Puss in Steampunk Boots by Matthew S. Armstrong

I'm surprised there aren't a ton more steampunk variations of Puss in Boots around, after all, boots are to steampunk 'almost' what goggles are to steampunk. (ie. iconic)

The title for this piece is "Puss in Steampunk Boots" (aw!) and the artist, Matthew S. Armstrong (also known as 'Matthewart' on deviantArt), wrote a cute caption too:

The classic tale with clockwork ogres and airships. (not pictured) ^_^

I'd definitely pick up that story book! (Hint, hint.)

Matthew S. Armstrong has a very busy career, involved with a wide range of art and subjects in comics, games, picture books and particularly some recent Narnia books (see his Harper Collins Illustrator page HERE). You can see his official site with gallery of different samples HERE. (Be sure to click the 'comics' tab - adorable little stories!)

Matthew's gallery (on deviantArt) concentrates more on the whimsical with picture-book based illustrations (there is some overlap with the website). You can browse and appreciate it HERE and there's a Cheshire Cat too if you love Alice in all her variations.

"Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway Prize Peek!

As promised here's a sneak peek of the lovely prize for the "Pursuit of Happiness" giveaway happening during my 12 Days of (Gifts Ideas Before) Christmas posts:

Click for a much larger view
and please note: the images are not shown at the true ratio to each other
(I just wanted to put them neatly in a row for you).
Also, they will not have the 'London Particulars' stamp over the images.

The winner will have the choice of a complete set of these seven prints (each 5" x 7") documenting the Professor and Happiness' travels

- (Note: This particular set is exclusive and not available through London Particulars!) -

OR
you can choose to have The Professor and the Castle (shown below) in poster size (12" x 18").I'm seriously wishing I could enter this myself!

The story of Professor Aubrey Thistlequick and his cat 'Happiness', as well as all the details for the giveaway, are HERE and if you read the post carefully you'll see you have the opportunity of a second entry into the drawing if you can find some extra information... ;)

Entries close IN LESS THAN A WEEK on December 20th, so be sure to email me before then.

The wonderful London Particulars (who are making this giveaway possible through their generosity) can be found HERE.

Alice in Steampunkland

I found this really great set of photos on deviantArt by a Cosplay group who really thought about what they were doing with the costumes, the props (yes, they made them too), the concepts and the photography. This was an entry for AFA 2009 (Anime Festival Asia) at the end of November.

Here's the story:

The Beginning of a beginning

"Off with her head!", the heartless Queen commanded.

And heartless was right - for to rule with fist and scepter, to command both fear and respect, the Queen had her own heart locked up in a secret dungeon somewhere beneath her castle's winding shadowy halls.

But all secrets find their way out.

With the help of a whispered clue from a mischevious Cheshire Cat, a defiant Alice freed herself from the grasp of the royal guards, dove into the darkness of the castle dungeons and stole the Queen's heart.

The furious Queen and her soldiers chased after her. And Alice, desperate to escape, leapt into the Rabbit's time portal and found herself in a world and time completely different from hers - one where clockwork constructs roamed the streets and steam powered engines reigned supreme.

These guys did a really great job of their own retelling of the Alice in Wonderland story. It's nice to see such a professional approach. They even made a little film:

And a little behind-the-scenes look:


These guys want to expand their team - and their characters - next year. I'd be very interested in seeing what they do next.

You can find details of the cosplay artists HERE. Check out their other cosplay shoots while you're there. Some amazing stuff!

12 Days of [Gifts Before] Christmas & "The Pursuit of Happiness" Giveaway

Although the 12 Days of Christmas really starts on December 25th (or in some places the 26th) I thought I'd do something a little different.

Today is the 6th and in exactly one month it's Epiphany (the traditional time when the Wise Men were thought to have brought their kingly gifts to the Baby Jesus). We tend to concentrate on giving gifts on Christmas Day so I thought I'd sort of combine the two. During the next 12 days I'll be showing you a very different range of gifts with very specific people in mind - fairy tale enthusiasts. And there's something special for you too.

Thanks to the generosity of the lovely people at London Particulars, I'm also having a giveaway!
In order to participate you need to know about Professor Aubrey Aubrey Thistlequick and his pursuit of Happiness:

Professor Aubrey Thistlequick was so excited with the fruits of his new experiment (concerning moonlight, earwigs and ale), that he quite forget to keep an eye on Happiness, his beloved cat (who for mutual convenience accompanied him on his journeys securely tied to balloons) and a sudden gust of wind took her up and off and away; floating over Primrose Hill.

In hot pursuit, the Professor sprung up a nearby ladder and was on the rooftops in a trice, but his nimbleness and quick thinking wasn’t enough to secure dear Happiness, who mewed angrily as she sailed across London town.

With his lightning-quick mind, a ball of string and a handful of seeds (which he kept about his person at all times), Professor Thistlequick took to the skies, in pursuit of Happiness, in a race through the clouds that was to last for much longer than he should have hoped…

Had Professor Aubrey Thistlequick known that morning that he would be in such close proximity to the moon, he might have dressed in more suitable clothes and he certainly would have bought along four knitted gloves and a small coat for Happiness...

What happened next? Where did they go?
That's what you need to find out!
WHAT TO DO:

1) Go visit London Particulars (the website is HERE) for more of the story and to see where the Professor and Happiness have been sighted so far.
2) Email me directly at fairytalenews AT gmail DOT com and tell me one of the locations they were seen (in the body of the email) - country and landmark's name please. Make sure you put "Happiness" in the subject of the email so it gets counted.
3) Email me with your answer (1 entry per person) before midnight on December 20th, PST USA - which is when the contest closes.

THEN WHAT HAPPENS IS:

3) Correct entries (on which I will check with the Professor to be certain they are accurate) will be given a number then entered into an independent number generator, which will choose a winner at random.
4) I will contact the winner (before December 25th) and ask them for shipping details and for their choice of a lovely poster or a print collection of the Professor in his pursuit of Happiness.
5) I'll announce the winner on the blog AND link to their blog or website too (if they wish).

EASY, ISN'T IT?

There's lots to see and many wonderful gift ideas at London Particulars (some of which I'm showing in this entry) so be sure to have a browse while you're there. I recommend checking out the particulars of the 1888 Fair poster (that may, or may not have happened).

PSST!
Anyone who also tells me exactly what Professor Thistlequick's invention was
that he displayed at the fair, gets an additional entry in the contest!
(Hint: a portion of the poster that has the details is shown in this post,
but you'll have to visit the website for the answer...)

London Particulars can be found on Facebook HERE and you can get all the latest updates on Twitter HERE and at their blog HERE.

I look forward to your mails. Happy gift hunting!

A Steampunk Sleeping Beauty (Animation Short)

This steampunk Sleeping Beauty animation is from the CG Society's contest for Steampunk Myths & Legends which finished earlier this year (and which produced some of the gorgeous steampunk fairy tale illustrations I've shown you in the last).

There were a few Beauties and I've shown you one beautiful illustration by Antonio Caparo that I thought was particularly well done HERE. Though the piece I'm showing today doesn't have quite the same impact as the illustration for me, I love seeing the different ways our girl has been kept in suspended animation (pun intended) and I'm a sucker for the opening of a story book at the beginning, I must admit.When the contest ran, you could only view it on the site HERE (which I can't seem to get to stream reliably, but that may just be on my end) but I recently found the animation presented as a short (without the 'making of' sections you can see at the CG Society website) so can finally show you the piece here.

I'm including some screen grabs to give you a heads up on what you'll be looking at as I missed seeing Beauty asleep, the first time she appeared until I viewed the trailer the second time around. (Can you see the figure below?)A little hint: let the trailer load (i.e. hit pause until it's loaded) before you watch it and it will play much more smoothly. And there's a little more story shown after the titles near the end, so watch it all the way through:

Sleeping Beauty
by Backlight-Studio

Although it's presented as a movie that will be coming soon, I can't find any confirmation that this was done beyond the concept and in the form of a trailer.

You can see the steps in construction as part of the trailer HERE at the CG Society website.The animation was entered under Olivier Selliez. There is very little information in either the progress entries or on his blog to confirm this but it appears he was the team leader for the project, which included seven other people, all of who worked on the project during the month of January this year to enter it for the contest (you can see their details at the CG Society site for this piece HERE). Mr. Selliez's website is HERE (I've used a translated link so I hope it works) and the company he works with, Backlight Studio, is HERE (which posted the work in the blog so I presume the other team members for the project also work at Backlight Studio).

If I ever hear of any more being done on this animation I'll be sure to let you know.

The Wizard of Oz Steampunk Style - V of V

For my last foray into steampunk Wizard of Oz entries (at least for now) there's a Wizard of Oz 2007 TV mini-series done with a steampunk aesthetic you may have missed: Tin Man, from the then-Sci-Fi-now-Sy-Fy Channel. It won a primetime Emmy and nine other awards (as well as seventeen other nominations) yet it does have mixed reviews.This article HERE gives a good overview. Here's an excerpt, explaining the story:

Sci Fi’s Tin Man is a sumptuous, modern take on a classic that has us rethinking our ban on remakes. Zooey Deschanel stars as DG (recall Dorothy’s last name is Gale), a wide-eyed Kansas girl whose trip to Oz isn’t courtesy of an ill-fated attempt to run away, but rather a leap into the swirling cone of a tornado to escape the evil, leather-clad militaristic forces who’ve invaded her family’s home. These troops, we learn, are Azkadellia’s, née Wicked Witch’s, minions, who obey the evil sorceress’s every command.

Of course, the tornado carries DG to Oz, only here it’s “the O.Z.,” as in “Outer Zone,” and she isn’t greeted by the mayor of Munchkinland; she’s surrounded by diminutive warriors angrily pointing spears at her and speaking in clumsy rhymes... DG teams up with Glitch (Alan Cummings), a lobotomized former genius with a zipper that keeps his head closed; Wyatt Cain (Neal McDonough), a torture victim DG and Glitch discover inside an ancient metal diving suit; and Raw (Raoul Trujillo), a psychic but petrified anthropomorphic feline. No singing, no dancing.

I saw some of it when it was on and found things that definitely appealed and some things that really didn't. I would like to see it all one day. It's an interesting mix and an unusual take but worth at least reading up on if you like The Wizard of Oz and are interested in a grown-up approach (if you think Return to Oz was dark, this is much darker and not meant for children).I've read it was inspired by ZoomQuilt and ZoomQuilt 2 - a collaborative art/optical illusions that wowed the web a few years ago (note: both take a while to load but do work. Also, the second is kinda dark...). It turns out Sy-Fy do indeed have a flash animation site that's a collaborative artist work called Infinite Oz, which you can see HERE (it takes a while to load but is completely worth the wait). This one is beautifully done. Worth looking at, even if you don't like the idea of the film (see below for some screen examples).It's available on DVD HERE in a two-disc special edition with lots of behind-the-scenes extras.

The Wizard of Oz Steampunk Style - IV of V

I love these two paintings by illustrator/artist/animator Justin Gerard.

For those interested, Justin has posted the 'in progress' steps for the pieces on his blog HERE, including sketches, underpainting and color comps. Lovely stuff!I suggest reading the entry on the underpainting for the poppyfield painting. It tells of part of the inspiration for this piece from his experience in an abandoned factory and the toxic giant fungi, around which the air was dangerous to breathe...

Be sure to check out his Reluctant Dragon painting on his blog HERE too.

You can see more of his work and animation at his website HERE (the 'gallery' link doesn't seem to work but the others do - tons of gorgeous paintings to find. You can also get to the gallery with interpretations of Beowulf and The Hobbit through his blog.). He is part of Portland Studios Inc., a team of very talented artists, illustrators and animators including Corey Godbey (who I've featured a couple of times before - click on his tag below or in the sidebar to see his gorgeous fairy tale work ).You can find their website HERE.

The Wizard of Oz Steampunk Style - III of V

A steampunk Wizard of Oz done 'movie-poster-style' by Dawna and Daniel Davis, creators of Steam Crow and Monster Commute. The poster is available for purchase HERE.From the website about the poster:

Lee Van Cleef inspired the axe-slinging Tinman, while the Scarecrow has clearly spent some serious time at the carnival. The Cowardly Lion is a Victorian gentlebeast, while Toto is a large, Cerebus hound.

Dorothy is a mechanic, just as one might expect.

If you like the poster the Monster Commute webcomic (first page HERE) may interest you too:

It’s our latest project. It’s a comic that is like 1984 meets the Wizard of OZ, on a steampunk highway. It’s a bit fantasy, a bit 1930’s dieselpunk, and it’s inspired by our real life commute in Phoenix, Arizona. It follows the adventures of Chadworth (robot), Beastio (daemon) and Kip (Halloween golem), through their adventures in MONSTRU. (The monster world.)

The Monster Commute website has all sorts of cool things (generally not fairy tale related, though there are some very interesting monsters...) as well as a fun web comic that will appeal to anyone who likes graphic design as well as those who like the lighter side of life (and monsters), so go browse if you get a chance.

The Wizard of Oz Steampunk Style - II of V

A lovely and somewhat sinister Oz piece from talented and many times published illustrator of children's books, Jennifer L. Meyer.
Unfortunately, it seems to be the only one she's done for this story, which is a shame. It really feels like there should be more in this series. (In reading her profile it seems she loves graphic novels - I think that's evident in this piece.)

You can see more of her work HERE.

Creator Nick Percival Talks About His Dark Steampunk Comic "Legends: The Enchanted"

I posted on this coming-in-2010 comic HERE last week and, seeing as there was quite a bit of interest between comments and Twitter, I thought I'd point you to an excellent interview with the creator Nick Percival.

In the interview with Comic Book Resources, he reveals more about the fairy tale characters he's using and how they've been given a new twist. Here's an excerpt from the long, informative and interesting article:

"The Enchanted are looked upon with fear and distrust by normal everyday folk and despised by their dark counterparts, known as The Wicked," says Percival. "Most of the Enchanted operate as vigilantes, outlaws, bounty hunters and so on - trying to find their place and purpose in a land that is growing increasingly hostile towards them. Armed with a hard attitude, unique abilities and customized weaponry, the Enchanted's world is shattered when they discover that some unknown enemy has found a way to break through their mystic immortality and begins slaughtering them one by one beginning with the killing of the half bionic/half wooden warrior, Pinocchio."

Nick Percival: We've got Red Hood, who lives with her daughter in a very dangerous place known as the Bionic Woodlands - this area is overgrown with spiked bio-mechanical trees and living, organic plant life, populated by mutated wolf creatures. Basically, she just wants to be left alone and raise her child, but the murder of Pinocchio and the kidnapping of her daughter force her to reluctantly seek out help from other Enchanted.

Jack the Giantkiller pretty much just looks out for himself. He's sly, likes to drink and burns around on a beast of motorcycle that uses Giant's blood as fuel. Jack acts as a kind of "creature killer for hire." For the right price, he'll sort out any towns terrorized by Ogre problems, which he usually solves by popping one of his "magic beans" that grant him cool powers for a limited amount of time as he starts cracking heads together.

Filling out the rest of the cast are psychic siblings, Hansel and Gretel (Paranormal Exterminators), Goldilox and Bear, her nine-foot half man/half bear boyfriend. They have a "rob the rich to give to the poor" type quest, which involves them coming up against the crime boss, Humpty Dumpty and the Billy Goats Gruff Biker Gang - it doesn't end quietly.

Amongst these, we've got cameos from Rapunzel, a soldier with unbreakable hair that she uses to attack her enemies, Miss Muffet, Rumpelstiltskin, Pied Piper, Jack Nimble and many others all depicted in the same gritty style with attitudes to match in a world filled with goth-type giants, vampire fairies, pissed off trolls, demon street gangs, and all manner of unsavory folk.


Do you have a favorite fairy tale or fable?

I have a lot of versions of the classic tales that the Brothers Grimm collected together, some great old German editions as well. I've also been heavily into Hans Christian Andersen's work, so there are way too many to choose from. But a lot of the ancient Russian folklore is fascinating, and there are some themes in that material that I'm thinking about including in later stories for "Legends: The Enchanted."

You can read the entire article HERE and see LOTS of (very gory) images throughout (which can be viewed larger by clicking).

All the details of the website, when it's available and the preview are in my previous post HERE. A warning again: please keep this away from children. This is dark stuff and definitely in the horror genre. All these new images severely cropped for posting purposes on this blog. If you can deal with the images though (the illustrations are amazing in addition to being ultra-gory), this comic and the developing story sounds like it's worth checking out.

The Wizard of Oz Steampunk Style - I of V

I found some interesting concept development sketches of the characters from The Wizard of Oz and thought I'd not only share those but other steampunk Oz illustrations from my archives that I like.

Today's is by Jeremy Vanhoozer, an Art Director currently working at Cartoon Network. He has a couple of versions of some of his characters so far and this is an ongoing project, so be sure to check into his blog HERE to see the alternatives and updates (he posts most days and this is his current focus project).

Here's what the typography concept (shown at the head of the post) developed into:
Dorothy:
Toto is looking very interesting...
Tin Man:

I love the flying monkey!As of today you can also see versions of the Scarecrow, and the Wicked Wict of the West on his blog too.

Oh yeah - and isn't his blog header cool?

"Legends: The Enchanted" - Dark Steampunk Fairy Tale Comic Coming in 2010

The girl above is Redhood (a.k.a. Red Riding Hood) and she's not the only familiar character getting a dark fantasy/post-apocalyptic/steampunk/horror makeover. Coming in April 2010 is "Issue #0" (yes, that's a zero) of a new comic series titled "Legends: The Enchanted".

Please be warned: despite the title, this comic crosses the line into horror, which is one of the reasons I'm posting on it - so you'll know what you're in for should you ever pick it up. While the feel is dark fantasy, the images are very graphic in both the gallery and on every page in the preview. I'm not even comfortable posting the cover (which has Redhood in a different pose with some scary-looking supernatural creatures flanking her) or the other character images beyond those included in this entry for my blog readers. Please do NOT have children around when viewing the comic website. The official blurb:

From award-winning illustrator and acclaimed comic book artist Nick Percival comes a dark, original fairy tale.

You think you know them. Think again.

Violently ripped from the pages of folklore come the Enchanted. Supernatural immortals living in a dark, steampunk, creature-infested world where nature, technology and foul magic are in constant conflict. When the twisted, burnt remains of the half-wooden, half-mechanical warrior, Pinocchio, are discovered, wolf hunter Red Hood and giant killer Jack realize the fragile rules of their existence have been shattered. With the help of other powerful Enchanted (the mercenary, Goldilocks [edit FTNH: the character illustration in the gallery is tagged Bear/Goldilox, Bear being her hairy, ogre-like companion] and psychic exterminators, Hansel and Gretel), Jack and Red team up on an adventure to stop whatever, or whoever is destroying their powers and murdering their kind.

Poor Red has had so many makeovers, this version isn't surprising enough on it's own, but teaming her up with the other characters in their various bounty-hunter/killer-for-hire personas there might be something interesting there. Steampunk Pinocchio sounds like he never made it past the introduction but Hansel & Gretel as psychic exterminators? Should be enough like "Fables" to draw some fans in for a 'looksee', yet different enough (very, very dark!) to form a new set too. From the preview (available at the website) this is just so violent and gory, as much as I'm curious to see the steampunk variation, I'll likely be giving this one a miss.

If you're still interested you can find out more about the comic HERE and see more pictures in the gallery tab HERE (including possibly the scariest Pinocchio I've ever seen - yikes!).

Three Little Pigs Chase in Lego

I don't search for these I swear!

I present to you a chase from (a new version of) The Three Little Pigs. In Lego. With a nod to steampunk style (though there are no goggles - shock!).

This is what's called a MOC (My Own Creation) so, no we can't buy the set, but apparently, if we're very clever (and have access to lots of different Lego and Duplo pieces) we can make a set ourselves!From the creator:

Includes Big Bad Wolf minifig and three piglets!

Help the piglet on his tractor rescue his two brothers!

Tractor measures 8 cm and Big Bad Wolf Chopper Supertrike measures 10cm long!

Lowlug - the Dutch Lego club - had a contest called 'Show them how it should be done' in reaction to the general disappointment about Lego set 8967. So the challenge was to make a better chase scene in order to show Lego how it should be done.

All entries can be seen here. My entry is, of course, the Big Bad Wolf going off with two of the three pigs, with nr. 3, the practical pig, going behind them in order to rescue his brothers.

Pigs and wolf may come back in a fairy tale MOC later without chopper trikes or tractors...

Found HERE and created by talented Dutch Lego MOC artist ".eti" (aka Erik Eti Smit). He has many other unique Lego creations on his Flickr site HERE.