Meaning:
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction (or Sci-Fi) which often focuses on a dystopian society that revolves around high technology progression in a low society. Sometimes it shows virtual reality settings or high tech based cities. Society wise it can be lawless and low from people developing different values over time, as many of the cyberpunk settings are based in the future.
Cyberpunk isn’t to be confused with the goth subculture “Cybergoth” (or “Technogoth”). This was a mistake I made when thinking of cyberpunk. Cybergoth was a fashion genre I was interested in when I was in highschool and it was the very first thing I thought of.
Actual cyberpunk fashion is much cleaner, practical and rarely has colour. I will keep this goth genre in mind just in case I can do something with it.
Mindmap:
To kick off research I began with a mind map for the theme of cyberpunk, I wrote down everything that came to mind and branched off from each one until I couldn’t think of anything. Things like fashion, technology, environments and media all came to mind. Cyberpunk often has lawless themes and corrupt society and order, I thought of black mirror as many of the societies are corrupt in the episodes. I put down cybergoth and the costumes from the hunger games because of how out there, bright, dark and sleek they are. The cities I thought of all have bright lights and advertising, something I’ve seen a lot in cyberpunk cities.
Initial mood boards:
CyberPunk fashion mood board:
This mood board is for CyberPunk fashion, this is a really broad topic to cover as it’s clothing, make-up, hair and accessories. If I go down a character design route for the project I’ll look into specifics, but for now this is just a general overview.
Something I brought up earlier was “Cybergoth”, I actually did include it in this mood board as it was something I thought of with the fashion, as well as this I could adapt elements of the fashion to fit more of a cyberpunk theme. The Cybergoth fashion is very diy with it’s wigs and outfits overall, the wigs can be made from foam, plastic, metal, fabric and faux hair. I could have a play around with it in the future and see what could be added into Cyberpunk, goggles can be found in cyberpunk which is a big feature in cyber goth so I could easily take that element from the fashion.
A lot of the cyber punk fashion was really sleek and just black and others were bright and out there. While it isn’t cyberpunk media I thought of the hunger games, in the capitol the citizens will either wear bright, big outfits with crazy hair and make-up, and the higher ups wear much sleeker, simpler and darker clothing. This made me think of the lawless concepts in the cyberpunk theme due to the values of the capitol.
CyberPunk environments mood board:
This moodboard is for cyberpunk environments, cyberpunk features very urban environments, this is new to me so this project could be a great opportunity to practice urban settings.
The majority of cyberpunk settings that I have seen are based at night with moody lighting. Just like fashion you get sleek and clean environments along with gritty unkept ones. It just depends what your going for. The moody lighting is something I really like and the lights remind me of times square, Tokyo and nightclubs all at once. A colour palette I would like to try is a vaporwave palette if I choose to do environments, the moody lighting would be a good opportunity to play with colour. Nightclubs, bars, garages, labs, alleys and streets are all commonly used environments in cyberpunk so these are all options for me.
CyberPunk weapons and body enhancements:
In character design weapons and accessories are big parts of the design. These are often obtained and added on by the character themselves. These can include artificial limbs, eye pieces, knives and guns. Sometimes it can be used for fashion purposes or it can be used for fighting. Cyberpunk is said to have lawless themes a good amount of a time so the excessive possession of weapons makes a lot of sense in the settings and with the types of characters that have the weapons.
Many of the weapons are sleek with neon detailing to them, some are completely sleek and the design mirrors some of the design trends with clothing, if I was to do characters I could easily match the weapons with corresponding outfits in the design.
CyberPunk vehicles:
Vehicles are really popular on the tech side of cyberpunk and would be completely new territory of me if I chose to go down a tech route. Like the weapons some cars are dark and sleek while others are bright, broken and are bulky. It’s interesting to see how different vehicles that have different purposes are designed differently with their colours and shapes. This would be really interesting to play around design wise with the colours and shapes. The small floating cars have really caught my eye (they aren’t cyberpunk but I could definitely play around with the concepts).
Roxanne's Development Blog (Second year) 