creative inventors and witty and willful gentlemen , is one of the most popular character types in steampunk

The costumes of old-style characters that combine solemnity and carnival collision can better highlight the interesting duality of the characters

Victorian-era cities It is an existence that combines classical beauty and industrial beauty

Injecting steampunk elements adds a touch of surreal extreme color

The bland urban landscape is infected by machinery and technology. Incredibly ethereal

Since "Star Wars" premiered in 1997, it has permeated almost every subculture

Steampunk is no exception

Many artists are obsessed with designing costumes for the characters in Star Wars, and even create large quantities of Star Wars themes

Therefore, Star Wars has also become an important presence in steampunk illustrations

In the world of steampunk, vehicles are also very interesting elements

They usually have these three story characteristics: they are groundbreaking inventions in the story; they often break down, but they are It can be repaired anytime and anywhere; it can always run again at the critical moment

Steampunk adds many elements to the war plot in the story, such as spaceships, napalm bombs, rocket packs, tanks, robots, etc. They can all be used to fight the enemy

This also adds visual conflict to the illustrations, making the battle more stimulating to the militant factor in the human body. What foreign illustration styles are both familiar and unfamiliar to you? What do you know?

2020 ended so hastily. 2021 started before I had time to make a perfect ending (woo woo woo). Many flags were set in 2020. How many have you completed? Friends who have finished can continue to work hard to achieve great results. If you have not finished, don’t be discouraged. Keep working hard. You must make this day meaningful. Start making a study plan from now on and force yourself to get rid of your procrastination. Procrastination is really scary, because over time, you will get used to it and stay in your comfort zone, unable to extricate yourself, and eventually you will pay the price for your procrastination.

In January 2021, have you started to make changes? It is said that 2020 will be very difficult. Due to the epidemic, whether you are a business or a worker, the most important thing is to be alive. Will the ""difficulty"" pass in 2021? No , you still have to be always prepared! I have recently seen some foreign illustration works and I feel very inspired and inspiring, so I would like to share them with you!

I believe that most of my design friends are aware of some domestic illustration design style trends. I won’t go into details here. Today I will mainly share some foreign illustration works that I personally feel are more personalized. To understand the work itself, you must also understand the author of the work and the stylized shaping of the author’s work. Let’s take a look at a few pictures. Are you familiar with this? I believe that my design friends have seen similar works. Many domestic design partners will copy a style and add some of their own design expression techniques and their own illustration inspiration.

(In fact, they all have the style of Moebius. Some illustrations are more cyberpunk, some have a graffiti flavor, and some have a national trend flavor. In short, Moebius’s style is really far-reaching. ! Mix all kinds of meat and vegetables together, whichever one is more flavorful is your style)

This illustration design style is exactly the Mobius style that everyone is familiar with but unfamiliar to. I also saw the design by chance before. The picture my friend sent seemed a bit familiar yet unfamiliar at the time. Later I found out that this style was exactly that of the French comic master Moebius. Moebius influenced many art masters at the time, such as the well-known Japanese artist. Mr. Hayao Miyazaki has multiple identities including animator, producer, and cartoonist. If you are a fan of Hayao Miyazaki, you must know how strict he is to himself and others at work, and he pays great attention to details. It can be said that To the point of being harsh and paranoid, it is precisely because of his seriousness that he has achieved his current achievements. Hayao Miyazaki once said: "In 1980, I came into contact with Moebius's "Azak", which brought me a kind of It was a huge shock, and all cartoonists were deeply shocked by this work. It's a pity that I had already formed my own fixed style at that time, so I couldn't use its influence on me to enrich my paintings. At that time and to this day, I still think that Moebius's illustrations have a strong sense of space, and I was influenced by him when I was directing "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind." "

"I was surprised by Moebius's perspective on the world. His paintings use the simplest lines to depict characters, contain various elements, and present a sense of space that is both lonely and proud. I think this is the greatest charm of Moebius" - Hayao Miyazaki

The picture above is "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind", and the picture below is "Azak"

Also. Two other Japanese comics and animation giants commented this way

If many well-known cartoonists can give such high evaluations, it is the following one...

Mobis At the age of 16, he entered the School of Applied Arts in Paris, France, and was deeply influenced by comics such as "The Adventures of Tintin". By the age of 18, he was already drawing cartoons for the magazine FarWest. The pen name M_bius was born in 1963, and Giraud used this name to create his works in the science fiction and fantasy style.

"We All End Up Alone", a game under development, also uses this style. This game tells the story of fighting cancer and fighting nightmares. This style of painting has even lines, no cross-hatching or shading, as well as simple figures and detailed backgrounds. A game "Aquamarine" that started crowdfunding in 2018 was also influenced by Moebius. Below is a comparison of the screen of "The World of Edena" and the screen of this game:

On the left is Moebius "The World of Edena" by Si, with "Aquamarine" on the right

As he grows older, Moebius is committed to improving his artistic style, reducing the number of lines, simplifying the volume, and always looking for a purer way to represent the world. I personally feel that it is similar to the style of cyberpunk. The biggest difference is that the color contrast of cyberpunk style is more vivid and has a strong visual impact.

There is another style that impressed me very deeply, and its application in contemporary design is very novel. It is the "Memphis style" that was born in the post-modern network and graphic art. It is a group of designers formed in 1981 headed by Italian designer Ettore Sottsass, known as the "Memphis Group". They opposed monotonous and cold modernism, advocated decoration, emphasized products made by handicraft methods, and actively sought inspiration from pop art, oriental art, and traditional African and Latin American art. Memphis designs strive to express various personalized cultural connotations, ranging from innocent and funny to grotesque and bizarre. In terms of color, he often deliberately breaks the rules of color matching, and likes to use some bright, interesting, and high-saturation colors, especially gaudy colors such as pink and pink-green. The core figure of "Memphis" is Sottsass. He believes that design is to design a way of life. Therefore, design has no certainty, only possibilities, no eternity, only moments.

The "Memphis" trend has been blowing up in the design circle. Driven by a group of young designers, they have extracted its classic elements and created many works with a "Memphis" style, with a wide range of , spanning multiple fields such as graphics, architecture, fashion, and products.

There is no doubt that Memphis’s nonsensical yet highly expressive attributes are in line with the values ????of today’s young people, and it also redefines those inherent traditional design thinking. .

The Memphis series designed by LeeBroom for the British porcelain brand Wedgewood

Artist Camille Walala is also a representative of Memphis style. She is good at applying digital design to various products and store design and other cross-cutting projects. Go to international projects.

A very strong Memphis style can be felt in Camille Walala’s works. Most of her designs use interesting contrasting colors of pink, blue and green lights, and are composed of dots, lines, surfaces and geometric shapes. elements are interspersed.

CamilleWalala’s space for the London Design Festival

Three classic characteristics of Memphis design style:

01. Bright colors, high saturation, and bold colors, This style that values ??visual experience over rationality often uses bright, interesting, and highly chromatic tones, especially colors such as pink and pink-green, to break the rules of color matching and highlight its unique attitude.

02. Use abstract vector elements such as flat lines and geometric figures

03. The contrast between the background and the main content

Some cases used in homes break the Conventional, Memphis style adds a different visual experience to life

Summary:

1. Break the horizontal and vertical lines in the composition and use wavy curves, curved surfaces and straight lines, flat combination.

2. Use contrasting colors in color matching, and choose bright and bright colors, especially pink, pink, green and other high-brightness and high-saturation colors.

3. Make interesting decorative designs from small geometric shapes such as points, lines, and surfaces.

Today I shared two foreign illustration styles. Do you have tuition fees? "Haha" It doesn't matter if you don't have tuition fees. Remember to like and save this article. Go on and read more and practice more. If you also have good ideas Or if you have read good works and remember the author’s name, please leave a message in my comments. Let’s learn from each other! Who drew the ending of Cyberpunk Edgewalker?

Today, Netflix officially announced “Cyberpunk” The complete MV for the ending song of the spin-off animation "Cyberpunk 2077" "Cyberpunk: Edgewalker". The ED is sung by Polish singer Dawid Podsiad_o. The MV supervisor is Ilya Kuvshinov, an illustrator who was responsible for the character design of "Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045". Let’s take a look.

"Cyberpunk: Edgewalker" is a derivative animation of "Cyberpunk 2077" launched by CDPR and Trigger. It tells the story of a street kid in a future city who wants to take advantage of the popularity of technology and body modification. A story of survival.

After losing everything, in order to survive, he chose to be an EDGERUNNER - a kind of outlaw mercenary called cyberpunk.