ST-One
Vice Admiral
Wait... did he say "tough room"?He has no idea.
Shall we try and lure him into The-Zone-that-must-not-be-named?
2011 SotL Calendar
- Thread starter EmperorKalan
- Start date
Shall we try and lure him into The-Zone-that-must-not-be-named?
Wow. Tough room. But that's OK – I've been an illustrator and designer for a long time – decades in fact – so I have a pretty thick skin. And the one thing I learned a long time ago is that you can't please everybody – just stay true to your vision.
I'm the guy who did the "kitbash" pic, and I accept that description proudly. I loved it in DS9 when the actual model kit kit-bashed ships first appeared as background ships. This image is my homage to that time when off-the-shelf FX solutions included taking common plastic kits and making something familiar yet unique with them.
I set out to flesh out the WOK era universe a bit, since that had my favorite Enterprise design, the refit. Everything shown from that era was always a version of Enterprise, Reliant, Excelsior or Grissom. All terrific ships, IMO. But what would/could kitbashes of those ships look like? DS9 used ships from all the different Treks – I stuck to WOK only to keep things more unified. I also wanted to do a battle scene, because those were the ship scenes that most excited me as a fan.
My key ship was the John Glenn. I wanted to create a ship using my favorite forms, while not just moving things around haphazardly. My concept for the ship was that it was a Corvette – a fast, heavily armed ship with it's primary function being defense, not exploration. In my original layout, that ship filled the page with the other ships being simply part of the background. But Doug suggested that those background ship deserved a more significant role in the image, so they became more prominent. But even in this final version, they were fill-in ships for the battle scene, ships that I could use that weren't simply Constitutions or Mirandas or Oberths. Does the Sun Tzu or Valley Forge set new design standards for Star Trek? Absolutely not. Nor were they intended to.
My hope is that the majority of fans can get some type of pleasure from my effort. If it's not your cup of tea, that's cool – I totally get it. But I don't apologize for it, either.
To the other artists in this thread – Tobias and deg – my hat is off to you both. I'm proud to have my small contribution included in this work with so many amazingly talented artists like yourselves.
Don Hillenbrand
Heya Don! Good to see ya, bud, and your great shot! Only one request; BIGGER, yes, please!
I enjoyed hearing your methodology, as I like hearing concept and even narrative back-story in regard to art-work, to get a glimpse into the artist's personal and creative thought-processes and creative intentions, passed my own ideas inspired by just seeing the art itself.
In my view, your direction/concept was as original as it's final result is way-coolness (just (again): bigger, please). I really dig the ships and efx and action feel, and the overall tone and feel, as well as your use of vibrant color. I have always enjoyed your work, and this is no exception (and I shared your websites in PM with a few that asked, hope you don't mind, but hey, you're an artist like me-self, so you like peeps to see your work, eh...). An honor to have debuted in SOTL with you and Tobias as well as the company of so many other way-talented artists, including Mark who is on here as Clawhammer).
Anywho, good to see an' hear from ya, and bigger, please.
deg
Ps. Did I say bigger, please?
Pss. Don't forget to say hi to Jabberjaw for me. Like I said; Man, that fish can rock a drum-kit! Nyuk nyuk nyuk...
Mr. Hillenbrand, I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for making an appearance. I personally very much like it, and I'm glad you've developed a thick enough skin to deal with the detractors you will, unfortunately, definitely run into. (As we all know, for some, Star Trek is VRY SRS BZNS.) As far as I'm concerned, the more Star Trek artists out there, the better, no matter what they're doing. After all, we all love Star Trek, and that should be enough.
Also, I do hope this doesn't come off as ungrateful, but can we get orthos of the designs you've put together, maybe a bit of background for the Sun Tzu and Valley Forge?
Also, I do hope this doesn't come off as ungrateful, but can we get orthos of the designs you've put together, maybe a bit of background for the Sun Tzu and Valley Forge?
Which is one are they? Do they have class names?
Hey Don,
I second what Deg said. It´s a great picture - and I like the design of those kitbashed ships. I know that even they are kitbashed, it still takes time to build them.
Oh, and yeah - bigger would be nice
Tobias
I second what Deg said. It´s a great picture - and I like the design of those kitbashed ships. I know that even they are kitbashed, it still takes time to build them.
Oh, and yeah - bigger would be nice
Tobias
Any maybe possibly one more?
Oh heck, as Don's seen fit to wander in, I'm just going to post his sites for him now:
He has two:
http://www.neoworxstudio.com/default.html
http://www.neworldesign.net/
deg
First of all, let me say to deg – you're hired as my PR guy!
You're all very kind – I appreciate the comments. I didn't mean to highjack, but since my work was mentioned specifically, I thought this was the best way to address it. It occurs to me that i should start my own thread for my entry, which I will do.
As for those of you who get caught up in "reality" when it comes to this stuff, I just want to say that if you get too stuck on that, you'll really be missing out on the joy – and enjoyment – of the images. Star Trek is not, and never has been "hard science fiction". Far from it – it's space opera, in the grand tradition. Yes it has spaceships that have to bow to physics, after a fashion. But first and foremost, Trek is The Great Adventure. Horatio Hornblower in space, to quote my favorite Trek director, Nick Meyer. It's larger than life, full of wonder and awe. At least it has been for me ever since I saw my first episode 40+ years ago.
Try not to let the exact position of the sun, or some other triviality, keep you from seeing the awesome story moment that these artists are bringing to life. And they are, first and foremost, ARTISTS. They have a point of view to share, an emotional connection they bring to their work. These aren't physics lessons, they're unique visions of tomorrow. So try to have fun with it!
I'll step down from my soapbox now. Again, thanks for the nice remarks.
Don
You're all very kind – I appreciate the comments. I didn't mean to highjack, but since my work was mentioned specifically, I thought this was the best way to address it. It occurs to me that i should start my own thread for my entry, which I will do.
As for those of you who get caught up in "reality" when it comes to this stuff, I just want to say that if you get too stuck on that, you'll really be missing out on the joy – and enjoyment – of the images. Star Trek is not, and never has been "hard science fiction". Far from it – it's space opera, in the grand tradition. Yes it has spaceships that have to bow to physics, after a fashion. But first and foremost, Trek is The Great Adventure. Horatio Hornblower in space, to quote my favorite Trek director, Nick Meyer. It's larger than life, full of wonder and awe. At least it has been for me ever since I saw my first episode 40+ years ago.
Try not to let the exact position of the sun, or some other triviality, keep you from seeing the awesome story moment that these artists are bringing to life. And they are, first and foremost, ARTISTS. They have a point of view to share, an emotional connection they bring to their work. These aren't physics lessons, they're unique visions of tomorrow. So try to have fun with it!
I'll step down from my soapbox now. Again, thanks for the nice remarks.
Don
Very insightfully and well-spoken, my friend. You have a firm grasp and understanding of artistic principles and Trek, as well as art & science as they both apply to Trek production. Seems down through the years we've read some of the same art and Trek-based books.
You can mail the check for my services to my Federation P.O. Box.
deg
Along with Clawhammer's and deg3D's images there are also larger versions of Tobias Richter's renders available online:
See what I mean? breathtaking!!
Awesome!
I want to see more! This is what should have been in ENT!
Holy God, that looks like a shot of a physical model...
The depth of field (with the ring drive blurred as it would be in a tight focus on the bow) and the superb modeling really sell that shot.
Going off memory, I believe he said that Enterprise was a new timeline that was created by the events of First Contact. This was in the same interview where he totally shat on the original series as well and admitted that he had disdain for it.
