Steampunk Art (Brian Kesinger)

After having done some research into the background of what steampunk actually is, i then went onto looking a steampunk art and different artists that incorporate it into their work as well as looking at steampunk fashion.

I began by googling steampunk art and found thi site below.
http://fineartamerica.com/art/all/steampunk/all

This had a lot of steampunk art which was up for sale so i naturally went on a few on the pieces of art and found some that really drew my eyes. I also looked on Google for steampunk art and ran into this, shown below.

Source: http://www.clockworkcouture.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/212c7ab411e886e492d4323b2a080629/b/a/bandpractice.jpg

This art is done digitally most likely by Adobe Illustrator and this really caught my eye because of the way it was illustrated in such a fun and cartoon like manner but with sophistication from the use of steampunk style. The use of the octopus playing multiple instruments adds a very comical and lighthearted feeling towards it and a goofy and entertaining side to it as well which is why i really like this piece of the artists work. The colour scheme is orange, tinted to give that industrialised steam feeling to this piece and the strong use of the green from the female stands out, making her the main focus emphasising beauty and elegance and also relating her clothing to the steampunk fashion style.

Source:
http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/057/b/b/profile_picture_by_briankesinger-d4r0emz.jpg

Looking at this piece of steampunk art i wanted to look at more of this artists work so i looked them up by viewing the description of one of their pieces of artwork and this artist is called Brian Kesinger. 

I did a bit of research into him on Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Kesinger) and apparently he is an American illustrator, author and animator who has worked for Walt Disney for 16 years and got into Incorporated steampunk into his work and continues to do so.


Once I found of who this artist was i searched him on Google for other steampunk related art he may of created and found a wide range of stuff with similar of an drawing style to his previous artwork i looked at.

Source: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/earl-grey-brian-kesinger.html

In this one it only uses an orange/brown colour scheme again to portray a very mechanical and old feeling. He also uses splashes of paint in the background as if it is what was used to colour the female in and potentially wanted to be a little messy and have fun with the work so made it slightly playful but yet detailed and sophisticated. Overall i really like the way this artist uses the simple colour scheme that fits in with the Victorian era but adding that steampunk feeling to it with the oranges as well as the fashion of steampunk on the woman. All of this helps to create a very unique and fun looking piece of steampunk art with the very cool illustrations.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brian_Kesinger22.jpg

After looking into more and more of Kesinger's work i noticed he occasionally had  an octopus in his work for some reason. I looked it up and apparently Kesinger likes to add an octopus as it can use its tentacles to hold things as if it can multi-task and he finds it entertaining, and even plans to release a film called 'Otto and Victoria's Adventures'. Kesinger has also written and published books in the bast as shown above, so not only is he a great illustrator and animator but he is a great author too.

The use of the colour on this book cover gives a very sophisticated and Victorian theme using an emerald shade throughout the cover and the dress of the woman with her octopus. Most of Kesinger's artwork seem to be light-hearted and entertaining which is why i love his work and his style towards steampunk with his drawing skill level.

Source:
http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m04fn4xwYf1qzkrfxo1_500.jpg

The next two pieces o Kesinger's work i really i like especially one in particular.

The first one is an illustration Kesinger did which displays two robots wearing 1950 clothing and behind then there being industrial buildings and along with gears and cogs etc. The background is black so the combined illustration helps to stand out and portray the steampunk style very well and the typography is a very old and hand written which adds to the era its set in. The composition is centred in the middle to make it the main focus and overall fits well together.

And finally the next piece of Kesinger's work is one of my favourites 

Source: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/222/662/4a8026c23806a2271e4fddc4d6044595_large.jpeg?1350951018

This with one it has both genders and the steampunk fashion style for both men and women and what i like a lot about this one is how Kesinger has both genders in a separate frame with their cool own look from the steampunk style. Along with the framing of each of them giving a very old fashioned feel to both of them individually. I also like the texture behind the characters with a tinted glow to add to the steampunk industrial theme. And finally i like how the typography links these two people together, having the text overlap both of them in a subtle way and joining these two separate pictures together.