Monday, August 8, 2011

Mowrer's Steampunk Frankenstein

I've just discovered an amazing artist, purely by chance. I started chatting with Kevin Mowrer on the Steampunk Writers and Authors Guild, and he was kind enough to share the URL of his blogspot: http://www.mowrerart.blogspot.com/ 


If you go to that link, and I hope you will, you'll see wonderful images like this:


The Pinkerton and the Princess




This amazing painting (do go to the site and look at some of the details!) is from an upcoming book by Mowrer, called  Frahnknshtyne. It will appear first as a book. The author / artist is also working to expand it into other expressions.

Here is another character from the book:

Lord Praetor

I love what Mowrer says about this character: "I believe storytelling becomes truthful when the evil (or better said, Antagonist) in the story has a point of view and a true belief system. There are catalyzing events and moments that make characters heroic or malevolant. The Lord Praetor is just such a layered, brilliant and fanatical soul. He has been alive longer than any human on the planet as the original recipient of the Aether of others. His wealth is a fortune beyond the size of any government's and he believes in the supremecy and stability of the governance that flows from the Royales. In this portrait, the opulance of his accumulated wealth and empire seem indistinguishable from the man himself. Each flows into the other. Though he knows of the many horrible abominations that have sprung up amongst the ultra rich, he believes these are acceptable given the stability that has reigned for hundreds of years under his rule."

The artist's attention to detail is astonishing, as in this possible cover:


Mowrer adds, "...if you look closely into the reflection in the loupe over the empty eye socket you can see the outline of the good doctor himself."

I'm not the only one who admires Mowrer's art. Rafi Alexandrian Jose, who writes the steampunk blog  The Steampunk Populist, says of the images: "Absolutely stunning work.  This is a 1st rate example of the SteamPunk aesthetic.  It harkens back to an age where technology was elegant. "   

If your interest isn't thoroughly peaked at this point, consider this final quote from my new friend:  

Our hero is about to learn
that sometimes you find your true humanity at the moment you lose it.

8 comments:

S Wesley Steam said...

Wow! Thank you so much for sharing these!!!

Alison DeLuca said...

Aren't they amazing? I am enthralled by Kevin's art.

Krista McLaughlin said...

Those are really neat! It intrigued me!

Alison DeLuca said...

Intriguing is the perfect word!

Anonymous said...

Amazing and yet I feel that word does not do it justice. Wow-thanks for sharing with us

Hart Johnson said...

It really is amazing art. It captures the genre so well. And I love his perspective on the villain PoV... a strong belief system goes a long way toward keeping a villain from being ridiculous.

Ella Gray said...

Wonderful! I can't wait to check this out :-)

karastewart said...

Gorgeous art!