Our Gallery: So Close to Reality

Today, we are proud to present Waldemar Kazak, an illustrator from Tver, Russia. Mr. Kazak is very active in the media. There are just a few dieselpunk-related works in his portfolio, but quantity doesn’t really matter: Mr. Kazak is a house name in the diesel crowd and his art is appreciated by the dieselheads all over the globe. Here are some paintings, in chronological order – from 2008, when his DeviantArt gallery was discovered by dieselpunk community, through 2012.

Monster House by Waldemar Kazak (2008)

Dystopian dieselpunk can be fun. It is possible to turn horror into a cartoon. And humor can provoke serious thoughts without being too weird or too bitter.

 

Our Gallery: From a Parallel Universe

José García aka Cutangus is a former tank commander, Spanish Army. From early 2000s he’s building an alternative universe of his own – with hordes of scary vehicles, aircraft and, recently, mechanical soldiers. Here’s a quote from his Flickr profile:

Tired of the tyranny of the flesh, I became involved in secret experiments related to the translation of human conscience to bioelectric devices. The result is that I’m currently enclosed in Fugaco-class mechanical bodies, actually under development.

We are happy to present a selection of Cutangus’ artwork, in chronological order. Every image is linked to its Flickr page.

AVT-260-N. An imaginary war machine belonging to the German Imperial Army, has the Great War lasted four or five years more.

AERODYNE-Y II. Invented design of a three-fuselage destroyer aircraft of 1945 vintage.

 

Our Gallery: Diesel Era Giants

When we talk dieselpunk, ‘megalomania’ doesn’t sound like an obscenity or a diagnosis. The genre is inspired by the Interbellum aesthetics, and no one can argue that between two world wars size did matter, the bigger the better. In this gallery there are no abandoned projects and paper designs. Only real giants.

Let us begin with an undisputed dieselpunk icon, the airship. Not just a dirigible but a flying aircraft carrier:

Flying aircraft carrier (PopMech, May 1942)

The concept was already obsolete when this picture was published but carrier airships existed a few years before – see USS Macon and Akron.

Another nice try to increase the operating range of piston-engine aircraft: the Mayo project:

Short S20 Mayo 'Mercury' & Short Empire 'Maia' flying boat

The Short Empire Class S.21 Maia was not the largest flying boat of the period – but large and powerful enough to carry a four-engine floatplane.

 

Our Gallery: The Machines of Atlantis

Fleet review by vnetwatnik @ LJ

The Atlantic Republic project is jointly developed in Russian-speaking LiveJournal community Atlantic Republic – A Dieselpunk Legend.
In March 2010, the setting was outlined in English on Dieselpunks.org and in January 2012, a short story by Ignat Solovey was published on the same network.

The year is presumably 1934, no exact date given. The Republic is going to celebrate its Centennial – with navy review, air parade, and every kind of festivals. Of course there are pirates, spies, at least one Mad Scientist, brave sailors and aviators, femmes fatales and lady adventurers. And lots of Dieselpunk – factories and workshops, weird airplanes, flying aircraft carriers, streamlined trains, air taxicabs, destructive secret weapons, etc. etc.

The multi-faceted story of the Republic unfolds in an alternative world a bit more happier than ours, no Great Depression or Nazi threat. Nevertheless, the Modern Atlantis does everything possible (and impossible) for self-defense, hence a multitude of military machines – along with civil cars, diesel trains, airliners and mailplanes. Enjoy.

Gwook floatplane fighter pursuing a pirate aircraft