Steampunk Sketches ("Gas Mask Woman")

The Designer and I have been talking over ideas for a number of things. In due course, I got out the paints (well, metaphorically, they sort of live on the dining room table now) and we played around with them.

The idea was for a underbust-corset-like-thing with a row of buckles going down. Something like the back of the steampunk dress, only in the front and with much bigger, chunkier buckles.

The skirt is supposed to be made of quite a stiff material with mesh between. Something like an Irish dancing skirt, apparently.

And the woman is wearing a shirt, it just happens to be white.

Why exactly she is wearing a gas mask is more or less unknown, likewise with the spiky helmet. The Designer felt it appropriate and I painted it before he rethought the decision. It more or less adds to the steampunk quotient of the sketch.

Note the signature: I've finally managed to convince him to sign one of his sketches. Though, this one, like many others is technically a collaborative effort (I painted Gas Mask Lady, though he inked and sketched her). The Designer hovers over a lot of my sketching, offering suggestions - if you see something cool, it probably came from him.

The the dress came from a flippant remark from the Designer concerning the replacement of buckles for buttons wherever possible in steampunk clothing. We were watching Sweeney Todd shortly thereafter and the idea came about to apply this principle to the clothing therein. In particular, Johanna's blue gown with triangle cutouts.

Here, you see a red and black gown with triangle cutout and instead of buttons holding overlap together, we have buckles. Instead of ruffles on the skirt, I essentially drew the skirt from the Steampunk Dress.

It seems attractive enough, but part of me thinks this has more to do with how the shapes work together and that the tails from the buckles would rather detract from that, but it was fun to draw.