Frahnknshtyne, the next phase

Hello friends and visitors.  It has been a number of weeks since the last post on this blog and I apologize for the protracted period of time.  The story work on Frahnknshtyne has entered it's second phase.  The exploration and structuring of the ideas in the story are ready to fully write and fully illustrate the narrative. Up to this point I have been sharing the exploration and discovery with you.  I will continue to post some of the art and story insights as I continue from here so bear with me if the posting happens a bit less frequently.

Perhaps the most exciting news is that the first publishing format has been set.  I have become involved with an exciting new company doing work on the frontier of digital publishing but in a way that truly launches the Meta-story in the best possible fashion.  I am thrilled to be directly contributing to the development of this new digital publishing format and to be wrestling with the combination of both linear and non-linear story telling combined in this single new format.  Because I am a Meta-story expert working on emerging new formats, this opportunity for me, is priceless.  My hope is to have this book to market by end of this year/beginning of next year. As I'm sure most of you can appreciate, balancing the work that pays the bills with the writing and illustrating of something new is always a challenge to manage.

 As visitors to my site you will get to see parts of the Frahnknshtyne book before it comes out but...it is also important to me that everyone gets to experience the unexpected and unknown when the book is published.  For that reason, I'm holding back lots of goodies to share with you in the book itself.  (Wink and a wry smile).

Stay tuned and cheers for now, Kevin

PS - here's a sketchy concept for the dragon ship that I rejected because it was too futuristic.  I can't stand to post without including some kind of sketch for eye-candy.

Dragon ship rejected concept sketch

Steampunk Writers and Artists Guild interview

Recently, Lia Keyes, the founder and creator of the Steampunk Writers and Artists Guild, sent me some questions for an interview for her site.  Click the title of this post to go to that interview and to her wonderful and deeply interesting site.  Check out some of the activities and discussions going on there.  Very exciting to see the story-crafters exchanging ideas and knowledge.
Cheers, Kevin

http://steampunkwriters.ning.com/profiles/blogs/interview-kevin-mowrer-on

Steampunk Lord Praetor

The lord Praetor has been the most challenging of the characters to create so far. I have never been a fan of one-dimensional bad guys with simple world domination madness. I believe storytelling becomes truthful when the evil (or better said, Antagonist) in the story has a point of view and a true belief system. There are catalyzing events and moments that make characters heroic or malevolant. The Lord Praetor is just such a layered, brilliant and fanatical soul. He has been alive longer than any human on the planet as the original recipient of the Aether of others. His wealth is a fortune beyond the size of any government's and he believes in the supremecy and stability of the governance that flows from the Royales. In this portrait, the opulance of his accumulated wealth and empire seem indistinguishable from the man himself. Each flows into the other. Though he knows of the many horrible abominations that have sprung up amongst the ultra rich, he believes these are acceptable given the stability that has reigned for hundreds of years under his rule.

Steampunk Lord Praetor

Here's a close up where you can see the glow from the Aether that masks the pupils.  I had a lot of fun with his glasses.  There is a torc that runs around the back of his head under his hair to allow for no nose bridge.

Lord Praetor close up

I'll be posting the "making of" video in a bit so check back.

Steampunk Slums

The vast, compacted slums of Travaille have been expanding as more and more of the population have become paupers.   It is a dark and labyrinthian place where the bones and bowels of industry trespass blindly into the desperately poor makeshift dwellings of those who live here.  As you would expect, down here there is little police presence and for that reason, the Royales, the ultra rich, frequent the brothels and illegal places looking for "entertainment" to break the monotony of their preternaturally long lives.  There are those here who specialize in their terrible pleasures and if they go too far...few notice when a resident disappears.

This image shows one of the hundreds of multi-layered alleys with their connecting walkways and open flame torches burning off the ever present bi-products of industry.  One of the more ancient of the Royales is descending on the right.  A few of the Royales have absorbed so much Aether that they can do humanly impossible things like fly.

There is more work to be done on this image but it's far enough along to post and then update as I go (so check back).

Here is the "making of" video.  I've included some text to talk about how the art informs the narrative process and vice versa.  For me, being an artist and a writer, it is a key part of my process.

Steampunk slums of Travaille

Steampunk slums of travaille making of from kevin mowrer on Vimeo.

Steampunk Dragon Ship

Here is one of the action moments in the Story.  Frankenstein is now in the body of the clockwork man he has created and full of deep despair, he is secretly watching over the woman he loves without her knowing during an airship ride.  They come under attack by a pirate dragon craft and, for the first time, he uses the power of the mechanical being he has become to leap from the airship to attack the craft and destroy it.  The man who believed he had become a monster discovers he has power.  I've just finished it and taken down the previous image to replace it with this one with the addition of the burning iron boarding lance about to be shot from the mouth of the dragon.

Steampunk dragon ship

I've included the "making of" slide video for those of you who may want to see a bit more of the art and narrative development process.

Steampunk Frahnknshtyne interview

Hello Friends
Recently I had the great pleasure of meeting and speaking with Bruno Accioly, the gentleman who has created the Conselho Steampunk (the Steampunk Council) in Brazil.  His organization is wonderfully structured to host and encourage the growth of independant chapters and they are doing many exciting Steampunk activities and promoting steampunk thought and ideas.
Bruno invited me to do a Steamcast Interview over skype and that interview is now posted for anyone who would like to hear more about Frahnknshtyne and its ongoing development.  The main interview is in English and subtitled in Portuguese.  You can click on the link below for the interview or click on the post title to go to their site.
Cheers, Kevin

Steampunk Skull becomes the book cover

The first of the triptych images of the building of the monster's/hero's head is done.  I think it is likely to be the cover for the book.  It has the kind of iconic feel I was looking for.  Just like in the Darth image I did, if you look closely into the reflection in the loupe over the empty eye socket you can see the outline of the good doctor himself.  I felt strongly that the monster has a kind of painstaking artisan beauty to everything about him.  He is only a monster in that he is brought to life but is not human.  I'm also trying something new with this post.  Since this art is complete, I'm adding an MOV file to the post that shows step by step the drawing and painting of the image.  I'd like to know if you find this interesting so if you do, drop me a comment and I'll post more like this as I go.

Check out what the completed mechanical man's face with the tooled leather skin Here and the middle stage of building the creature, the crafting of the muscles and controls Here!

Steampunk Frahnknshtyne cover

 

Steampunk Skull

Well, this is "in-progress" and it's finally the first image getting a look at the making of the monster/hero.  I'm doing this as a triptych showing the underlying beautiful handcrafted structure and then adding the leather straps that act as muscles and finally the hand-tooled leather face.

"If sheer artistic application of will and mad obsession alone could bring the device to life, the Doctor Frahnknshtyne's marvelous clockwork being would have sprung from the table the moment its form was completed.  It's hand crafted beauty and subtlety of construction await only two final elements.  The power source, its heart, that will prove to the world that the terrible commerce of Aether can at last come to an end, and a brain that will live forever within this being of perfect craftmanship."

The former of these missing elements is still under desperate development and yet defies reproduction.  It is little more than a curiosity if there is but one.  The latter element will be supplied simply by choosing a worthy, kind and scholarly person whom has been recently deceased.  little does the good doctor know, he will make a far greater contribution to this being's rising than he ever intended.

Stay tuned for completing these images.  I Just replaced the first image with one that I'm under way with the background and the clamping mechanism that holds it on the workbench.  tools to add and other juicy detail coming soon.
PS - I really liked putting the mechanical eye in Darth Vader so I'm doing a very different version of it.

See the finished illustration Here and check out what the completed mechanical man's face looks like Here and take a look at the completed middle image showing the building of the facial muscles made of leather Here!

Steampunk Skull for Frankenstein in progress V2

Steampunk Skull for Frankenstein in progress V1

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

Meet Lil Steamy

Hi friends,
I took a break from the Frankenstein work to do some rough sketching on a little character I'd been meaning to create just to have some fun commenting on life, absurdity and steampunkery.  I'll be posting one panel bits of Lil Steamy's whistling wisdom from time to time.  Hope you enjoy.

Steampunk "Lil Steamy"