Steampunk Frankenstein – Paul Shapera

I was going to give an excuse about how i really need to phone it in this week as i’m working in the studio round the clock on the 3rd Act, but it turns out i stumbled across a really wonderful artist who has got me all excited about today’s post.

So there’s this artist/writer named Kevin Mowrer who is making a steampunk Frankenstein book ( i assume it’s a graphic novel). Not only is it incredible looking and sounding, but what struck me is that he’s taking a very similar approach to what i’m doing here, namely, he’s posting a great deal on the process itself, transparent creation if you will.

steampunk frankenstein

I don’t know the full story, and obviously (like me) he’s not going to actually post it as it will ruin the joy of reading the thing for the first time. But (like me) he’s posting a great amount of back story and world details. So one thing i do know, while it’s loosely based on the Frankenstein legend, the story is clearly an entirely new plot and direction.

His city is Travaille, which contain vast, dark labyrinthian slums.

But wait, even cooler, he made a video showing the different stages of drawing and painting this:

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/18842863]

There’s also a guy named Lord Praetor. I think the original text will do him the best justice:

“The lord Praetor has been the most challenging of the characters to create so far. I have never been a fan of one-dimensional bad guys with simple world domination madness. 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.”