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Back to the Drawing Board
Tuesday, October 8th, 2013 10:51 amFurtle’s cousin, John (every male in her family is called John, except for those who married in: I’m considering changing mine to John to avoid confusion) has recently got married and we thought it would be nice to send a congratulatory card, as you do.
We found out that John and his new wife (whose name I forget…) have recently got into the whole Whitby goth/steampunk scene and that gave us the idea of personalising the card accordingly.
I sat down on Sunday afternoon to make a start on the sketches that would eventually form part of the finished article and after a couple of hours I was less than impressed with what I had. The first (unfinished) sketch was superior to the second attempt, but too large: I’d got carried away and the figure’s lower legs would have disappeared off the bottom of the paper. So I started again. The second attempt fitted the paper, but wasn’t as good. I have yet to find source material that I like for a female steampunk costume. There seem to be rather more women in corsets and little else, with a cogwheel attached at some point to make it authentically steampunk, than there are dressed in Victorian period clothes with steampunk appendages.
It seems that I have a different view of what steampunk is as a ‘fashion statement’ than do many of the people posting photographs of themselves under that banner.
The costume does not need to be a full-length dress, I am more than happy – indeed I think I’d prefer something more in the colonial/Amy Johnson style (I know Amy Johnson is a bit modern for the genre, but you get the idea. What I do not want is burlesque, which is where most of the photographic source material seems to be sitting. I guess I shall have to change my search parameters to cover Victoriana and then ‘punk it up’ myself.
So much for the ‘easy’ approach.
The other revelation is just how badly my skills in sketching have declined. My own fault; I don’t practice with anything like enough frequency.
A ‘fun idea’ suddenly became a job of work. I think I shall have to simplify my concept and draft or else we will be presenting the card on their anniversary instead.
We found out that John and his new wife (whose name I forget…) have recently got into the whole Whitby goth/steampunk scene and that gave us the idea of personalising the card accordingly.
I sat down on Sunday afternoon to make a start on the sketches that would eventually form part of the finished article and after a couple of hours I was less than impressed with what I had. The first (unfinished) sketch was superior to the second attempt, but too large: I’d got carried away and the figure’s lower legs would have disappeared off the bottom of the paper. So I started again. The second attempt fitted the paper, but wasn’t as good. I have yet to find source material that I like for a female steampunk costume. There seem to be rather more women in corsets and little else, with a cogwheel attached at some point to make it authentically steampunk, than there are dressed in Victorian period clothes with steampunk appendages.
It seems that I have a different view of what steampunk is as a ‘fashion statement’ than do many of the people posting photographs of themselves under that banner.
The costume does not need to be a full-length dress, I am more than happy – indeed I think I’d prefer something more in the colonial/Amy Johnson style (I know Amy Johnson is a bit modern for the genre, but you get the idea. What I do not want is burlesque, which is where most of the photographic source material seems to be sitting. I guess I shall have to change my search parameters to cover Victoriana and then ‘punk it up’ myself.
So much for the ‘easy’ approach.
The other revelation is just how badly my skills in sketching have declined. My own fault; I don’t practice with anything like enough frequency.
A ‘fun idea’ suddenly became a job of work. I think I shall have to simplify my concept and draft or else we will be presenting the card on their anniversary instead.