Art Inspiration: Staff Cartoons The Journey Together: Steampunk Group 01

 

“Sometimes it’s the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination.” Drake

 

“Friends are as companions on a journey, who ought to aid each other to persevere in the road to a happier life.” Pythagoras

 

Inspiration and Imagination, two things that every artist needs and is as difficult to find as buried treasure. But once you find it the world is you oyster. Many people have told me that I inspire the children and people in general with what I do. Whether creating art, playing baseball or trying to improve my life, people say that I have inspired others to try new things and look inside themselves. I have always found this interesting because I get my inspiration from these very people. Whether it is a child asking me about Mythology or talking to people about a number of different topics, they have all inspired me to create and use my imagination to bring the impossible to life.

A prime example is when I draw the staff at my school as cartoon characters or caricatures. It started one year around Christmas when we have our Christmas concert and staff dinner. Always after the concert, we go out for dinner and we exchange gifts, such as a Chris Kringle. I wanted to liven things up and instead of giving Christmas cards, I decided to create my own with the staff members as a caricature.

This specific year I was at teacher’s college and I spent more time with my follow teacher candidates and anyone else. In many ways they inspired me all yearlong and that inspiration gave birth some new caricatures.   I continued with my favorite style Steampunk. Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction and fantasy that came out of literary works such as Jules Vern and H.G. Wells. But Steampunk can be best described by breaking up the word. “Steam” represents the era mostly the early industrial age around the Victorian Era. “Punk” represents rebellion or going against the norm.

The “Punk” or rebellion goes for going against what is expected on the technology level as well as societal norms. On the technology level you see cars that are steamed powered, flying dirigibles or airships the size and look of sailing vessels or steam-powered walking machines.   Yet when it comes to rebellion on the societal side it affects women the most. During this time women were relegated to subordinates to the men, covering up themselves, not taking up employment or independent behaviour. That is why in Steampunk you will see many women showing cleavage or wearing short skirts and showing a lot of leg to show off their stockings.

Between classes, lesson plans work and other things it took quit a while to create the caricatures. But once my fellow teacher candidates received them they loved the cards and caricatures. In the next few weeks I will be posting a few of the characters from the cards because these people inspired me to create these characters on our ‘Journey Together’ through teacher’s college. Hopefully they can spur imagination and inspire others.

 

Steampunk Group 1

 

I was with this group from almost the beginning of the school year in teacher’s college.   We grow, learned together and supported each other throughout the year. It was amazing to be apart of this special group of individuals and I wanted to give them something that they could remember with happy memories of fellowship and a shared experience. The title The Journey Together is self-explanatory. We journeyed through teacher’s college through the good and bad times. We ended up with a great adventure, tremendous stories and experiences to remember for a lifetime.

When I gave them their individual caricatures’, I also gave them this group image. It has all of them and myself as The Captain (of course). They all loved it and couldn’t stop talking about it. I hope you enjoy the first steampunk caricature group from “The Journey Together.”

Steampunk Group 01 – Close group