An Idea For A Game/Project

No, don't assume I killed him. Remember, Gary Seven's "servo" could simply knock out someone with an orgasmic grin on their face. I was pressed for time, so I didn't create the additional frames I intended. Originally, I would have had "Kirk" tell Everly he simply wouldn't remember having seen the "captain" and the security guard would snap out of the trance once "Kirk" entered the cabin and the door slid shut.

I wouldn't be so cruel as to kill someone's original character, not without their permission, anyway.

Now, where Masao takes this sequence, I can't say.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I rushed this Sunday afternoon including the modeling of a "quick'n'dirty" prop servo. The corridor panels are from Ptrope's transporter set. It possesses enough pieces so that one can build a section of hallway, including a "T" junction. The Kirk morph came from a sold item, labeled vaguely enough, "Movie Men V" which contains likenesses of Shatner Pat' Stewart and Bakula. His uniform came from PoserWorld. "Everly's" uniform is from Xcalpro. Actually, I already had a lantern jawed, "generic" security guard on hand. I simply swapped "wigs" for one more closely matching Vector's drawings.

Oh, Ptrope, you'll appreciate the irony of the following. I tried positioning the servo in "Kirk's" hand. Though derived from the DAZ David 3 figure, a mesh supposedly superior to their Michael geometry, the mesh of the fingers kept dislocating when I balled the hand into a fist. In desperation, I loaded the over-scaled "additional figure" hand based upon the Poser 4 "Dork". It worked like a champ, looking far better than the higher resolution figure. Eh, go figure!

Sincerely,

Bill

 

My panels are up!

 

Reading this comic reminds me of playing Star Trek with my little brother when we were kids. The whole fun of making up the story as you went and seeing were it would go....
This was a great idea and brought back some good memories!

 

Anyone have a good reference for the layout of Kirk's quarters?

 

Great work, Redfern, Masao!!

Haven't seen NCC-1701 around for a little while, so I'll do the honours, here's the updated list:

[01.] NCC-1701
[02.] ThomastheCat
[03.] Ptrope
[04.] PlanetMudd
[05.] Vektor
[06.] Redfern
[07.] Masao
[08.] Venardhi
[09.] Starscape
[10.] jon1701
[11.] Klondike307
[12.] Ihlecreations

 

Likeness, huh? As you have not created the figure, please do not see this as criticism of your intriguing part of the comic, but would I find this figure in any non-Star Trek context, I would never be reminded of Shatner's Kirk by it.

I really wonder what makes Kirk so more difficult to model than Spock, McCoy, Uhura and others. Many have achieved a really good likeness drawing him (including in this WIP) but for 3D modelling, he remains an undiscovered country, IMHO.

Perhaps a contest "The KirkClone Wars" could remedy that situation - but then it seems that all the greatest known talents are currently bound up by this (thoroughly entertaining) project.

 

I had a hell of a time trying to draw a good caricature of Kirk, which is why I skillfully avoided including him in my panels. Spock and McCoy are easy to draw recognizably, since they have plenty of outstanding facial features. With Kirk, you have his hairline, but after that his features are rather nondescript.

 

IN!!!!!

 

[Cartman mode] "Screw you guys! I'm going home!!!" [/Cartman mode]



Seriously, you present a valid point and Masao provides the most reasonable answer. Shatner, especially in his younger days, simply did not have much in the way of distinguishing features. He was what I'd call "casually handsome". No dimples, no chin cleft, no lantern jaw, no chiseled laugh/frown lines or rugged cheekbones. If he had not entered the entertainment industry, Shatner would fairly easily blend into a crowd of people, unnoticed.

I have two other digital Kirks using other base meshes, but as nondescript as this one is, ironically, I found it the best. One of them looks like a half "gestated" pod-person. Eww!

Sincerely,

Bill

 

Thanks very much. I tried to keep the drawings loose, so I did each in about 5 minutes, then cleaned them up a bit. I haven't done much sketching of people recently, so it was fun.

Tragedy is the key to understanding Mr. Spock!

 

While I concur with you, there must be "something" that allows to recognize him. In TMP, he was instantly recognizable in the first scene, even with a completely different hairstyle than the one everybody was used to. And I remember seeing a short film on you tube a while back where Kirk talks to some cadets. It was very poor quality, yet I instantly thought: "Strange - This scene isn't from a film but it certainly is not a fan project as it is the real Shat acting there." (I later learned it was from a game intro.) The point is: What makes Shatner stand out even in low res and through tons of static?

As mentioned in my post, many who have drawn him over the decades, have been achieving a convincing likeness. What is missing yet is the same level of success for a 3D model. Otherwise we will be forever stuck in the "New Voyages/Phase II" situation, where everybody looks recognizable except for the captain (I wonder who cast him ).

 

Of course it's possible to draw a convincing likeness of Kirk. It's just harder than drawing McCoy or Spock (after all, there's a blog called "Bad Spock Drawings" [ http://badspock.blogspot.com/ ], but none called "Bad Kirk Drawings"). I'm sure if I work at it long enough, I'll eventually figure out how to draw Kirk with a few quick strokes. But I haven't managed to yet. I remember back in the 1970s, political cartoonists were pulling their hair out trying to draw caricatures of Jerry Ford (after 6 years of drawing Nixon, who anyone can draw!).

Here are some Al Hirschfeld drawings

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Kirk is a tricky one to draw.

With Spock you just need pointy ears, bowl hair cut, a long face and you're there.

 

What's with the wall-eyed Uhura in the first drawing?

As for Kirk: I feel your pain! I've been trying to come up with a recognizable Kirk for some time, and I'm starting to see some unique features, the most prominent being, literally, his forehead; Shatner had a domed forehead, bordering on bulging - it's very upright with a rounded crest just as it enters his hairline. with side lighting, you can see it highlighted very clearly. He also had a very low brow; in some shots, his eyebrows actually obscure his upper eyelids.

So, I guess we can pretty much call Kirk "The Forehead" - it's his largest feature.

 

Here's a start: Stateroom

If you want to work with a 3D model, I've made one for Poser that can be dl'ed for free here; it's not totally accurate (for one thing, it's not wedge-shaped!), and it doesn't have the unique decor of Kirk's cabin, but it should do for 360° reference imagery. The model doesn't have external geometry, though, so it has to be used in Poser or DAZ|Studio (which is free, too!)

 

I actually made a 3D model of Kirk's head a few years ago. It was, in fact, my one and only foray into 3D character modeling. I never completely finished it but I thought it was a pretty decent likeness, if I do say so myself. After work tonight I'll see if I can dig up an old rendering or two.

In one of her first Trek novels, Diane Carey gave some spot-on descriptions of the distinctive features of Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Kirk's face, she said, was all curves and brush strokes, while Spock's consisted of triangles and McCoy's was built out of squares. I always found those descriptions to be very inspiring when I was trying to draw them.

 

it's easy. he's the big giant head!

 

Thanks, but I'm going 2D with my entry. I appreciate the floor-plan though, help me better lay out the action that will unfold in there.

I should be able to get my entry up by the end of the weekend.

 

Re: The Trek Art Comic Project

Can't wait for my turn... have a great idea for a twist!