Artist Krista Brennan adds a touch of bespoke technology to Kenneth Grahame's classic tale of a curious mole, a leisure-loving rat, and the fad-crazed Mr. Toad, lending her own vision to the characters and their world.


For her Steam in the Willows illustrations, Brennan takes as her inspiration the industrial era in which Grahame was writing, but chooses to celebrate artisanal technology in lieu of mass production, while adding the occasional flourishes of steampunk-style retrofuturism and Art Nouveau. And the natural world that Grahame paid tribute to is present alongside her mechanical fishing poles and phonograms.

Thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign, Brennan is planning to release a new edition of The Wind in the Willows featuring her steam-powered illustrations. You can see more at the project's website and Brennan's deviantART page.


[Steam in the Willows]