Here are a couple of new “inventions” – a Dream Reader, and a wizard staff, both made with found objects.
Made with a plastic box, some voltmeters, a slide viewer, antique headphones and various other bits.
Wizard staff lit up. It’s quite heavy. The wiring needs to be finished so a ring on your finger lights up the staff when you touch the metal triggers.
Staff in progress. Lots of found objects and sewing machine parts.
I found an old sketch in one of my many unfinished Moleskin sketchbooks to use as an example for my class last friday. It turned out that I took it home on the weekend and decided to finish painting it. I’m quite happy with the results. Only one brush and never more than two layers in Photoshop. I will be doing this more often.
I found this Polaroid of me with the full-scale costume of Steely Joe, which I designed for ‘The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne’ back in 1998. This was at Texa FX in Montreal where all the creatures and prosthetics were made. They did incredible work for the show. I didn’t realize at the time that it was the first real steampunk television series, and it was my introduction to the genre which I love so much. What a trip it was, walking on sets and seeing life-sized versions of my designs. I had the pleasure of going through that experience on more movies later, but this was my first big production and I put my all into it.
Here are a couple screenshots of the steam-powered cowboy in action. I wonder if the series will ever be released on DVD.
Here are pictures of my work on display at the Oshkosh Museum, kindly sent to me by Michael Breza, who set up the exhibit. I would love to visit and see the many other cool objects and artwork at this fine exhibit, but alas, my time is all taken up these days.
Here’s another character I did, based on a bearded dragon lizard we’ve been looking after. I imagine he’d be a bit uncomfortable in that wool suit, but hey, that’s what they wore back then. Maybe.
If you’re in Wisconsin this summer, there will be an exhibit of steampunk art, objects, costumes etc. in Oshkosh. It’s at the beautiful Oshkosh Public Museum, and will have some of my artwork and gadgets, including blueprints from “The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne” and more. I hope to get down there for a visit. It’s from June 8 to September 8. I sent time my time machine, Nautilus drawings, a couple of rayguns and 25 blueprints from Jules Verne. A few samples here:
I grew up learning to draw from comic books, and I sometimes return to drawing Superman just as a doodle exercise in my sketchbooks. Here are a couple of steampunk versions I did for fun. Took them into Photoshop and added the old-time framing device.
It’s been awhile since I built a ray gun. I have a few “in progress” and by that I mean boxes of junk collecting dust in the garage. This one was relatively easy, since the basic body comes from a firehose nozzle. The front part is from a vacuum cleaner that burned out after only 2 months. The knobs come from a reel-to-reel tape recorder and the front firing outlet is from a plastic pepper grinder. For more ray guns, visit my site and look under Personal Work.
Here’s a small steampunk time machine I built out from stuff lying around. The cool folding wooden box is an antique sewing machine kit. It needs a few modifications, and I’m looking to add some brass trim to the outside of the box. As with all scratch built objects, it’s a matter discovering the right pieces. I prefer to use genuine antique parts if I can.
I decided to make the poster for my upcoming exhibit from existing artwork to reflect the general theme of the show. I figured that the submarine theme was appropriate to the science fiction and steampunk aspect. Here it is without the title and text.
Meinert Hansen 