I Am Passionate About Retro-Futurism, Here Are My 30 Sketches Of The Nostalgic Future

I am a 47-year-old French expat living in Denmark. I was diagnosed late in life with Asperger and ADHD. At 41 years old, I was a stay-at-home dad with 2 young boys and I picked up a pen looking for nothing more than a hobby. As my skills grew, so did my interest in my work, leading to me now working as an illustrator and concept artist. It all happened pretty organically and I feel very lucky to have caught some attention on platforms like Instagram and Reddit.

As for drawing, I've been a lifelong sci-fi lover, so drawing spaceships and, later, environments came naturally.

I think all parts of the drawing process have their challenges, but the most difficult one for me is probably the coloring. Light can make or break a drawing and the traditional process is quite unforgiving. Strangely, it's also the part I enjoy the most. Additionally, I encounter the frustration of one of my markers consistently running out of ink in the midst of the creative process.

For the most part, my inspiration comes from my childhood: the sci-fi movies, series, and cartoons of the '70s and '80s. Think of the first Alien movies, Outlander, 2010, Blade Runner, etc. Later in life, I developed an interest in architecture and design (especially the '60s/'80s era) that fit the sci-fi/cyberpunk/dystopian themes of my drawings.

I don't consciously imply a message or emotion in my drawings, yet they all seem to carry some political and social satire as well as a sense of nostalgia and isolation. So even if I don't necessarily mean it, my drawings are infused with my own views and feelings... it's as inevitable as it is strange to me.

Lastly, I'll just say that I feel very lucky and privileged to be able to extract these images from my head and put them on paper. The fact people now seek me out and trust me to bring their concepts to life with my own touch and personality is incredibly rewarding.

I have also created a print store where high-quality, limited-edition prints of some of my personal works are available. You can find it here: penguinkstudio.myshopify.com.