Steampunk illustration - Summary of 10 common graphic design styles

Eleven Themes of Steampunk Illustration

The aesthetics of "steampunk" is mainly derived from the 19th century Victorian style of dress and the development of steam-powered machinery during the Industrial Revolution, and is known for its typical nostalgic attire and accessories full of gears. But the "steampunk" movement owes its popularity to another aspect: the art of illustration.

Artists have created a wide range of illustrations within the steampunk context

These can be categorized into eleven themes

The main attraction of steampunk comes from the clothing, appearance and demeanor of the unique characters

Something like airship captains, mercenaries with rocket packs, and pirates in the sky are all very common in steampunk. These characters are very common in steampunk

Artists often spend a lot of ink on these illustrations, using bright colors and a lot of scenes to highlight the characters

Steampunk emphasizes out-of-the-box innovations

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

Artists use clockwork, gears, transmissions, and other neat elements to make their illustrations more appealing, Gears, gears, transmissions, and other neat elements make robots look unique and fragile, making them particularly interesting

Robot giants are even more interesting than the robots mentioned above

because they're more cumbersome and destructive, and they're the ones who bring the storyline to a climactic conclusion

And they're often used as a tool for the rebellion

That's why the artists depicted these big guys in the first place. Artists have always had fun depicting these big guys wreaking havoc

Airships and airships are one of the basic themes of steampunk

They hold dreams of a whole future of technology, and they embody one of the most interesting aspects of the culture

They play an important role in steampunk illustration

Any fantasy subculture is going to be associated with related graphic techniques

Any subculture is going to be associated with related graphic techniques

These are the most important things that artists have ever done in the past.

An interesting steampunk story is one in which intricate designs exist

They may be beautifully rendered and colored, or they may be a random sketch

In the virtual world of steampunk

Abstract art is the best way to show off the beauty of the art

Mechanical power is all-encompassing, even if you can't get it to work. In this time and space, mechanical power is omnipotent, and you can even see the weird and funny images of machinery and animals merging together

The creative inventor and the witty gentleman are one of the most popular types of characters in steampunk

The old-fashioned dress of the characters, which combines the solemnity of the old-fashioned characters with the clash of the carnival, highlights the interesting two sides of the characters

Victorian cities are a combination of classical beauty and industrial beauty. Victorian cities are a mix of classic and industrial beauty

Injecting steampunk into the mix adds a touch of surreal extremes

Bland towns and cities are infected with machinery and technology, giving them an uncanny ethereal aura

Since the debut of Star Wars in 1997, it's infiltrated virtually every subculture

Steampunk is no exception. Steampunk is no exception

Many artists are obsessed with designing costumes for Star Wars characters, and even create large-scale Star Wars-themed artwork

So Star Wars has become an important part of steampunk illustration

Transportation is an interesting element in the steampunk world

They often have these three storytelling characteristics: they are the They are groundbreaking inventions in the story; they break down often, but can be repaired anywhere; and they always work again in the nick of time

Steampunk adds many elements to the story of war, such as airships, napalm, rocket packs, tanks, and robots, which can be used to fight against the enemy

They also add visual clashes to the illustrations, and make the battles more inspiring. More to stimulate the factor of war within the human body

10 kinds of common graphic design style summary

1. Cyberpunk style

Hackers; digital space (Cyberspace); virtual reality; artificial intelligence; cybernetics and computer biochemistry; urban sprawl and slums; large-scale enterprises; genetic engineering; drugs and biochemistry; terrorism (especially computer terrorism)

2. Steampunk style

Steampunk style

Steampunk style

Steampunk style

Steampunk style

Steampunk style

Steampunk style

This is the most popular style in the world. 2. Steampunk style

Fiction and nostalgia, new energy, new machinery, new materials, new tools

3. Bauhaus style

Rich color scheme, simple plate composition, mechanical geometric order, rational treatment of text and color graphics, strict skeletal features

4. Pop style

Collage poster art, exaggerated Bright color collision, exaggerated, surreal, strong sense of vision

5. Memphis style

Colors distinctive clash of colors, intentionally break the law of color matching, bright, fun, colorful bright tones, plaid, waves, black font

6. Hyper-realistic style

spatial hierarchy, the picture of the scenarios, the design of the C4D style

7. Steam wave style

Fluorescent red and blue gradient, Greek sculpture, windows 98 and other strange elements put together

8. MBE illustration style

White background on the colorful cartoon elements (be sure to depict the black edge)

9. Cubism style

To depict the object with many angles, each angle of the interlocking iteration caused many Staggered iteration caused by many vertical and parallel line angles, scattered shadows so that the cubist picture does not have the illusion of three-dimensional space caused by the traditional Western painting perspective.

10. Low-Poly style modeling

Modeling to make a sense of block, a picture into four triangles to fill, each triangle into four small triangles.

These 10 design styles you learned? Why don't you try to use some of them in your work, maybe there will be an unexpected effect?

In the most common language to tell you what is "steampunk"

Steampunk, is synonymous with fashionable, steampunk, classical and modern mix, mechanical and human mix. "Punk" is divided into "cyberpunk" and "steampunk", electronic science fiction is cyberpunk, mechanical science fiction is steampunk. The word "punk" now refers to science fiction, but once upon a time it referred to music. The original meaning of the word "punk" originated in the United States in the sixties, and it is a form of rock and roll, emerging rock and roll, with a minimalist theme and simple triads to express the wild and uninhibited. Singers put on smoky makeup, comb kill Matt, revealing the nasty pyrotechnics; singers anti-traditional, anti-authority, shouting voice of the heart is not restricted; but also take the odd way, when the heresy, chasing after the new wave, to create an emerging genre of alternative trends; and accompanied by decadence, frustration, slovenly dress, revealing the bones of the untamed, reveal the decadent, despondent, dirty style, personality, but also reveals the status of the nasty; punk people do not go out of the way, the heresy of the live! From me, with temper, power, is bold, radical, and exudes vitality of the new generation. The temperament of punk is decadent, dark, alien, and wild style.

Cyberpunk is electronic sci-fi, mix and match and messy; steampunk is mechanical sci-fi, mix and match, messy, dark, is a kind of classical beauty and modern beauty. "Steampunk" tribute to the steam era, Watt invented the steam engine, creating a mechanical revolution, a gear bite composed of trains, coal furnaces, freighters, the first industrial revolution, the era, the first outbreak of science and technology, in the ancient and modern intersection, steampunk is a tribute to the steam revolution, pay tribute to the history of the type of steampunk animation, movies, most of the existence of ancient and modern. In most steampunk animations and movies, there are shadows of mixing ancient and modern, vulgarity and technology. Love, Death and Robotics", animation throughout the punk style, exploring the universe in the background, in the high-tech era of human life, animation of high-tech spaceships, electronic technology, is cyberpunk, mix and match human nature, mix and match emotions, mix and match philosophy, unknown! No blood, not punk, gory and violent elements of punk must be, not violence, where the wild? Where is the decadence if it's not depressing and dark? Love, death and robots" is a punk animation, heretical vanguard style, gore, violence elements in which often prepared, punk elements is the main tone of the animation, not simply the meaning of science fiction. Animation plot, Chinese martial arts nine-tailed demon fox and steam engine mashups, prostitutes song and dance tracking crime and time travel mashups, directly linked to science fiction mashups, is unknown!

The punk style of animation, with a huge overload of information composition, reflecting the dirty, messy, scene style fits the personality style of the protagonist, and the protagonist temperament. The main character is a lower-class ragged family, smoking, drinking, eating, whoring and gambling, a small man, the character temperament and the composition of the movie and television match, the story of the decadent atmosphere to rise a layer. In the dirty and chaotic atmosphere, it is natural and reasonable to add bloody and violent elements. I love punk, I love the overload of information, I love the gore and violence, and I love the decadence and depression. I love punk that mixes and matches, robots and teahouses, Three Kingdoms and matrix modeling, it's wonderful. Punk style of the city, the picture composition is amazing, city streets, old houses and new houses mix and match, hanging temples and electronic buildings mix and match, urban plumbing structure is exposed, the appearance of skyscrapers by the precision of the mechanical gears. A magical city, a magical world, a "magic city"! The precise mechanical structure is messy, but it has a sense of beauty. Complex, dense composition of elements, a picture contains a variety of things, generalizing all types, individual types squeezed into a space, concentrated in a picture. Mix and match elements, in the composition, there are various models of cars, various ages of people (including ancient times), various types of machinery, various schools of technology, mix and match, and compress a large number of different types of known things into a picture, into a city. Overall look down, G? Confucius how you and Turing collided together! Wonderful! Will be everything, compressed in a picture, compressed in a story, mix and match does not miss, the audience more and more convinced of the greatness of life, unknown! Being in the picture is comfortable, looking forward to the future development of science and technology. Mix and match to show the interlocking beauty, mix and match is an important part of the punk style.

Finish mixing and matching, back to the history of punk, punk, initially a spirit of rock and roll, with the development of culture, derived from the cyberpunk and steampunk two categories, referring to science and technology, cyberpunk, electronic technology, steampunk, steampunk, steam technology. Steampunk is a big hit, heavy and outdated machinery and the future of high-tech mix of contrasting, shocking, breathtaking; and cyberpunk without heavy machinery, electronic technology was originally a modern high-tech, the two have no contrast, no mix, so cyberpunk is not as eye-catching as steampunk. Cyberpunk, for the development of science and technology and the future of mankind with a pessimistic attitude, cyberpunk novels, comics, about human beings with high technology, will do what "evil"; steampunk, there is unlimited scientific reverie, with fantasy color, to optimistic attitude towards science and technology, steampunk type of story, about technology to help people realize their dreams, take people around the world. The steampunk genre is about technology helping people realize their dreams and taking them on a journey. Comparison, cyberpunk type of story, it will tell: the development of science and technology, the loss of human nature, scientists to capture human beings to do human experiments, artificial intelligence to rule the society of human beings enslaved by it, the world is falling apart, the extinction of mankind; while the steampunk type of story will be told: the dream of the Tower of Babel, flying aircraft, the city in the sky, the precision elements of the construction of the dream of the island, the protagonist's footprints throughout the various parts of mankind, human science and technology to make people break through the barriers between body and mind. Human technology enables people to break through the barriers between body and mind, and to elevate their souls. This is for the technology of two different points of view, I support steampunk, I hold a positive attitude, technological development, human beings have a dream-like evolution, into a new era!

Punk, is a subculture, alternative culture, unique to its charm; punk, synonymous with fashionable, exudes the wild and whimsical young people; punk, there are mix and match, sophisticated, complex features. Punk, equated with "avant-garde", its sophisticated and mixed, alternative and bold attributes, highlighting the excellence of the imagination. Punk is a unique type of culture that is popular in niche circles because of its alternative attributes. Punk, not equal to science fiction, punk culture is novel, the first contact with the general public, immediately refreshing the three views, where the whimsical, resulting in unparalleled mental stimulation! The audience harvested an unprecedented experience of beauty!