Steampunk Art In 3D Modeling

Whaaaat..? What is that 'steampunk'? Definitely, most of you have had some dreams and fantasies in the childhood, where you were time travelling dressed as an astronaut with a steam-powered jet-set and a bag full of coal to launch it.

So, steampunk is a symbolical form of romanticism mixed with technology, seeping both into arts and culture since the 1980s. Aesthetic British Victorian era, American “Wild-Wild West” lunacy, steam-powered technologies - all of these convey direct inspiration to nowadays. This particular genre has conquered all possible forms of art.

The concept was brought to life in a letter sent to science-fiction magazine “Locus” in 1987 by American sci-fi and horror writer K.W.Jeter. He was trying to distinguish himself and his fellows, who were in love with sci-fi technologies in retro style, from the futuristic cyberpunks by saying: “Personally, I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for Powers, Blaylock and myself. Something based on a appropriate technology of that era; like “steampunks” perhaps...”

And...bang! Right there it emerged from behind the history.

Jules Verne, H.G Wells and Mary Shelley were the ones to create the best scientific novels of 19th century. So the whole stream of steampunk is highly influenced by these texts. Well-known “Metropolis” by Fritz Lang made in 1927 is a movie to be treated as the single most important early film, extracting steampunk as a an emerging stylistic genre. It is betrayed in the artwork with the old extraordinarily fashionable costumes, top gear accessories and mystical atmosphere, which grabs and brings you “20’000 Leagues Under The Sea”.

Caitlin Kittredge, who is the American author of dark fantasy and urban fantasy noir, says that “It is sort of Victorian-industrial, but with more whimsy and fewer orphans”.

Literature, music, cinematography, fashion, art and, finally, design pulses with a high need to represent dream and fiction fueled Victorian retro-future. 3D artists are not an exception. They push a button in their head, let the fantasy to stream and set a plot in Victorian or quasi-Victorian era and truly rely on science-fiction, using concepts, objects and technologies which are inconsistent with the chosen period of time.

Misty and mysterious atmosphere, mean lighting, steam engine based technologies, pre or post-apocalyptic environments, war, space invasions, demented experiments, futuristic characters, wearing incredible diving-suits or vintage aviator glasses, inhabiting a skin made from billions of screws, pins, nuts and helixes, are anchored in a gilded age, but transcend the bounds of time, space and measurement.

Past combined with the future always affect the present. In order to reveal how different a genre of steampunk is, filtered through the mind of a particular 3D designer, we represent an inspirational list of steampunk in 3D artwork. Charge yourself as much as you can, letting your fantasy flow to the quasi-reality of science-fiction in the majestic Victorian era.

Star Wars Steampunk by Nikolai Miroshnishenko

Steampunk Cockroach by Skif_Nomad

The Warmachine by Ted Terranova

Steampunk Brawler byPaul La rge

Steampunk by Laurent Pierlot

R2D2 Steampunk by Denis

Automaton by Kazuhiko Nakamura

...dry dock... by Adam Tredowski

Begemot by Aleksandr Kuskov

Steampunk iPod by Oscar Blanco

Hall of Miscarried Runagrounds by Ryan Moeck

Character by Aleksandr Kuskov

Fall by Toni Bratincevic

Rhinoceros by Kazuhiko Nakamura

Johnson‘s Depot by Ryan Moeck

ZYGOSIS by Kazuhiko Nakamura

Consumed by Toni Bratincevic

Atoma by Kazuhiko Nakamura

Requiem for Industry by Kazuhiko Nakamura

Gemini by Dmitriy Filippov

Steampunk Desk by Michael Grote

The Time Machine by Dmitriy Filippov

Steamnocchio by Fabricio Moraes

by Leticia Sartor

Steampunk MINI Countryman by Carlex Design

Stream Flower by Denis Anfilov