Concepts of the future for the way we live our lives have been expressed in forms of art, design, movies, comics, and even cartoons. For many decades before man even landed on the Moon, people have been fascinated with space and the endless possibilities it could bring. The future is not only about being in space, though it has a major influence, it lies within your innovative minds and skills as the designer and artist. So, whether you go back into the past or here in the present, the future is all that we envision.
It wasn’t too many years ago when amazing tools such as 3ds Max, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or even Corel Draw weren’t around. Illustrations were drawn by hand using chalks, colored pencils, paints, and pens. With typography, you could find artists/ designers also using fountain pens or calligraphy pens with a large variety of nibs, along with bottles of colored ink. Even today, you will still find designers and architects who use tools such as the t-square, triangular scales, triangle, french curve, and of course, your basic compass.
You may also be interested in the following related posts:
- If Famous Graphic Artists Were Web Designers…
- Design Discussion with Artist James White
- Celebration Of Vintage and Retro Design
- Pop Art Is Alive: Classics and Modern Artworks
- Learning From The Past: Design Legacies & Arts
Times do change and so do the concepts of what to expect in the future. We would like to share with you a collection of retro futuristic designs and tutorials that will inspire you for your future creations. If you like the designs, please take the time to visit the sites of the artist/ designer by clicking on the illustration or title.
Beautiful Retro Futuristic Artworks
USS - a portfolio of probabilities
Vintage DHARMA ads Incredible vintage Dharma Initiative posters created by Adam Campbell.
The Apple Store That Almost Was Before there was the Apple Store that we know and love today, there was the Apple Cafe — well, almost. On November 12, 1996, Apple announced plans to open a chain of cybercafes around the globe. State-of-the-art, even by today’s standards, Apple Cafes promised health-conscious food (served up via a high-tech ordering system), video conferencing with neighboring diners, and on-demand access of movies and music videos. A screenshot from an old promo gives us a few clues as to how some of this might have worked.
“P” is for Possibilities of the Future
Striking Spaceship Squadron
Exterior Double Cylinder Colony
Futuristic Train
Retro Futurism Artworks by Klaus Bürgle
Tutorials
Futuristic Athlete design and tutorial Using multiple layers and brushes, this tutorial will show you how to create a futuristic athlete.
Creating The New Retro Graphic designer James White shows you how to give retro-style graphics your own modern-day spin.
Speed Lightning Effect This tutorial will show you how to manipulate natural lighting to fill a motion filled scene. Use masks to blend the effect over a car image to make the car appear to be in motion.
Design a retro futurism space scene In this tutorial, you will learn how to design a retro-futuristic space scene, using a variety of lighting effects and photo manipulation.
How to Make Retro Futuristic Curves in 10 Steps In this tutorial, you will learn how to achieve the space like scenery with the glowing lines. Using Illustrator and Photoshop you?ll learn how to add subtle effects using textures and different blending modes.
Futuristic Abstract Tutorial In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a futuristic abstract poster design using layer styles, shapes and ‘space’ effects.
Steampunk Style Illustration In this tutorial, you will be using light sources, shadows, and image grading to go back in time with this design.
Further Resources
- 50 Beautiful Movie Posters
- Grunge-style in Modern Web Design
- 30 Beautiful Vintageretro Photoshop Tutorials
- 50 Stunning PhotoShop Text Effect Tutorials
- 45 Vintage Space Age Illustrations
- Retro Futurism: In The Year 2000 Flickr Pool
- Future Past: 173 Radical Retrofuturistic Directions in Design & Technology
- Retro Futurism: Russian LiveJournal Community