The Art of "Battlestar Urantia"

[BolianAuthor]

Hi, all...

Some of you here may have read my nuBSG fanfic "Battlestar Urantia". Now that the story has ended, I've decided to place all the artwork associated with the story here, for all to see, and comment on, should you so wish. So, here it is...

First up, are the Mk. II Vipers of Urantia. Normally, the Galactica would have been the only Battlestar with any Mk. II's, since she was a floating museum, but the Urantia had 25 Mk. II's, that were assigned to the ship, and acted as a performance air wing, much like the USAF Thunderbirds, or the USN Blue Angels. The name of Urantia's performance air wing was "Starblazers", which is a nod to the anime of the same name. All Mk. II Vipers were drawn and colored by B.J. Olejnik. Again, much thanks, B.J.!

Next up, are two new types of Cylon craft. The first is a small Cylon recon bird, called a "Seeker". The Seeker is designed to jump inside the firing solution of a ship, record firing patterns, and jump out. The Seekers travel in groups of three, and alternate jumps, to relay information between each other, as they jump in and out. The Cylon Seeker was designed and drawn by Atolm.

Next up, is a new type of Cylon Raider, that is used alongside the standard Raiders seen in nuBSG. The new Raider was also designed and drawn by Atolm.

Also, there are the Earth Cylons. Atolm designed all of the Earth Cylon elements, drawing upon what we saw in nuBSG, and also using elements from TOS BSG. First up, is the Earth Cylon equivalent of a Raider, which in "Battlestar Urantia", is called a "Stalker". Again, Atolm drew the image.

And since a Cylon fighter requires a Cylon Centurion... here is Atolm's design for the Earth Cylon Centurion.

Again, a great deal of thanks to Atolm, for his hard work!

Finally, there is the Battlestar Urantia herself... in the FINAL version of the story, Urantia is a Raven-Class Battlestar, which is a ship bigger than the Galactica-Class, but smaller than the Mercury-Class, and like the Pegasus, has double-deck flight pods. The image of the ship was modeled and rendered by arashikami.

So, that's what is available to look at for now. I welcome any comments and/or questions.

-BolianAdmiral

 

[Unicron]

I'll admit, while I was never fond of NuBSG in terms of writing and characters (I only watched the pilot, so I'll admit my experience is very limited; even then, I was probably harsher than I should have been ), I do like some of the visual look. Will you be adding any other views of the Seeker and new Raider? The only ship I really dislike visually is the NuBSG Raider.

 

[BolianAuthor]

I'll admit, while I was never fond of NuBSG in terms of writing and characters (I only watched the pilot, so I'll admit my experience is very limited; even then, I was probably harsher than I should have been ), I do like some of the visual look. Will you be adding any other views of the Seeker and new Raider? The only ship I really dislike visually is the NuBSG Raider.

Unicron,

Thanks for the nice comments, and questions.

Yes, I will be adding more views of the new Cylon Seeker, for sure. IDK if Atolm is going to do any new views for the Raider yet. I have to admit, like you, I was never a huge fan of the nuBSG Cylon Raider... that is part of the reason I asked Atolm to design a new version, to use alongside the existing ones.

I will have some fresh artwork up tomorrow... not the Seeker, but artwork from other aspects of the "Battlestar Urantia" story. Keep checking in, because I do plan for this thread to be updated as often as possible.

-BolianAdmiral

 

[Unicron]

Cool. I do honestly think the newer Raider is rather fugly; it's the "head" that ruins it for me. Perhaps sometime I might give the series another go, because I've heard some of it is good. I think I made the mistake of expecting too many similarities to the original, rather than an essentially new version. For its flaws, there are a lot of things I like about the old show.

 

[BolianAuthor]

Cool. I do honestly think the newer Raider is rather fugly; it's the "head" that ruins it for me. Perhaps sometime I might give the series another go, because I've heard some of it is good. I think I made the mistake of expecting too many similarities to the original, rather than an essentially new version. For its flaws, there are a lot of things I like about the old show.

Aye, the new show is definitely different, but ALL of it is good, not just some of it, hehe. I have watched the entire series, and I also have all of TOS and nuBSG on DVD... I love both shows, because I can totally enjoy them both, for what they are.

My problem with the nuBSG Cylon Raider wasn't so much the Raider itself... it was the fact that the design reminded me too much of the Batwing, and felt the artists could have done something a little more original.

Not to sound like a plug for my own work, but if you like TOS BSG, I can say that my story, "Battlestar Urantia" does have a LOT of tie-ins to the original series, and features the TOS Cylons on numerous occasions, just in case you want to check it out, in the fanfic forum.

-BolianAdmiral

 

[BolianAuthor]

Okay... one more for the night.

This is the banner of the Emilon Colony. In the story, Emilon is a planet that was colonized by a group of humans who were originally a part of the Thirteenth Tribe's caravan from Kobol to Earth, but the journey was taking so long, that this group of humans decided to break from the 13th Tribe fleet, in mid-voyage, and put down roots on a world that they named Emilon.

In "Battlestar Urantia", the Urantia encounters a small group of ships from Emilon, that are on a pilgrimage voyage back to Kobol. These Emilon pilgrims have a culture that is a cross between the Amish, and the 18th century Irish. Their speech patterns and accents, and their music have very heavy Celtic influences, and I wanted to convey that, on a subliminal level, when choosing the colors for their flag.

Their banner did not originally have the Colonial "Phoenix" seal on it, but the "Phoenix" was added to the banner, once the Emilon pilgrim fleet joined Urantia's small fleet, for the voyage back towards Colonial space.

-BolianAdmiral

 

[Kaiser]

very good stuff and you know ATOLM!!

AWESOME!!!!!

Can you tell him he's my fav ship designer and i try to download everything i see online he draws and designs

thanks

 

[BolianAuthor]

very good stuff and you know ATOLM!!

AWESOME!!!!!

Can you tell him he's my fav ship designer and i try to download everything i see online he draws and designs

thanks

kaisernathan1701,

Thank you, for your very kind words. I will certainly convey your praise for Atolm's work to the man himself.

I was originally going to feature a Celtic triquetra on the Emilon flag, but decided against it, because I felt the colors were enough, and didn't want the flag to blatantly scream "CELTIC!" at you, hehe.

-BolianAdmiral

 

[Kaiser]

very good stuff and you know ATOLM!!

AWESOME!!!!!

Can you tell him he's my fav ship designer and i try to download everything i see online he draws and designs

thanks

kaisernathan1701,

Thank you, for your very kind words. I will certainly convey your praise for Atolm's work to the man himself.

I was originally going to feature a Celtic triquetra on the Emilon flag, but decided against it, because I felt the colors were enough, and didn't want the flag to blatantly scream "CELTIC!" at you, hehe.

-BolianAdmiral

that wouldnt bother me Really i got nothing against the Celts

 

[B.J.]

All Mk. II Vipers were drawn and colored by B.J. Olejnik. Again, much thanks, B.J.!

Hey, no problem! I also remember doing a Mk VII and a "MK Ib" (fan design) for you, did you end up not using those?

Always nice to see some of Atolm's work! I don't think he even knows how to think *inside* the box!

 

[BolianAuthor]

All Mk. II Vipers were drawn and colored by B.J. Olejnik. Again, much thanks, B.J.!

Hey, no problem! I also remember doing a Mk VII and a "MK Ib" (fan design) for you, did you end up not using those?

Always nice to see some of Atolm's work! I don't think he even knows how to think *inside* the box!

B.J.,

Yes, I will be displaying the Mk. VII Viper, as well as the fanon Viper. I just didn't want to place all the artwork up at once. Actually, there is one last Viper I wouldn't mind having you depict, IF you're willing.

As for Atolm...

Box? What box? LOL. Atolm doesn't confine himself to a box, which is why I think so many of his designs are so original. Yet, he also knows both when and how to draw upon what's been established, when designing something new.

-BolianAdmiral

 

[B.J.]

^ Possibly, depends on what it is. Send me a PM.

 

[BolianAuthor]

^ Possibly, depends on what it is. Send me a PM.

^

PM sent.

-BolianAdmiral

 

[BolianAuthor]

Here's a photomanip that backstept did for the story, of the Urantia's XO, D'anna (Number Three). Thanks again, backstept!

-BolianAdmiral

 

[Captain Robert April]

Personally, one of the aspects of the new Cylon Raider that I liked is that it's not a piloted craft, but, itself, a Cylon.

Kinda makes sense if you think about it. Why build a fighter craft that has to be piloted by a Cylon when you can just build a big, space-capable Cylon?

 

[BolianAuthor]

Personally, one of the aspects of the new Cylon Raider that I liked is that it's not a piloted craft, but, itself, a Cylon.

Kinda makes sense if you think about it. Why build a fighter craft that has to be piloted by a Cylon when you can just build a big, space-capable Cylon?

Captain Robert April,

That's a very good point. Like I said... I was fine with the whole concept behind the nuBSG Raiders... I just personally felt that the design was too evocative of the Batwing.

Well, here are another two Vipers, drawn and colored by B.J. Olejnik. First up, is the modern Mk. VII Viper.

Next up, is the "Viper Mk. 1 B", which in "Battlestar Urantia", is actually a very small FTL-capable craft that was thrown together using salvaged parts from Urantia's damaged or destroyed Vipers.

In the story, Commander Tyler Standish asks the Deck Chief to build a new craft, very small, but with FTL ability, that can be used as a recon bird, jumping ahead of Urantia and her fleet, to scout ahead for any Cylon recon parties that may be present. Named the "Scoutstar" by the Urantia crew, the craft was built to act as a counter to the threat of the new Cylon Seeker craft.

The Viper 1 B was designed by Maui Williams. Again, thanks to B.J., for his work!

-BolianAdmiral

 

[Kaiser]

Sweet looking Vipers

 

[BolianAuthor]

kaisernathan1701,

Thank you.

The image below, is the face of Eliza Winnow. Eliza Winnow is a pilgrim woman from Emilon, who was traveling on the transport ship Sepia Moon. When I was writing for the character, I always envisioned Eliza looking like this, in every way.

The woman in the picture is actually Florence Henderson, as she appeared in the music video of "Amish Paradise", by Weird Al Yankovic.

-BolianAdmiral

 

[jamestyler]

Here's a photomanip that backstept did for the story, of the Urantia's XO, D'anna (Number Three). Thanks again, backstept!

-BolianAdmiral

That's a really good image. And thankfully I watched her first BSG ep yesterday so I've not been spoiled

 

[Kaiser]

kaisernathan1701,

Thank you.

The image below, is the face of Eliza Winnow. Eliza Winnow is a pilgrim woman from Emilon, who was traveling on the transport ship Sepia Moon. When I was writing for the character, I always envisioned Eliza looking like this, in every way.

The woman in the picture is actually Florence Henderson, as she appeared in the music video of "Amish Paradise", by Weird Al Yankovic.

-BolianAdmiral

Im a Wierd Al fan too kinda blows theres no Star trek song from him :-/

and Golly! I never knew that was Florence Henderson