Star Trek Revenge promo art

[Myasishchev]

The more proper-looking, bigger (2401 X 1326--odd size, I know) version should be there, behind a dumb gif of something coming out of a computer screen. It opens onto myupload.org's viewer thing. Clicking on the image in the viewer will bring it up in your broswer unadorned, where in Firefox at least you can zoom in to 100% size at will, and this is probably the best way to look at it. The direct link to the unframed image is http://www.myupload.org/files/vyj995ekx4zku9i2rxsj.jpg

I tried to use photobucket, but the image loses a lot at their maximum resolution.

About the image:

This is something I've been working on for a little while in conjunction with my eventually-to-be-finished fiction project, Star Trek Revenge, which takes place in 2405, with full ties to onscreen canon but heavily departing from the universe of the novels. The design is intentionally similar to Kevin Maguire's brilliant cover for the collected edition of his first Justice League issues with Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis. I've always been struck by the dynamism and sheer sense of fun of that piece, and thought it would interesting to steal a little bit of that for myself.

Maguire's cover conveyed effortlessly the conflicts, friendships, and emotions of his, Giffen's and DeMatteis' characters. I hope I was able to replicate at least a glimmer of that with this piece.

Whether it works, as an homage or on its own merits, I'll let the people be the judge. Please enjoy.

Finally, since these are (almost) all characters of my own creation with whom no one could possibly be familiar with, I'll go ahead and run down the list, starting, as is conventional in this part of the world at least, with the top left. The wraparound halfsies count as the first part of any given row. The non-curious can certainly feel free to skip the rest of this post.

Spoiler: not really a spoiler, just stuff for the interested

ROW 1
1. Avraham Oz
2. Ekobod
3. T'Lal
4. Ejian Coral
5. Harjinder Kaur Shah
6. Sylok
7. Yan Yaokan
8. Zul ch'Zul
9. Epi
10. Sirek

ROW 2
11. Shah again
12. Sigman Grul
13. Sylok again
14. Sala Phan (Thalassala zh'Phanamashcheiyu)
15. Zul again
16. T'Lal again
17. Kang Jin-Sook
18. Sirek again
19. Coral again

ROW 3
20. Oz again
21. Shah again
22. Grul again
23. Sylok again
24. Oz again
25. T'Lal again
26. Yaokan again
27. Kore ch'Zul tr'Ess

ROW 4
28. Rhea tr'Ess
29. Quartz
30. Caithlin Adana
31. Murdock Louverture
32. Yaokan again
33. Coral again
34. Kang again
35. Phan again
36. Valerek Telok

ROW 5
37. Zul again
38. Epi again
39. Galef Danam
40. Taylin Sidra
41. Shah again
42. Epi again
43. Kasham Drada
44. Sylok again
45. Yizak Raman
46. T'Lal again

ROW 6
47. Grul again
48. Livial
49. Coral again
50. Yaokan again
51. Phan again
52. Computer
53. Oz again
54. Sif Sefani Heru
55. I don't want to say, want to see if I did a good enough job for people to recognize him
56. Same as above

Finally finally, I hope I did the uploading and crap right. Technical details often escape me.

 

[Kaiser]

I like what i see

 

[Myasishchev]

I like what i see

Thanks!

And something else to see if we can get this ball rolling.

 

[Kaiser]

Nice art of a damaged Sovergien class Ship there and are those added Phaser strips there?

 

[Myasishchev]

^Indeed, and good eye. The smaller sets are intended to be used as point-defense, leaving the main batteries available for going toe-to-toe with other capital ships. It's a response to what I perceive as a weakness of Federation ships against swarmers and saturation pho-torp spreads. It's partly inspired by the movie's anti-missile phaser banks, but I was thinking of something along those lines before I saw Trek 11--"Hey, why don't they ever try to shoot the torpedoes down?"

Not totally evident in this pic due to lighting conditions is the dilithium-based, anti-flash white paint, which is meant to add further defense against photon torpedoes by partially reflecting incoming gamma rays.

I might do a beauty shot later, although drawing ships is kind of a pain in the butt. This is actually the first one I've ever done, not counting doodles and a decent but unfinished--and depressingly isolinear--Valdore and Scimitar parked alongside each other. I recognize it's somewhat flawed, but think it makes a respectable virgin effort. I envy the 3D people who aren't handrawing curves.

 

[Kaziarl]

Not bad, can we see a full body shot? I'm curious what the uniforms look like. They seem to be unique.

 

[DEWLine]

Nosy/pedantic thought: I know that the name Revenge has a fair-sized history in the Royal Navy...but I'm not sure that the UFP Starfleet would look on it as favourably as Repulse or Hood, to name two other examples.

Or would Andorian and other UFP-affiliated star nations have made a successful case for its preservation?

 

[Myasishchev]

Nosy/pedantic thought: I know that the name Revenge has a fair-sized history in the Royal Navy...but I'm not sure that the UFP Starfleet would look on it as favourably as Repulse or Hood, to name two other examples.

Or would Andorian and other UFP-affiliated star nations have made a successful case for its preservation?

Actually intentional.

NCC-75999 was originally slated to be named after one of the administrative capitals of the Coridan Solar Union, with everything, including the exterior paint job, complete. Abbreviated spaceworthiness trials were scheduled to commence in mid-2375. Then the Breen attacked Earth, and NCC-75999 received a new name, the first ship since the Romulan War to be called Revenge.

For what it's worth, they don't appear to mind names used in wars of aggression that killed millions, i.e. Yamato. Of course, Yamato only seems bad to some oversensitive alien (cough Vulcans cough) if he or she has an encyclopedic knowledge of Earth history, which, Spock notwithstanding, might be rather rare. But while Yamato translates as "Japan" or more accurately "Yamato Province," inoffensive geographical titles, Revenge would translate directly as "Revenge," the emotion and action. And this is why only after the Breen sneak attack would the admiralty deign to pull this particular name out of the history books.

And indeed, given the plot of the story, the fact that the latest HMS Revenge was a Resolution-class SSBN is chillingly appropriate.

I'm curious what the uniforms look like. They seem to be unique.

Uniquish. I drew inspiration from a lot of places. For example, the uniforms were heavily inspired by the TOS jerseys, and the ST11 interpretation of that in particular. However, elements of other uniforms crept in, particularly the 24th century pipped collar and the false-universe black chest delta is similar to the one from Riker's imagining in "Future Imperfect." I almost used the AGT Starfleet arrowhead, but decided it didn't work with the two-color scheme I'd devised, and changed the arrowhead to a black outline.

Not bad, can we see a full body shot?

We may.

I figured you meant the Fed uniforms, but I went ahead and did a Romulan one for fun.

 

[Kaziarl]

Those look great. And its interesting, I had thought about taking one of my stories and making a comic. Some of your design aspects are strikingly similar to something I had come up with.

Although one thing I had planned instead of having the division patch on one side, having combat patches instead. And in the same style as what I saw in the army, the division crest would be a pin on the opposite side of the collar from the rank.

 

[DivineSugar]

Really cool ^^

 

[Kaiser]

Nice....

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Those portraits/headshots are very good! I love the different angles and poses! And even though as I mentioned, you and I have a slightly different idea of what the Cardassian makeup is supposed to represent, in one area, I think you execute your idea very well.

I like how you've allowed Yaokan's hair to go a little wild. I think in a post-dictatorship environment (or alternately, if he was raised on a Federation world?), we would expect that sort of diversity. Unlike a lot of the monocultures, I have always thought that conformity made sense with Cardassians due to the nature of the Union--but here it makes a very good way of showing a break with that tradition.

(Kinda like how I gave my AU Dukat long hair...his Cardassia never had the Union, so that was one way of visually showing it. Besides that I thought it looked cool. If you look, though, please be forgiving...I am not as good an artist as you!)

 

[Myasishchev]

Those look great. And its interesting, I had thought about taking one of my stories and making a comic. Some of your design aspects are strikingly similar to something I had come up with.

Great minds.

Although one thing I had planned instead of having the division patch on one side, having combat patches instead. And in the same style as what I saw in the army, the division crest would be a pin on the opposite side of the collar from the rank.

I wonder if Starfleet is articulated into low enough echelons to support two types of unit insignia? Although I suppose ship and assigned fleet could both be shown; and there could be smaller special operations, ground combat, police, science, and engineering units, who don't have ships of their own, and are effectively arranged at a battalion or company level.

I also admit the army's combat patch regs confuse me quite a bit and I may be misunderstanding them. I think it permits them to wear both the insignia of their assigned divisional HQ and the brigade, battalion, or company to which they permanently belong, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[Myasishchev]

Those portraits/headshots are very good! I love the different angles and poses! And even though as I mentioned, you and I have a slightly different idea of what the Cardassian makeup is supposed to represent, in one area, I think you execute your idea very well.

Awesome! I'm really glad you like it.

Although I should probably defer to you on matters Cardassian.

I like how you've allowed Yaokan's hair to go a little wild. I think in a post-dictatorship environment (or alternately, if he was raised on a Federation world?), we would expect that sort of diversity. Unlike a lot of the monocultures, I have always thought that conformity made sense with Cardassians due to the nature of the Union--but here it makes a very good way of showing a break with that tradition.

Has your cut been approved by the Order of Hairstyles, citizen?

It is the case that Yaokan spent most of his formative years on C-Prime, although my notion of what happened to Cardassia after the war is, along with the complete disintegration of Romulus and of course the apocalypse that was Destiny, why I don't try to tie my story to the novelverse. I find it hard to imagine that after the Dominion War, Cardassia could have possibly been left independent. The Union exists solely as a legal fiction, its territory carved up between Federation, Klingon, and Romulan occupation. Prime is like Berlin--and no doubt the victors each wanted their piece of the capital. Yaokan was born in the Romulan Zone--but no one wants to live in the Romulan Zone. And, as time has gone by, living has indeed become a more difficult task.

(Kinda like how I gave my AU Dukat long hair...his Cardassia never had the Union, so that was one way of visually showing it. Besides that I thought it looked cool. If you look, though, please be forgiving...I am not as good an artist as you!)

Hey, now, I think it's pretty darn cool, particularly the expressions of wariness on each party. However, he reminds me viscerally of Ian from High Fidelity. John Cusack does not like Cardassians in his record store.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Those portraits/headshots are very good! I love the different angles and poses! And even though as I mentioned, you and I have a slightly different idea of what the Cardassian makeup is supposed to represent, in one area, I think you execute your idea very well.

Awesome! I'm really glad you like it.

Although I should probably defer to you on matters Cardassian.

Bahhh...there's no reason for that. The more in the multiverse, the better, I say.

I like how you've allowed Yaokan's hair to go a little wild. I think in a post-dictatorship environment (or alternately, if he was raised on a Federation world?), we would expect that sort of diversity. Unlike a lot of the monocultures, I have always thought that conformity made sense with Cardassians due to the nature of the Union--but here it makes a very good way of showing a break with that tradition.

Has your cut been approved by the Bureau of Hairstyles, citizen?

Ha!! Seriously, though, I don't think it was as much a direct thing so much as intense, intense social pressure to conform. I like to imagine that it started slowly, that men started to cut their hair as a tribute to Tret Akleen back in the early days of the Union--but over time, if you didn't, you'd be looked at askance. And as things went even further, it could get you unwanted attention by the Obsidian Order, because they would question why you weren't showing the proper respect for the founder of the Union.

It is the case that Yaokan spent most of his formative years on C-Prime, although my notion of what happened to Cardassia after the war is, along with the complete disintegration of Romulus and of course the apocalypse that was Destiny, why I don't try to tie my story to the novelverse. I find it hard to imagine that after the Dominion War, Cardassia could have possibly been left independent. The Union exists solely as a legal fiction, its territory carved up between Federation, Klingon, and Romulan occupation. Prime is like Berlin--and no doubt the victors each wanted their piece of the capital. Yaokan was born in the Romulan Zone--but no one wants to live in the Romulan Zone. And, as time has gone by, living has indeed become a more difficult task.

That sounds rough indeed.

I am not sure exactly how I think things are going to happen postwar, but I think I'll be following a different model--I see the Federation as wanting to get the Cardassians to self-government as quickly as possible. How effectively they are able to do it, and how much trouble this could cause with the Klingons and Romulans, I don't know. We'll see, though...it's not set in stone yet.

(Kinda like how I gave my AU Dukat long hair...his Cardassia never had the Union, so that was one way of visually showing it. Besides that I thought it looked cool. If you look, though, please be forgiving...I am not as good an artist as you!)

Hey, now, I think it's pretty darn cool, particularly the expressions of wariness on each party. However, he reminds me viscerally of Ian from High Fidelity. John Cusack does not like Cardassians in his record store.

I had to look that up and watch some stuff on YouTube. But wow! That is SO not a comparison I would've thought to make! My AU Dukat, in situations where he feels off-balance, tends to be very subdued in his behavior.

In that drawing...Daren's definitely wary. As for Dukat, I think he's been wary to a degree (there was a time he genuinely worried Daren would try to slip a knife in his back for even a harmless mistake), but he is also heartbroken by what he's found out about his alter-self (the Dukat you know from the show): including that he just found out in the last few minutes that Daren's wife died in the Dominion War, and was thus indirectly killed by the canon Dukat. He's trying to make sense out of all of that and of who he is, and it's just tearing him up inside. And now, for the first time, Daren is really seeing that this Dukat actually has a heart.

(I do believe Dukat, in a significantly different universe, had the chance to be a very different person and that once in awhile we saw flashes of it--but that most of the time, those flashes of kindness were twisted around.)



Now, out of curiosity...have you got bios or other sorts of writeups on your characters yet? I'd love to see!

 

[fleetcaptain]

Wow, just amazed about all of this. Great work and can't wait to see how this series turns out. Should be very interesting.

 

[Kaziarl]

I also admit the army's combat patch regs confuse me quite a bit and I may be misunderstanding them. I think it permits them to wear both the insignia of their assigned divisional HQ and the brigade, battalion, or company to which they permanently belong, but I'm not 100% sure.

Here is what I remember. On your right arm you get your Unit patch. For example I was in the 41st PSC, so I got there patch. On your left arm you get a combat patch. This marks the division your unit is assinged to if you go to combat. 101st airborne, 3rdID, those are division level.

For starfleet standards, I could see it as having your ships patch on the right, using the example of the fanfic I'm righting, the patch of Task Force 24.

Now, it doesn't HAVE to be combat. Guard members from my home town got a patch for volunteering to aid Katrina iirc.