A Krypton Radio exclusive interview by, Senior Editor, PK
Artist works to create Steampunk children’s alphabet book with help from Kickstarter Campaign
When you talk to people outside of the Steampunk culture, they sometimes will know what it is. Often pointing to images of dirigible airships with men and women dressed head-to-toe in Victorian England inspired clothing adorned with brass accents and clockwork accessories. Portland, Oregon based artist Nat Iwata was until a few years ago an outsider to the culture like many, until his work sent him head-first into the visual side of the steam-powered world. Nat through his work as a freelance game artist was hired to work on a Steampunk computer game and became fascinated by the world of yesteryear that might have been. Nat is also is a father of three young boys, who he wanted to share his new found fascination of Steampunk with. Using his creative talents and a moment of inspiration, he decided to create a children’s alphabet book using Steampunk visual elements to aid in the learning process.
“Every family needs an alphabet book. That’s a given. But when I set out to find a compelling Steampunk themed ABC book, I was shocked to find there wasn’t one. I’ve been doing steampunk art for several years in the video game industry, and now I’m on a mission to illustrate a visually compelling, fun for all ages Steampunk Alphabet book, the one I wanted to buy.”
So while Nat works diligently on the book, he’s established a Kickstarter campaign to help him with covering the costs of production and eventually publishing the book. His current goal is $7,500 with hopes to raise the needed funds by July 26. He’s so far raised $1,748 with 43 backers. For those unfamiliar with the Kickstarter service; Kickstarter is a U.S. based website where anyone can setup a campaign and request donations to help them achieve whatever goals they’re trying to fund.
“One of my goals with this book is to make it approachable to both fans, and those unfamiliar with Steampunk. In light of that, while all of the illustrations are total Steampunk, the opening ‘letter sentence’ for each page is a familiar word. For example “A is for Apple.”
I reached out to Mr. Iwata for an interview to get some details on his inspiration and his experiences with the Steampunk Culture:
