Saturday, August 10, 2013

Steampunk Spacesuit

I've been pretty open, if not strident, about my disdain for what I call "steamjunk". Sadly, far too many steampunk aficionados seem to think that gluing gears to something or epoxying a bunch of brass junk together is the height of the genre's artistic achievement. It's embarrassing how prevalent the mentality has become.

Then I stumble across something like this steampunk spacesuit and my cold, bitter heart warms up to the possibilities of retro-futurism once again. The picture was taken at the Gaslight Gathering 3. I haven't been able to track down the artist yet, but as soon as I do it will be my pleasure to give proper credit for a job very well done.

7 comments:

Charlie Warren said...

Thumbs UP!

Varangian said...

Even for those of us that are fans of Steampunk the "glue gears on it" technique is absolutely awful.

I love the work you share, thank you!

If you enjoy miniatures stuff at all you might check out Colonel O'Truth, he does mostly steampunk inspired work. http://colonelotruth.blogspot.com/

Regardless, thanks for running a great Blog!

Shel Parsons said...

Just wow... This is how I envision my retro/steampunk inspired take on Mr. Freeze (as soon as I get everything pulled together).

Whomever this person is - GREAT job, indeed.

And to you, the engine behind Propnomicon, lovin' the images. Thanks for all the hard work.

Shel.

Naamah said...

THAT GENTLEMAN'S MOUSTACHE. OH MY GOD. I am a fan of him, instantly.

Fantastic. Just a gorgeous, lovingly-rendered piece of work.

CoastConFan said...

The small touches is what really makes this piece work from the vermillion red accordion fold flexible waist section to the spiffy galluses that hold the two sections together. It shares as much with 19th century diving suits as with reimagined space suites. It is a tour de force in costuming. For me Steampunk has a certain quirkiness and attention to detail that, while underlining the historical, goes beyond even the stories of the period in sensation (using the Victorian meaning here) and in scope. Most importantly, the suit does not overwhelm the wearer, it is always an accessory to the person and not the other way around.

You can imagine the exploring gentleman, after landing on alien shores of a distant world, remove the space helmet to sample the air (after ascertaining the canary he providentially took with him still lived) and drawing in a careful breath exclaiming, “Good, there’s air on this planet, remove your Areo-Sallets gentlemen, there is no danger here! Higgins, set us six for a picnic luncheon and make sure the Champaign is chilled – today we dine on a new world.”

Darwin von Corax said...

I asked around on Brass Goggles; the gentleman in question appears to be John Harrington, of Pico Rivera, California. He has a Grimoire des Visages Skillpage at http://www.skillpages.com/steampunk-artist/pico-rivera-united-states/john.harrington

Merlin said...

The man in the photo is John Harrington, PropMonster.My favorite prop maker. Worked on a ton of Movies and Commercials. Anyone recall Bip?