Steampunk musician Andrew O’Neill of The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing. Photo by Ria Osborne. Frame by John Coulthart.
Steampunk musician Andrew O’Neill of The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing. Photo by Ria Osborne. Frame by John Coulthart.
WHY STEAMPUNK?
Both cultural theorists and at-home Steampunkers have dedicated plenty of time to exploring the appeal of the Industrial Age aesthetic for artists, makers, and laypeople alike. There are many reasons that people are drawn to retro-futurism, but one that particularly stands out is the variety and contrast it offers to the prevailing styles of recent decades. “For the last thirty or so years,” artist and maker Herr Döktor comments, “design has been a form of reductionism: computers in plain beige/gray/black boxes, streamlining making cars and other vehicles indistinguishable, and so forth. Steampunk (and its ilk) has allowed some to take a new look at the world around us, with an eye to both the past and the future.”
Ramona Szczerba, a psychologist and artist known for her watercolor and collage pieces, agrees. “In terms of design, I think it’s a great balance to ever-more-sleek modernism. While cars and phones and televisions are all becoming impregnable smooth pods that stay inert until you touch them, Steampunk designs favor visible workings and surface ornamentation. . . . Plus, if it breaks, you stand a chance of fixing it yourself without voiding the manufacturer’s warranty!”
Szczerba also notes Steampunk’s flexibility as a tool for the imagination: “As a psychologist, I suspect that Steampunk is a doorway to creativity and imagination in the same way we consider the Rorschach to be a way to access the unconscious. We are all looking at the same blot, but the interest comes from each individual and what of herself she imposes upon and brings to it.”
One thing is certain: Steampunk and the whole of the retro-futuristic aesthetic offer a much broader playground for a creative person, a buffet of intriguing approaches and fresh looks to set one’s work apart from the competition. For the working creator, the flexibility of a bigger toolbox may be exceedingly helpful in the day-to-day. “As a designer, I think and make in terms of appropriateness for the design strategy and message needs; certain projects call for certain visual aesthetic directions,” says Danny Warner. (His pioneering work with motion posters is a concrete example of this principle.) Warner adds, “My first Steampunk-inspired work was in the realm of display typography. I used schemata and other iconography of simple machinery to develop new ideas in typographic form.”
Rebekah Morin as Red Queen in Third Rail’s production of Then She Fell. Photo by Adam Jason Photography.
Doktor A is another popular maker and artist of the Steampunk world. His work runs the gamut from zany toys to whimsical sculptures to 2-D art and illustration, and he is particularly known for his Mechtorian series—steam-powered toys that double as the wacky citizens of a fictional world called Retropolis. Doktor A agrees that the lush looks of retro-futurism are a welcome and refreshing change. “I think it’s nice to see people enjoying embellishment again,” he says. “I feel that as technology in particular becomes ever more powerful and ever more integrated into our lives that we should not expect it all to be presented in only one style. I think it’s important that people make it work for them in a way that they are comfortable interacting with, and in a style of their choosing, whatever that may be.”
In many ways, Steampunk is the visual vernacular that defines the current era: both our fascination with technology and progress, and our nostalgic longing for a simpler age. Slowly, the aesthetic has slipped into our films, our graphic novels, our fashion, our interior decor, and even our digital lives. “Retro-futurism, specifically its blend of midcentury modernism and art deco, has heavily influenced everything from skeuomorphic touch-screen interfaces to modern movies,” says Mark Givens, an art and culture scholar and editor in chief of MungBeing Magazine.
Givens also feels that Steampunk is even more deeply tied into the cultural zeitgeist, saying, “[Steampunk] has greatly influenced the look and style of the early twenty-first-century youth movement—the hipsters—with its handlebar mustaches, brass, and muted colors.”
And now, these hipsters, yuppies, and penny-pinchers alike are developing passions that would make their grandparents proud; they’re mastering forgotten skills and returning to the land, practicing hobbies such as gardening, sewing, canning, quilting, woodworking; even making their own cheese, curing their own meats, and brewing their own beer. The desire to tinker with our machines and create something both functional and beautiful stems from the same core impulse.
The best thing about Steampunk, however, is its big-tent mentality. As Givens says, there is room for “makers and tinkers, DIY and craft assemblages, and anachronistic bike riders.” Not to mention, a growing global movement of Steampunkers across the world, who are reinventing the looks of retro-futurism with respect to their own unique cultural contexts.
Still not sure? Well, you’ll discover many more answers to that question in the chapters to follow.
BASICS ABOUT THE CREATIVE PROCESS
At some level, each and every artistic project is unique, with its own problems to solve and its own path from conception to completion—especially if you are the kind of maker who always wants a fresh challenge, a bigger puzzle to solve. That said, there are a few basic steps that usually go into executing a creative project.
Step 1: INSPIRATION. The first step, of course, is getting an idea; this idea frequently emerges as a random burst of inspiration. Other times, the idea evolves as the result of a conscious decision to sit down and brainstorm.
“I pace and think. Or, if sitting in a task chair, I rock and think. This is most of the work. A smaller proportion of the work is actually spending all the labor on the creation of the art itself.”
—Keith Thompson
Step 2: DEVELOPMENT. Usually, an artist or maker will sketch out their idea with preliminary drawings, simple sketches, and some element of text.
“I get inspired, take a lot of notes, and make sketches. I try to wireframe larger projects and whittle them down into stages on paper or in my phone.”
—Libby Bulloff
Ballroom Luminoso by Joe O’Connell and Blessing Hancock, commissioned by Public Art San Antonio (PASA) and installed at the Theo & Malone Underpass at IH 35, San Antonio, Texas. Photo by Fred Gonzales.
Step 3: EXECUTION. This is where the creator goes to their workshop—even if that workshop is just the kitchen table—and begins to build. Or draw. Or paint. Or cut. Or saw. Or weld. Or whatever the project requires.
“Depending on constraints such as budget, time, and facilities, you either sit down at the drawing board and create some concepts or you just sit down at the workbench and start playing around with bits. (I have boxes full of random ‘bits’ just waiting to be built into something or other.) Budget is generally the driving force, though—sometimes you have the luxury of a complete design process and can tool specific pieces, other times you just have to stick lots of pieces together and make it up as you go along.”
—Mark Cordory
Step 4: REVISION AND COMPLETION. Sometimes it’s helpful to take a break and come back to the work with fresh eyes. Maybe it’s done—or maybe it needs a bit more work. In a few cases, it may even be time to go back to the literal or figurative drawing board: Step 2. But that’s how the process of creation works.
“Research and organization. Shaping the problem. Brainstorming, and generation of possibilities and prototypes. Testing, getting feedback, honing. Then committing to a direction, and executing it. Then—and this is important—coming back later (once I hopefully have some distance and a more dispassionate perspective on the project), and evaluating where it succeeds and doesn’t, to learn for next time.”
—Danny Warner
Sometimes it can be hard to start a project, but if you take the leap, incredible things can happen. More important, the journey you undertake when you engage your imagination is often as satisfying as reaching the finish line.
USING THIS BOOK
The Steampunk User’s Manual is designed to help you dream both big and small, showcasing both small-scale, practical projects and pie-in-the-sky “big ideas,” to show you the range that’s possible. Some of these projects are so whimsical you might not be able to do them at all—but that’s okay. One person’s unmakeable one-hundred-foot-high Steampunk penguin is another’s plot device for a sprawling Steampunk novel trilogy.
While each chapter varies from subject to subject, delving into territories most relevant to the medium at hand, there are a few sections you can expect to see with regularity throughout this book.
Past and Future: Steering Clear of Clichés
In this section, we take a look at the state of the art in Steampunk, with our interviewees weighing in. We point out a few conventions that are now so prevalent they’ve become cliché (we’re sure you can name a few), and more important, we take a long look forward, exploring the fresh and innovative ideas that may define Steampunk’s future.
Finding Inspiration: Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
Everyone can use a bit more inspiration at times, but the process of inspiration is a tricky one to pin down. For this section, we asked artists, makers, designers, storytellers, musicians, and performers where they find their best and most innovative ideas. Their answers are inspiring in and of them-selves—and a fantastic reminder that ideas really can be anywhere and everywhere you look.
DIY: Practical Applications for Your Field
What does DIY mean for an interior designer? A storyteller? A musician? This section is jam-packed with personal insight from working professionals and passionate hobbyists alike on what DIY means to them, both as a guiding ethos for their work and as a hands-on aspect of their daily practice.
Image from Steampunk Haunted House, created by Zach Morris and Third Rail Projects. Photo by Chad Heird.
Back to the Basics: Developing Your Skills
If you want to DIY, you never stop learning. (Which, since you’re reading a book called The Steampunk User’s Manual, you probably already know!) This section contains tips and advice on expanding your tool set and honing your skills.
The Working Process
Our creative experts offer inside looks into their own working methods, whether those take place at the drafting table, the word processor, or the recording studio. Examples abound, as there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to creative work! With their insight, we chart the creative process from brainstorming session to finished product.
Seven Pieces of Advice
In this section, you’ll find valuable words to take to the road; succinct summations from our creative experts on the values and practices that enable their success. You can scribble these nuggets of wisdom on a note card to tape over your desk, or simply browse and be inspired. The aim is to take everything you’ve learned in each chapter and turn it into practical insight for the creative journey to come.
Rather than tell you what you should and shouldn’t do, we’ve let the words of some very talented creators show what has worked for them, with copious quotes that provide insight into the creative process on both a nuts-and-bolts level and the level of idea and inspiration.
It’s your job to take what you find here and apply it on your own, picking and choosing what works best for your own personal passions and skill set. We hope you have fun, and we hope this book helps spark your imagination. We’re looking forward to your own stories of creation.
—Desirina Boskovich and Jeff VanderMeer, January 2014
Detail of Serpent Twins, created by Jon Sarriugarte and Kyrsten Mate, and their “Empire of Dirt” crew. Design team Because We Can assisted in the fabrication and provided additional support.
