version #46
Version #65
final concept
Last week’s post featured some concepts for a Gorn attack ship, turned Orion via a script change. Todays post will show one more concept, and then the final approved design. Wondering in a black-hole of ideas that weren’t making the vision that Manny Cotto had envisioned is the first sketch today. Manny had a very distinct idea about what this ship was going to look like and the earlier concepts were just not falling where he wanted them. I took this piece over to his office and he didn’t care for what he was seeing, so he did some research and handed me a copy of what looked like a standard on a pole from either a fictional movie or from something that really existed from somewhere in the world. It was a cool shape with a kind of crescent, mirrored blade look to it. So from their I translated the shape into a ship keeping the basis of the picture as the cornerstone.Manny was very happy with this one and he really liked the teeth,,, he thru in another thought of hitting the nose and wing tips in a bloody red color to accent the the nature of the vessel. With that here is the pen/penciled concept and the finished color key frame.
Eavesdropping with Johnny 
Really like the wingart, since they are supposed to be pirates! Didn´t make it onscreen though, did it?
Thanks for the great concept sketches! It seems as if the bloody nose and wingtips also didn’t make it into the final episode.
Mhh, taking a look at screenshots, the wingart (if you are referring to the teeth) actually made it into the episode.
The wingart can be seen in these screenshots:
Thanks for the grabs!!! I haven’t seen this episode yet so it’s nice to see the teeth made it thru!!!!
Yes I did Jörg! Wow, such an eye for detail you have! I think it´s just great that particular part of John Eaves wonderful design made it.
That is a cool looking ship.
thanks for all the of comments!!!
Another cool one was the Orion “barge”: http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Harrad-Sar's_barge
That one seems to have some kind of tribal tattoos. Not to mention big phaser gun turrets 🙂
that was is for Tomorrow’s post. I had asked JJ Abrams office if I can show anything from the new film prior to the release and I got an email on Friday giving me permission to show a few things, so that will be on Wednesday’s post
OK now that’s tantalizing… sort of like Orion slave girls but, ya know, for Trek geeks 😉
That’s another cool design. It recently reappeared in two of IDW’s Star Trek comics. The design was prominently seen in “Alien Spotlight #4: Orions” and also appeared in “Mirror Images #2”.
WOW you are the source!!!!! I’ll have to go check it out….. Thanks
Strike the appearance in Alien Spotlight #4, it’s not in there. I remember clearly seeing the design in an IDW comic and thought it was the Orion issue but I got it wrong. Now I’m searching for the other, big appearance.
I love the finished product’s wing art! It seems very aggressive and pirate-like.
The first one feels like it could be a Gorn heavy cruiser to me. Therefore, with your permission I shall in my mind believe it to be so. 😉
I had forgotten about these! I thought they were awesome. I ran it back a couple of times to check out the wing art. I’m glad that you went through all of the revisions, even though it may have been a long day for you by the end. The first piece, while cool, just doesn’t have the same feel, kudos to Manny. I like the story about Manny’s idea of a standard as a shape…fun stuff!
Jörg, thanks for always getting these links up. I’ve appreciated that in several postings, as well as here. Always nice to see the finished product as it actually appeared.
So John, did you actually have to draw 65 versions of this ship before they approved it? You must have enough concept art to last a hundred years 🙂 (and I’m looking forward to seeing all of it 🙂 )
no, that # system covers everything drawn for the episode the gaps generally reflect moving on to other things!!
John
I’m loving those Orion ships, but anyhting long and pointy is cool in my book.
It’s cool how this is yet another birdlike starship design, with the beak and the wings. There are so many avian-inspired starship designs (Romulan Bop, Klingon Bop, Romulan Warbird etc)