June Art Challenge - Admiral2

[Admiral2]

So, the last time I tried something like this - illustrations of the unis for Star Trek, MY Way - the reaction was mixed, but I'm just stupid enough to try again for a contest.

We'll call these uniforms The Next Generation, MY Way:

To me, Trek uniforms rarely look military enough (The TOS movies being the exception) so I tried to achieve that here without the excess detail that got the brunt of criticism last time (I personally like detail, but whatever). The Officer and Chief are in khakis, the Crew person is in a space-black coverall, and I wanted to give the Medical uniform a scrubs-like look (I didn't actually intend for it to be long-sleeved, but I had sketched it before I thought about it and just kept it). I wanted red-shirt Security, but I broke up the red with an almost camo pattern to add an element of bad-ass-ness.

Each of them is wearing a Multipurpose Commbadge. It's flexible and attaches to the uniform the way canon commbadges do. When worn it displays the wearer's division emblem, name and decorations. When held in the hand it can be used as both a tricorder and PADD.

Since in The Next Generation, MY Way the starships would function the way current day Amphibious ships do, there would be two crews: Ships crews and Science crews. These are the unis for the Ship's crew. The Science ones would be different.

Here was the process:

Sketch and Render:

Shade and Letter:

Inked:

And of course, the final color image, which you've seen.


What say you?

 

[Kaiser]

Awesome

 

[sojourner]

Nice, I like it except for one thing. The combadge is just an Iphone. It doesn't look very futuristic. It might be a neat idea for a uniform today, but 300 years in the future that detail would look anachronistic.

 

[Admiral2]

Awesome

I thank you!

Nice, I like it except for one thing. The combadge is just an Iphone. It doesn't look very futuristic. It might be a neat idea for a uniform today, but 300 years in the future that detail would look anachronistic.

Actually, that's the point. In the MYWayverse, What-Looks-Futuristic will always be superseded by What-Already-Works, and an iPhone already works pretty well for communication, display and tracking, so you just add small sensing devices and a longer-lasting micropower source, and voila, you have the iCorder.

 

[Ziz]

My only nit is that the camo effect you put on the security guy has a bit of a "zebra stripe" feel to it. Maybe a different pattern, more random shapes rather than stripes?

 

[Admiral2]

My only nit is that the camo effect you put on the security guy has a bit of a "zebra stripe" feel to it. Maybe a different pattern, more random shapes rather than stripes?

No, you're absolutely right. I had no idea what pattern to design so I kinda fudged it. If I ever use these again I'll be more thorough with the camouflage next time.

 

[-SS-]

Actually your commbadge is my favorite part of your uniform. I had a similar idea for my uniform. It makes sense to include PADD and tricorder functionality and I like how you use the screen to display insignia and ribbons.

Nice, I like it except for one thing. The combadge is just an Iphone. It doesn't look very futuristic. It might be a neat idea for a uniform today, but 300 years in the future that detail would look anachronistic.

Except it's already advanced than any other communicator we've seen on Trek. It doesn't make any sense not to include visual comm capability and making it a true multi-function device seems like a no-brainer.

 

[sojourner]

^But do you really think in 300 years they wouldn't have come up with something more advanced than a common touch screen? How about a device that runs on voice command and projects 3-d holographics when needed? It's the kind of costume piece that will look dated in 10 years if this were a tv show.

Now you want to see something cool, checkout the uniforms in the web comic Schlock Mercenary. The rank insignia hover about 2 inches above the shoulder.

 

[Admiral2]

^But do you really think in 300 years they wouldn't have come up with something more advanced than a common touch screen?

Dude, canon Next Generation is set 300 years in the future. What kind of interface do all the control stations and PADDs use? Common touchscreens.

Back when it was on the thing that always fascinated me was that it was supposed to be super-futuristic and it used technology I used to get money from my ATM.

How about a device that runs on voice command

Like Siri? Or any phone or computer with voice recognition software that's available today. How would they automatically seem more futuristic than an iPhone?

and projects 3-d holographics when needed?

Yes and it looks cool when Tony Stark uses it to design armor. That doesn't automatically make it better.

It's the kind of costume piece that will look dated in 10 years if this were a tv show.

Ronald D. Moore sustained a tv show for four years starring a space ship whose internal and external communications used sound-powered telephones. I'm not worried.

Now you want to see something cool, checkout the uniforms in the web comic Schlock Mercenary. The rank insignia hover about 2 inches above the shoulder.

That's the thing. I wasn't going for cool. I was going for practical. Function is more important.

Actually your commbadge is my favorite part of your uniform. I had a similar idea for my uniform. It makes sense to include PADD and tricorder functionality and I like how you use the screen to display insignia and ribbons.

Thank you!

 

[Ziz]

Now you want to see something cool, checkout the uniforms in the web comic Schlock Mercenary. The rank insignia hover about 2 inches above the shoulder.

That's the thing. I wasn't going for cool. I was going for practical. Function is more important.

More fan designs should follow this logic. One thing a lot of fans don't "get" with Trek design is that for the most part it has a "form follows function" logic to it. Figure out WHAT it needs to do and that will tell you how it should look. Too many people focus on the visual design first and then try to assign functions to it later.

 

[sojourner]

Dude, canon Next Generation is set 300 years in the future. What kind of interface do all the control stations and PADDs use? Common touchscreens.

And canon TNG is 25 years old. It's starting to look dated today.

Back when it was on the thing that always fascinated me was that it was supposed to be super-futuristic and it used technology I used to get money from my ATM.

How about a device that runs on voice command

Like Siri? Or any phone or computer with voice recognition software that's available today. How would they automatically seem more futuristic than an iPhone?

Yes and it looks cool when Tony Stark uses it to design armor. That doesn't automatically make it better.

it doesn't automatically make it worse either. Think about something based off of the Doctor's portable holo-emitter and what you could do with that compared to an iphone.

Ronald D. Moore sustained a tv show for four years starring a space ship whose internal and external communications used sound-powered telephones.

and he had an in story justification for that old technology

That's the thing. I wasn't going for cool. I was going for practical. Function is more important.

That's the thing, the higher the technology, the more some things become practical. Function is more important? Then what sounds more functional: telling the computer to give you a holo display of all hostile lifeforms on a small map of the area and having that projected inside your field of view, perhaps as an overlap of the terrain in front of you while you hold on to your weapon and maneuver? Or having to take out an item, shoulder your weapon, punch in the commands to produce a map on the display, orient that to your position and then have to hold that while trying to use your weapon and maneuver.

Slapping a display in an unusual place is not functional, it's just cool.

I think it just falls short of treknology as we know it.

Don't get me wrong though, I like the art. It from some reason reminds me of Josie and the Pussycats in Space.

 

[Admiral2]

Dude, canon Next Generation is set 300 years in the future. What kind of interface do all the control stations and PADDs use? Common touchscreens.

And canon TNG is 25 years old. It's starting to look dated today.

Nope, you look at it like "LCARS will be the apex technology, but the precursor tech, like iPhone screens are advancing at a breakneck pace!" Optimism...

Back when it was on the thing that always fascinated me was that it was supposed to be super-futuristic and it used technology I used to get money from my ATM.

Like Siri? Or any phone or computer with voice recognition software that's available today. How would they automatically seem more futuristic than an iPhone?

Yes and it looks cool when Tony Stark uses it to design armor. That doesn't automatically make it better.

it doesn't automatically make it worse either. Think about something based off of the Doctor's portable holo-emitter and what you could do with that compared to an iphone.

Nothing you couldn't do with a current technology Head-Up-Display mounted on the side of the iPhone and a piece of glass for reflection. It's about necessity, not wow factor. That's one of canon Trek's biggest problems. TNG ship design is a perfect example. There's no need for that many goddamn windows on a ship flown entirely on instruments.

Ronald D. Moore sustained a tv show for four years starring a space ship whose internal and external communications used sound-powered telephones.

and he had an in story justification for that old technology

And the justification was "The whiz-bang technology got compromised and got the whole fleet blowed up!" Do the math!

That's the thing. I wasn't going for cool. I was going for practical. Function is more important.

That's the thing, the higher the technology, the more some things become practical. Function is more important? Then what sounds more functional: telling the computer to give you a holo display of all hostile lifeforms on a small map of the area and having that projected inside your field of view, perhaps as an overlap of the terrain in front of you while you hold on to your weapon and maneuver? Or having to take out an item, shoulder your weapon, punch in the commands to produce a map on the display, orient that to your position and then have to hold that while trying to use your weapon and maneuver.

In a group, only the officer would be doing that. The rest would be circled around him shooting the bad guys.

Alone, all the person would have to do is tap it and call the ship and let the people with the big sensors tell him where to go and who to shoot.

Slapping a display in an unusual place is not functional, it's just cool.

It's functional if the purpose of being in that unusual place is to display something.

I think it just falls short of treknology as we know it.

Too much treknology exists because it looks good on television. Like I said, I prefer dated and useful to pretty and utterly asinine.

Don't get me wrong though, I like the art. It from some reason reminds me of Josie and the Pussycats in Space.

Interesting you say that. I've been on a clone Dan DeCarlo kick lately...