The term "Cyberpunk" is formed from two components:

• "cyber" refers to "cybernetics" and new technologies associated particularly with computing

• "punk" refers to the counter-culture movement of that name.

 

 

 

Cyberpunk worlds are filled with violence and pessimism; they are often bleak; the characters are disillusioned, cynical, and greedy anti-heroes.

 

• Cyberpunk questions the definition of human and artificial

• Often the cyberpunk universe depicts a post-apocalyptic or decadent evolution of our society in a near future, portraying a pessimistic, lost society, oppressed by perpetual violence and very often enslaved by a quasi-totalitarian power.

 

Keywords:

 

Cybernetics, multinational corporations, cold grey and polluted universe, artificial intelligence, anti-hero, luminous advertising signs, neon, post-apocalyptic world, robotics, dirty...

Graffiti

In a cyberpunk illustration, you can use street art and thus graffiti. To do this, you can exaggerate your writing by making large letters that interlock. Here is my own alphabet.

For the line art, I used a special brush designed for this purpose. I made thick outlines and let the ink bleed in some places for added realism.

 

I then colored it. I added paint splatters in the background, used a red to white gradient on the letters, then added a slight gray shadow to the left of the letters with an Airbrush, and with the G pen, I added light areas on the right with white lines.

You can also download a ready-made brush with various graffiti.

Outfits

 

Personally, I'd like a fairly distinctive clothing style for a character in a cyberpunk universe.

 

I use streetwear fashion with a slight punk touch.

 

You can add chains, gas masks, zippers, straps, etc.

 

Here are different outfits I've been able to create. This would help me later in creating a character design.

Here are four brushes you can download to help you with your characters' outfits.

Gas Masks

A distinct element of cyberpunk is gas masks; you can have them in different shapes and colors. I've made three for you to show possible combinations, but you can search for references online.

To give your mask more realism, don't hesitate to use textures. I really like the rust textures below.

 

I've also included an old tutorial for learning how to colonize metal with a robot.

Character Design

I tried to do several character designs.

When you need to create a character, don't hesitate to do several drawings; the first attempts are never the best.

Having an idea of your character's personality, past, and goals can help you build them.

 

 

Finally, among my 4 character designs, I chose the third one which fit better into a cyberpunk universe.

 

The first one was too punk

The second one had no cybernetic elements.

And the fourth one was too simple for my taste and too versatile.

Architecture

I live near a city (Charleroi) that has a post-apocalyptic appearance and a perfect atmosphere for a cyberpunk universe. For many years, it was even proclaimed the ugliest/most depressing city in the world.

Personally, I find it has its charms.

So I decided to take some photos and modify their color values and saturation.

I could use these photos as references.

Don't hesitate to walk around your neighborhood and take photos and videos to build up a stock of references to use for your works.

I wanted to create an illustration where the architecture engulfs the character. So I made a huge industrial building with large luminous advertising signs, a city in the background, and the chimney of a nuclear power plant in the background spewing smoke.

I primarily used shades of gray and ochre, as well as very bright and neon colors for the luminous signs.

My goal is to create a dirty, polluted atmosphere with very bright and saturated colors to counterbalance the colder colors of concrete, brick, and urban elements.

 

To achieve this, I used a lot of highly textured brushes and layers in glow dodge mode for the luminous signs. I also used a graffiti brush for the wall.

Here are some brushes I used to create this illustration.

To add texture to my illustration, I used this set of textures

But you can also find cityscapes perfect for the cyberpunk universe. Example below

Here's a small time-lapse of the coloring process.

Thank you all for following my tutorial, I hope it has given you ideas for your future creations.