Rat Creature ([info]ratcreature) wrote,
@ 2008-05-08 23:25:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:au, fanart, fanart: sga, sga, steampunk

fanart, Sheppard & Steampunk!Puddlejumper
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard & Steampunk!Puddlejumper
Media used: pencil, fine liner pen with waterproof indian ink, acrylic paint
Rating/warnings: G
Notes/comments: I did this for the prompt "Victorian steampunk AU" for the SGA fanart fest [info]paintedspires. Admittedly mechanical pterodactyls aren't the most efficient way for a flying machine, Steampunk or otherwise, and not a very likely or even possible path technology would take from an SF standpoint, but this way was much cooler visually than merely changing the puddlejumpers with pipes or gauges or whatever. I mean, they more or less look like flying lunch boxes. Not really realistic technology, but this is Stargate after all, and I'm pretty sure John would think that mechanical, flying dinosaurs were cool.

The original is 30x40cm, so unfortunately I had to scan it in two parts, and you can see a slight line where I merged, because I fail at digital manipulation and didn't know how to make the two parts fit completely seamless.

Preview: preview of Sheppard flying a Steampunk!Puddlejumper

Sheppard flying a Steampunk!Puddlejumper

And because you can't see Sheppard that well in that size, here's a larger detail view:

detail of Sheppard flying a Steampunk!Puddlejumper

If for some reason you want the whole image in a print resolution in its original size, I uploaded that as well, however at 300dpi and 30x40cm the file is over 4652x3500 pixel / 4mb: look at it in a really huge size in high resolution



Page 1 of 3
<<[1] [2] [3] >>

(Post a new comment)


[info]madripoor_rose
2008-05-08 09:28 pm UTC (link)
OMG. Gorgeous!

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 09:42 pm UTC (link)
Thank you! I'm glad you like it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]telesilla
2008-05-08 09:33 pm UTC (link)
What fun! It's a great picture too and you are so right; Shep would be all over a mechanical flying dinosaur.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 09:45 pm UTC (link)
Thank you. I have a ridiculous fondness for mechanical animals. :)

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]clear_as_blood
2008-05-08 09:39 pm UTC (link)
This is so great. Dinosaurs make awesome flying machines.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 09:48 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, dinosaurs just look cool. I mean this would never work aerodynamically, but then I don't see the canonical puddlejumper working without Ancient magic science either... *g*

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]kassie_opia
2008-05-08 09:40 pm UTC (link)
SGA production people? Please to be featuring a mechanical flying dinosaur in season 5? Thx.

This is great. Particular love for the engine and Shep's jacket ♥

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 09:51 pm UTC (link)
Thank you! I'm so glad you like the engine. I spent quite some time with this steampunk drawing tutorial, looking at steam engines, and figuring out engine parts and such, trying to make it convincing (well in the framework of steampowered pterodactyls anyway *g*), so I'm happy this paid off.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]beeej
2008-05-08 09:42 pm UTC (link)
Oh, how fantastic! I love it!

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 09:54 pm UTC (link)
Thank you.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]negolith2
2008-05-08 09:42 pm UTC (link)
YES!!!

And hey - a pterodactyl works fine. =^.^= Rodney would be soooo jealous.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 09:56 pm UTC (link)
I'm glad you like it, and I suspect that Rodney is the mad cutting-edge scientist behind the steam contraptions in this universe. *g*

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]kyuuketsukirui
2008-05-08 09:46 pm UTC (link)
Awesome! :D

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 09:57 pm UTC (link)
Thank you!

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]winter_elf
2008-05-08 09:58 pm UTC (link)
Too cool for words!!

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 10:21 pm UTC (link)
Yay, I'm glad you think so! (and that you still commented *g*)

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]astridv
2008-05-08 10:09 pm UTC (link)
Very very cool! Steampunk!jumper looks cute. No doubt, if John saw that thing, he'd want to take it on a testflight right away.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 10:20 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, John would probably make it do all kinds of things steam engines weren't meant to do, while Rodney would berate him about the limits of the technology (even with his awesome improvements to the steam engine) and his impending doom via crash landing.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]jhava
2008-05-08 10:19 pm UTC (link)
Absolutely gorgeous! The detail is incredible. Now did Rodney build that for him? :D

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 10:24 pm UTC (link)
Thanks, I'm glad you like the detail, I spent quite some time figuring out steamengine parts. And yeah, I guess Rodney might have built it in the Steampunk AU, or if they found the tech somehow like in canon, he at least fiddled with it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]leyna55
2008-05-08 10:34 pm UTC (link)
Excellent! Those wacky Ancients probably designed the puddlejumpers like this because pteradactyle are cool (Ancient aesthetics ftw!) I love all the mechanical bits and John in his flying rig.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 11:06 pm UTC (link)
Thank you, I'm glad you like it. And the Ancients probably bioengineered the pterodactyls to look like one of their designs in the first place... I mean, they did seed the galaxies and messed with evolution in the SG universe. *g*

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]ladyjax
2008-05-08 10:41 pm UTC (link)
I love it! It's clever and funny all at the same time.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 11:10 pm UTC (link)
Thank you. My style is better suited to steampunk gadgets that are quirky and funny rather than the more gloomy and gothic variants, so I'm glad you like the more lighthearted kind.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]friendshipper
2008-05-08 10:50 pm UTC (link)
OMG, that's simply *gorgeous*. I love all the mechanical details!

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 11:14 pm UTC (link)
Thank you! I'm glad the way I did the mechanics works for you. Before I tried to draw a steam engine I never realized just how little I knew about the details of the concept past the most general "water gets boiled into steam which moves a piston" part.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]unaccompanied_g
2008-05-08 10:55 pm UTC (link)
Wow, this is so cool!

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 11:19 pm UTC (link)
Thank you.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]summertea
2008-05-08 10:58 pm UTC (link)
Oh that is wicked.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 11:21 pm UTC (link)
Thanks, I'm glad you like it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]ileliberte
2008-05-08 11:45 pm UTC (link)
Oh, that is so cool! I love the design of the machine, the coloring is really fitting too, and Sheppard looks really gleeful :D

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-08 11:58 pm UTC (link)
Thank you! I imagined that in a Steampunk universe flying is even more of a novelty and special activity, so he'd be thrilled by the opportunity. (If Rodney did the designs for the first flying machines he'd probably gloat a lot at John...)

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]minnow1212
2008-05-08 11:54 pm UTC (link)
How *fun*.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-09 12:02 am UTC (link)
Thanks! With my style it was easier to go for quirky rather than gothic steampunk.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]aurora_84
2008-05-08 11:59 pm UTC (link)
Oh man, I love it! His face especially is just so happy-making.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-09 12:07 am UTC (link)
It's great to hear that it works for you. I imagined that in this kind of AU Sheppard would be really thrilled that finally tech was far along enough to make flying possible.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]renisanz
2008-05-09 12:11 am UTC (link)
Really cool. I love most that you did this in traditional media. Watercolors(?). All the details look really good, and I especially like how you painted the pterodactyl. John definitely looks like he's enjoying himself.

And the place where you blended the two pieces together isn't that noticeable really.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-09 12:25 am UTC (link)
Thanks, I'm glad you like it. I guess the visible break between the halves stands out to me because I tried for something like half an hour to figure out whether I could make it go away withouth distorting the colors...

I didn't use watercolors but acrylic paint, just not as thick impasto but as glazes with lots of water in them. Actual watercolors never worked for me, because I don't really know how to handle that they dissolve again in water rather than permanently drying, like when you paint layers over each other, also you don't have a white to use but have to do the highlights with the paper and water, which I find hard too. While I'm also actually still new to acrylic paint (this is only the fifth piece I used them to color, I started because my pet rats destroyed my tablet cable), they seem fairly easy to use, because once a glaze is dry you can just paint over it, and it either shines through or is covered depending on how opaque the next layer is.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)(Expand)

(no subject) - [info]renisanz, 2008-05-16 05:37 am UTC (Expand)

[info]creidh
2008-05-09 12:44 am UTC (link)
Wow! This is great!!

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-09 04:34 am UTC (link)
Thank you.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]crysothemis
2008-05-09 01:06 am UTC (link)
Hee! I love it, and so would John. Flying pterodactyls totally work for me.

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-09 04:46 am UTC (link)
I'm glad you like it. When I first had the idea to make the AU puddlejumper a mechanical animal that thought was immediately followed by "but that would never fly for real" but then by "it's not like SGA is hard SF in canon", so I just went with what looked cool and was fun to draw. Though I did look at lots of reference pictures of historical machines and their parts, and steampunk tutorials to make it look like it could exist.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]calcitrix
2008-05-09 02:15 am UTC (link)
Ooh, that's neat! I love all the cogs and gauges and gadgets! And as for doing it in acrylic--wow! I completely fail at acrylic, no matter what I try. Nice work!

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-09 05:15 am UTC (link)
Thank you, it's great to hear the machine details work for you, I spent quite some time looking at engine explanations and historical machine photos so I'm happy that effort paid off. (Yay for children's lexicons on the history of technology, that was the book I found with the best close-up photos of many old engines and mechanical part rather than just showing tiny pictures of complete old machines where you couldn't make out the details, and it explained how everything worked too! *g*)

I'm still fairly new to acrylics, as this is only the fifth piece I used them to color (I started because my pet rats destroyed my tablet cable...) but I found them much easier than water colors, which I can never make work right. I mean, I use the acrylic paint mostly in thin glazes so that they give kind of a water color effect and only to color inked lineart so far rather than true painting, but I tend to think of the acrylic paint as "water color for dummies" because they won't dissolve again and you can just paint layers over each other until you have a color and shades you like, plus you have a white for highlights.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]propinquitine
2008-05-09 03:25 am UTC (link)
Oh, a pterajumper! (puddledactyl?) What a clever re-imagining of jumpers in steampunk mode! I really like the jointed tail and the gears and springs in the landing gear; the level of detail in this is fantastic. And John's little grin--he looks absolutely thrilled with his awesome toy (as well he should!).

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-09 05:21 am UTC (link)
Thank you. When I tried to imagine how a steampunk puddlejumper could look, I thought about all the steampunk walkers and arrived at "okay, what if it could could really jump, like with *legs*, a mechanical animal," but then I wanted Sheppard to be able to fly them, so I got to the idea of making it a mechanical pterodactyl.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]tardis80
2008-05-09 03:28 am UTC (link)
that is really really awesome. Steampunk machines FTW!

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-09 05:30 am UTC (link)
The steampunk machine turned out to be a lot of fun to draw, though at times I despaired, once I realized how little I actually knew about mechanical and engine stuff (when claiming the prompt I hadn't thought much past "gears and goggles look cool" *g*). Thankfully I found a steampunk drawing tutorial for the basics, and a children's picture lexicon on the history of technology with lots of close-up photos of old engines, machines and mechanical parts, that showed the working bits large rather than just tiny pictures of complete old machines where you can't really see anything, and it explained how everything worked in simple terms too. I'm glad you like how it turned out.

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]cupidsbow
2008-05-09 03:29 am UTC (link)
That's awesome! I love its feet. :)

(Reply to this) (Thread)


[info]ratcreature
2008-05-09 05:34 am UTC (link)
Thanks. When I tried to reimagine the puddlejumper I thought about all the steampunk walkers I've seen and that a jumper could be able to literally jump on legs, but then I also wanted to make it fly for Sheppard rather than just a walker, thus the pterodactyl. But really the feet came first. *g*

(Reply to this) (Parent)


Page 1 of 3
<<[1] [2] [3] >>

Create an Account
Forgot your login?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…