I-Wei Huang, Artist and Steamfunk Creator
While surfing the net I came across I-Wei Huang, a visual drawing and animation artist - See some of his work here Crabfu, and creator of small steam powered creatures.
I was fascinated by his use of steam to power his creations and his emulation of living things such as Centipedes, Spiders, Beetle, Turtles, Crabs, etc… he also did a Rover. I also appreciated the detail in his work and how he talks briefly about the challenges he had. in fact he stresses that he is “first and formost and artist”.
After getting his first steam engine he was fascinated in how it ran. He wanted to then buy steam vehicles but then realized that no one made them - so this was the start of his creations. His design process includes sketches and the breakdown of parts he needs, and lots of trial and errors. So far fine tuning the gear ratios for his machines seemed to be an ongoing challenge.
I particularly like the engineering and his use of gears. Some of these things we covered in our Mechanisms class which solidified my understanding of the scope of his works. It’s also a cross between the old and the new.
For more of his work visit his website Crabfu