I like the way the wings come out of the arms on that version. It's different than a lot of mech suit designs I've seen, and different is always good.
I know! And trying to get the appearance of something that looks functional (for a mech suit), while also unique is turning out to be the hard part, especially while I still struggle with contrivances like perspective and proportion!
I also have this idea of mounting the wings on the shoulder pauldrons, which would actually reflect anatomy better. What matters is that the back-mounted weaponry has room to maneuver. This would also make room for little things like shields and arm-mounted weaponry.
I worked a little more on Design A, including a back view. Also worked on refining the details into something more than a rough doodle, but it's occurred to me WAY after the fact that how I organize the details and notes can make a difference in read/viewability. Lessons learned for when I work on Design B.
Covid forced me to take an involuntary break. Thanks a lot, you useless pestilence. For the past few days, I've been feeling well enough to try to take advantage of my pestilence-inflicted status.
While fooling around on Pinterest, I discovered the wonderful concept of a Ship a Day.
I spent way too much time on what should have been completed in an hour, but wanted to experiment with this Panther Chameleon pattern that I wanted to experiment with, hence the name. I'm probably going to have to focus on shape for now if I want to continue doing a Ship a Day, while also continuing the mech suit design process simultaneously (which I would)!
Combining the aesthetics of Outlaw Star with Star Trek has allured me for a while, and it is probably no coincidence that I choose the same base color for the hull. There is just something retro about starships that land on their tail. It's also probably impractical for a ship that size to land on it's butt.
THIS shows the size comparison, revealing that the Orion class is even bigger and longer than the (probably) contemporary NX class, probably close to or even over 300m. That, and an attempt to play around with perspective. I'm tempted to call this the Orion class, after the proposed project of the same name, which for better or worse, was cancelled. There is some speculation that the project was continued or replaced with a Secret Space Program with alien technology, but that's another discussion.
Anyways, just because these suckers were bigger than a Daedalus, or even NX class, and rivaled a Yorktown class in size, doesn't mean that they were more advanced. To the contrary, they would have lacked fancy technology like transporters, gravimetric impulse drives, protection would have come only from ablative hull plating. In other words, they would have been primitive in comparison to the Constitution class, as stated by Spock regarding ship designs of the Romulan Wars. Full control over artificial gravity by this time would have been a must for entering and exiting these ships planetside however, and I probably should have designed the deck layout more like a building, but the Outlaw Star influence was too strong.
Finally, these monsters would have been capable of WF-4, on account of their massive warp nacelles powered by equally massive fusion reactors. These would have been at the limit of fusion's capabilities.
I'm not sure WHEN or WHERE these things would have been active. Perhaps a little before the NX and Daedalus classes. Less likely Maybe during or after the Romulan War. Probably in an alternate timeline before the Temporal Cold War, or even because of it.
It's always nice to see some pre-Federation ST stuff. I like the obvious Vulcan influences.
Yes, Vulcan influences. Totally not influenced by the Outlaw Star. Although now that I think of it, I have to wonder if it was the Vulcan ships had not just a retro rocketship influence, but an anime influence too, especially that deep red color is a match (at least for the Surak class).
Ship of the Day #02 The result of listening to a Youtube video on an alleged war between the Atlantians and Lumerians. You know, Ancient Advanced Civilization stuff. The Sanskrit script and energy crystals are intentional design elements.
I've never even heard of Outlaw Star. (I don't do a lot of anime) I was referring to the ring engines used on Vulcan ships. This is the influence for those:
As far as what influenced Eaves, it's hard to say. However, looking at the Outlaw Star Wiki, it looks like the manga came out the same year as First Contact, and the anime two years later.
I've never even heard of Outlaw Star. (I don't do a lot of anime) I was referring to the ring engines used on Vulcan ships. This is the influence for those:
As far as what influenced Eaves, it's hard to say. However, looking at the Outlaw Star Wiki, it looks like the manga came out the same year as First Contact, and the anime two years later.
No worries, I know exactly what you were talking about. I love the Vulcan ships, and I also love how the Surak has a color scheme similar to the Outlaw Star, and I have to wonder if John Eaves was a fan of the show, or if it was just a wonderful coincidence. Outlaw Star was a part of my childhood, and is one of many creative designs to come out of Japan. They would probably would have aired in the US around the same time as ENT.
As for what I was thinking: the two major influences was the IXS Enterprise by Mark Rademaker, and that definitely can be traced to the XCV-330 type, and I combined that with design elements from the Outlaw Star. Turns out that sticking a saucer onto a rocket shape works out rather nicely, and I think it's a shame that something similar wasn't done for the NX class.
My idea of having both a warp ring and nacelle setup is that Earth experimented with a hybrid warp drive, using the nacelles for short sprints and maneuvering at warp, because while it was easier to achieve higher WF using the massive ring, altering the warp field to change bearing was something it was terrible at.
The idea of it landing on it's tail was also influenced by Outlaw Star, traditional pulp science fiction, and even contemporary rockets, which appears it might become a tradition. I considering giving the ship THREE or FOUR nacelles, but there is a reason why ships with three or four warp nacelles didn't exist at the time, and I didn't want to contradict the story of the USS Tritium and her unbalanced tri-nacelle disaster when I could just turn the other two engines into fusion scramjets instead. The nacelles are mostly there to act as traditional landing stilts, just like in old-fashioned pulp science fiction.
SOTD: I was originally going to combine aspects of something called a Higaaran something with the dropship from Aliens, but didn't look at either, so it came out as some other kind of drop or attack ship. Pew pew pew!!!
I've never even heard of Outlaw Star. (I don't do a lot of anime) I was referring to the ring engines used on Vulcan ships. This is the influence for those:
As far as what influenced Eaves, it's hard to say. However, looking at the Outlaw Star Wiki, it looks like the manga came out the same year as First Contact, and the anime two years later.
No worries, I know exactly what you were talking about. I love the Vulcan ships, and I also love how the Surak has a color scheme similar to the Outlaw Star, and I have to wonder if John Eaves was a fan of the show, or if it was just a wonderful coincidence. Outlaw Star was a part of my childhood, and is one of many creative designs to come out of Japan. They would probably would have aired in the US around the same time as ENT.
As for what I was thinking: the two major influences was the IXS Enterprise by Mark Rademaker, and that definitely can be traced to the XCV-330 type, and I combined that with design elements from the Outlaw Star. Turns out that sticking a saucer onto a rocket shape works out rather nicely, and I think it's a shame that something similar wasn't done for the NX class.
My idea of having both a warp ring and nacelle setup is that Earth experimented with a hybrid warp drive, using the nacelles for short sprints and maneuvering at warp, because while it was easier to achieve higher WF using the massive ring, altering the warp field to change bearing was something it was terrible at.
The idea of it landing on it's tail was also influenced by Outlaw Star, traditional pulp science fiction, and even contemporary rockets, which appears it might become a tradition. I considering giving the ship THREE or FOUR nacelles, but there is a reason why ships with three or four warp nacelles didn't exist at the time, and I didn't want to contradict the story of the USS Tritium and her unbalanced tri-nacelle disaster when I could just turn the other two engines into fusion scramjets instead. The nacelles are mostly there to act as traditional landing stilts, just like in old-fashioned pulp science fiction.
Yeah, John Eaves might be an anime fan. It may have even been his inspiration. I used to follow his blog back when he updated it (before life made that impossible for him) and he used to share some cool stories, but I don't remember if he posted anything about the T-Plana-Hath. I've always loved the design, though, and how he and Doug Drexler drew from that design when they designed the Vulcan ships for Enterprise.
I've been getting into anime more myself these past few years. I find streaming has helped me in that regard, as I find stuff more accessible. When Enterprise was airing, I was in the Army and I often didn't have time for watching TV. In fact, I mostly caught Enterprise in syndication years later. However, since you've let me know Outlaw Star is a thing, I did a search and easily found it on both Funimation and Crunchyroll, so I'll have to give it a look. That's how I got into Dragon Ball last year, I started watching both the original anime and DBZ on Funimation, then I wound up buying both series.
As for your work, I love what you're doing. Mixing stuff from different Sci-Fi franchises is really cool when done right, and you're definitely doing it right. Since you posted the link to the Outlaw Star, I can totally see the influences both from that and various Trek designs. I agree that humans would have tried different configurations for warp drives before settling on the familiar Starfleet designs, so mixing traditional nacelles and ring engines to see what works best makes sense to me.
I like the drop/attack ship. I can definitely see the Alien influences.
I've been getting into anime more myself these past few years. I find streaming has helped me in that regard, as I find stuff more accessible. When Enterprise was airing, I was in the Army and I often didn't have time for watching TV. In fact, I mostly caught Enterprise in syndication years later. However, since you've let me know Outlaw Star is a thing, I did a search and easily found it on both Funimation and Crunchyroll, so I'll have to give it a look. That's how I got into Dragon Ball last year, I started watching both the original anime and DBZ on Funimation, then I wound up buying both series.
As for your work, I love what you're doing. Mixing stuff from different Sci-Fi franchises is really cool when done right, and you're definitely doing it right. Since you posted the link to the Outlaw Star, I can totally see the influences both from that and various Trek designs. I agree that humans would have tried different configurations for warp drives before settling on the familiar Starfleet designs, so mixing traditional nacelles and ring engines to see what works best makes sense to me.
Dragonball Z was no small part of my childhood, and Outlaw Star aired on the Toonami block way back in the day. I just loved the world-building and characters, and I've been hooked on anime ever since. Like I said, a lot of designs in Japanese anime are often unique and aesthetically pleasing.
I had no idea that you were a recent fan of the series. From your profile icon, I would have thought you also grew up with the series! If you haven't watched Outlaw Star, I would totally recommend it. It's only one season long, but I find that the characters are fun and likable much like in Dragonball, the world-building is well done for only one season, and I feel that the animation holds up nice even to this day, and like most Japanese science fiction series, has some nice ship designs, and no shortage of background ships too.
I would imagine that serving in the military doesn't leave much time for TV. Thank you for your service!
And thanks for the complement! I often find that the Japanese designers will take different design elements, and I will admit that when I am feeling in need of inspiration, that's one of the first places I'll go. They even make what should be oddball design choices, like Space Battleship Yamato, feel like they wouldn't be completely dysfunctional, while also just looking aesthetically pleasing, while Outlaw Star draws influence from the American Space Age design aesthetic such as Flash Gordan, but in a way that is also modern and refreshing.
Now, onto ship of the day #004: What Happens When I Turn the Starfleet Insignia Into a Shuttlepod. Something's gotta replace the Type 16, 17, or whatever Shuttlepod. Also took the opportunity to practice a bit of shading, lighting, and color.
And I haven't stopped working on my mech suit. I might end up making the legs longer, but that is what the rough process is for.
The arms and sword was influenced by the Geno Breaker's X-Breaker (from Zoids), and the Exia Gundam's huge honking sword (from Gundam 00). A shield is just such a great way to mount weapons of various kinds.
I love the idea of turning the Starfleet delta into a shuttle. The work you're doing on that design so far is cool. It's also nice to see that you're still working on the mech suit.
Dragonball Z was no small part of my childhood, and Outlaw Star aired on the Toonami block way back in the day. I just loved the world-building and characters, and I've been hooked on anime ever since. Like I said, a lot of designs in Japanese anime are often unique and aesthetically pleasing.
I had no idea that you were a recent fan of the series. From your profile icon, I would have thought you also grew up with the series! If you haven't watched Outlaw Star, I would totally recommend it. It's only one season long, but I find that the characters are fun and likable much like in Dragonball, the world-building is well done for only one season, and I feel that the animation holds up nice even to this day, and like most Japanese science fiction series, has some nice ship designs, and no shortage of background ships too.
No, I would love to have grown up on the series, but it wasn't in the cards. I was (of course) aware of its existence for decades, but I never paid much attention to it. However, someone I used to work with was talking about it about a year and a half ago, so I decided to see if it was streaming anywhere. I started watching DBZ on Funimation and I got hooked. I bought the whole series, watched through the Frieza saga, then I also watched some of the movies and I stared watching the original DB. I watched all five seasons of that and its movies, then I finished DBZ and its movies. I've even seen Dragonball Z Evolution. I've watched a couple seasons of Dragon Ball Super, but I'm finding that one to be less to my liking than the first two series were. But, I own the whole series, so I'll finish it eventually. I also have Dragon Ball GT to watch. When I find something that I really like, I go all in.
Hope everyone and their households had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Posting this is a bit of an indulgence, because I have a backlog of laundry, and I have to clean up after finding a flour mite infestation.
A bulkier, cleaner shape for the Angel Suit. Has four legs, instead of the usual two. That brings the possible design paths to Slim, Vespine, and Bulky. I only plan to develop one design path further.
A WIP for Ship of the Day 005, which is more like Aerospace of the Day 005, because it is a Sky Bike. Influenced by an acquaintance's bike. Alternate, and perhaps future designs are also present, and there is a backlog of concept sketches in my sketchbooks that I'll snap and post at a later date.
Further plans to experiment with practicing coloring and shading next.
Posts
I know! And trying to get the appearance of something that looks functional (for a mech suit), while also unique is turning out to be the hard part, especially while I still struggle with contrivances like perspective and proportion!
I also have this idea of mounting the wings on the shoulder pauldrons, which would actually reflect anatomy better. What matters is that the back-mounted weaponry has room to maneuver. This would also make room for little things like shields and arm-mounted weaponry.
I worked a little more on Design A, including a back view. Also worked on refining the details into something more than a rough doodle, but it's occurred to me WAY after the fact that how I organize the details and notes can make a difference in read/viewability. Lessons learned for when I work on Design B.
While fooling around on Pinterest, I discovered the wonderful concept of a Ship a Day.
I spent way too much time on what should have been completed in an hour, but wanted to experiment with this Panther Chameleon pattern that I wanted to experiment with, hence the name. I'm probably going to have to focus on shape for now if I want to continue doing a Ship a Day, while also continuing the mech suit design process simultaneously (which I would)!
Combining the aesthetics of Outlaw Star with Star Trek has allured me for a while, and it is probably no coincidence that I choose the same base color for the hull. There is just something retro about starships that land on their tail. It's also probably impractical for a ship that size to land on it's butt.
THIS shows the size comparison, revealing that the Orion class is even bigger and longer than the (probably) contemporary NX class, probably close to or even over 300m. That, and an attempt to play around with perspective. I'm tempted to call this the Orion class, after the proposed project of the same name, which for better or worse, was cancelled. There is some speculation that the project was continued or replaced with a Secret Space Program with alien technology, but that's another discussion.
Anyways, just because these suckers were bigger than a Daedalus, or even NX class, and rivaled a Yorktown class in size, doesn't mean that they were more advanced. To the contrary, they would have lacked fancy technology like transporters, gravimetric impulse drives, protection would have come only from ablative hull plating. In other words, they would have been primitive in comparison to the Constitution class, as stated by Spock regarding ship designs of the Romulan Wars. Full control over artificial gravity by this time would have been a must for entering and exiting these ships planetside however, and I probably should have designed the deck layout more like a building, but the Outlaw Star influence was too strong.
Finally, these monsters would have been capable of WF-4, on account of their massive warp nacelles powered by equally massive fusion reactors. These would have been at the limit of fusion's capabilities.
I'm not sure WHEN or WHERE these things would have been active. Perhaps a little before the NX and Daedalus classes. Less likely Maybe during or after the Romulan War. Probably in an alternate timeline before the Temporal Cold War, or even because of it.
Yes, Vulcan influences. Totally not influenced by the Outlaw Star. Although now that I think of it, I have to wonder if it was the Vulcan ships had not just a retro rocketship influence, but an anime influence too, especially that deep red color is a match (at least for the Surak class).
Ship of the Day #02 The result of listening to a Youtube video on an alleged war between the Atlantians and Lumerians. You know, Ancient Advanced Civilization stuff. The Sanskrit script and energy crystals are intentional design elements.
memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(XCV_330)
The color scheme is from John Eaves' Vulcan ship, the T'Plana-Hath, from First Contact:
memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/T%27Plana-Hath_(starship)
As far as what influenced Eaves, it's hard to say. However, looking at the Outlaw Star Wiki, it looks like the manga came out the same year as First Contact, and the anime two years later.
No worries, I know exactly what you were talking about. I love the Vulcan ships, and I also love how the Surak has a color scheme similar to the Outlaw Star, and I have to wonder if John Eaves was a fan of the show, or if it was just a wonderful coincidence. Outlaw Star was a part of my childhood, and is one of many creative designs to come out of Japan. They would probably would have aired in the US around the same time as ENT.
As for what I was thinking: the two major influences was the IXS Enterprise by Mark Rademaker, and that definitely can be traced to the XCV-330 type, and I combined that with design elements from the Outlaw Star. Turns out that sticking a saucer onto a rocket shape works out rather nicely, and I think it's a shame that something similar wasn't done for the NX class.
My idea of having both a warp ring and nacelle setup is that Earth experimented with a hybrid warp drive, using the nacelles for short sprints and maneuvering at warp, because while it was easier to achieve higher WF using the massive ring, altering the warp field to change bearing was something it was terrible at.
The idea of it landing on it's tail was also influenced by Outlaw Star, traditional pulp science fiction, and even contemporary rockets, which appears it might become a tradition. I considering giving the ship THREE or FOUR nacelles, but there is a reason why ships with three or four warp nacelles didn't exist at the time, and I didn't want to contradict the story of the USS Tritium and her unbalanced tri-nacelle disaster when I could just turn the other two engines into fusion scramjets instead. The nacelles are mostly there to act as traditional landing stilts, just like in old-fashioned pulp science fiction.
Yeah, John Eaves might be an anime fan. It may have even been his inspiration. I used to follow his blog back when he updated it (before life made that impossible for him) and he used to share some cool stories, but I don't remember if he posted anything about the T-Plana-Hath. I've always loved the design, though, and how he and Doug Drexler drew from that design when they designed the Vulcan ships for Enterprise.
I've been getting into anime more myself these past few years. I find streaming has helped me in that regard, as I find stuff more accessible. When Enterprise was airing, I was in the Army and I often didn't have time for watching TV. In fact, I mostly caught Enterprise in syndication years later. However, since you've let me know Outlaw Star is a thing, I did a search and easily found it on both Funimation and Crunchyroll, so I'll have to give it a look. That's how I got into Dragon Ball last year, I started watching both the original anime and DBZ on Funimation, then I wound up buying both series.
As for your work, I love what you're doing. Mixing stuff from different Sci-Fi franchises is really cool when done right, and you're definitely doing it right. Since you posted the link to the Outlaw Star, I can totally see the influences both from that and various Trek designs. I agree that humans would have tried different configurations for warp drives before settling on the familiar Starfleet designs, so mixing traditional nacelles and ring engines to see what works best makes sense to me.
Dragonball Z was no small part of my childhood, and Outlaw Star aired on the Toonami block way back in the day. I just loved the world-building and characters, and I've been hooked on anime ever since. Like I said, a lot of designs in Japanese anime are often unique and aesthetically pleasing.
I had no idea that you were a recent fan of the series. From your profile icon, I would have thought you also grew up with the series! If you haven't watched Outlaw Star, I would totally recommend it. It's only one season long, but I find that the characters are fun and likable much like in Dragonball, the world-building is well done for only one season, and I feel that the animation holds up nice even to this day, and like most Japanese science fiction series, has some nice ship designs, and no shortage of background ships too.
I would imagine that serving in the military doesn't leave much time for TV. Thank you for your service!
And thanks for the complement! I often find that the Japanese designers will take different design elements, and I will admit that when I am feeling in need of inspiration, that's one of the first places I'll go. They even make what should be oddball design choices, like Space Battleship Yamato, feel like they wouldn't be completely dysfunctional, while also just looking aesthetically pleasing, while Outlaw Star draws influence from the American Space Age design aesthetic such as Flash Gordan, but in a way that is also modern and refreshing.
Now, onto ship of the day #004: What Happens When I Turn the Starfleet Insignia Into a Shuttlepod. Something's gotta replace the Type 16, 17, or whatever Shuttlepod. Also took the opportunity to practice a bit of shading, lighting, and color.
And I haven't stopped working on my mech suit. I might end up making the legs longer, but that is what the rough process is for.
The arms and sword was influenced by the Geno Breaker's X-Breaker (from Zoids), and the Exia Gundam's huge honking sword (from Gundam 00). A shield is just such a great way to mount weapons of various kinds.
No, I would love to have grown up on the series, but it wasn't in the cards. I was (of course) aware of its existence for decades, but I never paid much attention to it. However, someone I used to work with was talking about it about a year and a half ago, so I decided to see if it was streaming anywhere. I started watching DBZ on Funimation and I got hooked. I bought the whole series, watched through the Frieza saga, then I also watched some of the movies and I stared watching the original DB. I watched all five seasons of that and its movies, then I finished DBZ and its movies. I've even seen Dragonball Z Evolution.
https://outlawstar.fandom.com/wiki/Hazanko
A bulkier, cleaner shape for the Angel Suit. Has four legs, instead of the usual two. That brings the possible design paths to Slim, Vespine, and Bulky. I only plan to develop one design path further.
A WIP for Ship of the Day 005, which is more like Aerospace of the Day 005, because it is a Sky Bike. Influenced by an acquaintance's bike. Alternate, and perhaps future designs are also present, and there is a backlog of concept sketches in my sketchbooks that I'll snap and post at a later date.
Further plans to experiment with practicing coloring and shading next.