Steampunk Motorcycle in 3D!

I've gotten well down the road on the 3D model of the Gyrostator, the illegal invention that Vyctor creates. In Travaille, invention is carefully metered and controlled to keep the structured society stable and in compliance with the Praetor's grand plan.
Vyctor is rogue inventing at night in secret locations and the Gyrostator is as illegal as it comes. He takes to riding it through the darkened city in the middle of the night and it plays a very interesting role later in the story.
The Gyrostator has a locomotive drive and it weighs nearly a thousand pounds. That makes it very rough on the ankles and legs when it's not moving and Vyctor has to hold it upright.
It also makes it one heckuva battering ram.
There are no lights as the windscreen lenses are powered with an energy that acts a lot like night vision goggles.
The rear drive isn't complete yet as it will receive eccentric drive elements to run the valves and such. Still, I felt it was far enough along to start sharing.
Hope you enjoy. Cheers, Kevin

PS - just posted the completed design. Be sure to visit that post HERE!

Steampunk Motorcycle (Gyrostator)

Steampunk Motorcycle semi-front view

Steampunk Motorcycle front view

Steampunk Motorcycle Frahnknshtyne

Steampunk Motorcycle top view

Steampunk Motorcycle Gyrostator

Steampunk circuit judge and librarian

A key character in the city our hero lives in is the crooked circuit judge who helps entrap indebted souls into being convicted to suffer the fate of the Leathermen.  His eyes glow because his reward is that the super rich kick back Aether to him to feed his habit and to insure they keep a steady flow of conscripted Aether coming in.  I based him on one of my favorite 60's actors Robert Morley (always loved his patrician raptor beak of a nose).  Mister Scribb, the court reporter/librarian, misses nothing that is said in the courtroom because of his amplification device and he records even the whispers heard in the back of the room.  This proves important in the story.  The sound collection horns turn towards sounds in the room like a dog's ears so he's a fun and animated looking character to watch.  He's not a gossip but is a stuttery and fussy man of obsessive detail and duty.

Steampunk judge and librarian

Steampunk Medusa

As promised, here's the latest character sketch in the story development.  She's one of the bad guys/girls in this world.  Her name is Maydusa and she's over 200 years old (excuse the different spelling on the image title as it makes it easier for folks to search the picture).  She's kept herself in this child form by using the exotic Aether rig on her head to sap the Aether (life force) of man or beast she can manage to lure on to her estate.  She needs a lot of life force to remain a child and you see her in the image not fully regenerated.  The way the rig works leaves the poor victim literally petrified as you can see on the broken cat in the image.

Steampunk Medusa feeding

A a few in-progress shots:

Line work for Maydusa and cat

Testing ideas for light and color

completing grey scale painting

Steampunk Darth Vader

Well, here's a non-sequitor for the blog.  I got asked what would Darth Vader look like in my steampunk illustration style and thought that might be a fun one day project.  It has nothing to do with the Frankenstein work but I found it fun to do none the less.  I wanted to show the tortured man trapped in the technology and wanted to reflect his rank in the detail of the helmet.  Luke is reflected in one lens.  Now back to Frankenstein.

Steampunk Darth Vader

Here's a few of the in-progress shots showing starting with the line sketch, blocking in two tone blacks and greys and then adding the shine and detail.  The color and toning layers are the final pass above.

Rough sketch

Adding two tones of grey

Refining greyscale, detail and shine

Steampunk portrait of an Aether Kill

The painting of Lacette the Aether Assassin and owner of the Aether Rifle from an earlier post, is finally done.  It's an homage to those shots taken in Africa when a big game animal is taken down.  I've added some of the in-progress shots under the final for anyone who wants to see the process I go through building up a painting.

Lacette: Portrait of an Aether Kill

And a few close ups for the detail:

And here's the in-progress shots.  These don't include the layout roughs but focus on the act of making the painting.

Steampunk Aether Rifle adding detail

The rifle is coming along.  For me and for what I'm doing with Frahnknshtyne, the visuals need to have a kind of grounded reality while delivering high fantasy and a sense of hand craft.  I'm working to steer clear of anime influenced shapes and instead am dipping deep into pre and post industrial world culture.  The background is temporary and the vignette of the ammunition isn't yet in place.  I'm toying with putting the owner of the gun, a beautiful but scarred brilliant woman turned assassin, in ghosted into the background using the rifle.