Welcome to Day Two of the Valdore and thanks for all the comments yesterday. Today we’ll explore three drawings that were the first to finalize the color and the belly details of the ship. These drawing represent a version where there were to be back up and secondary warp drive nacelles attatched to the under hull of the ship. The design aesthetics were to further the understory that they were a special type of nacelles designed and used when the ship was to be cloaked, so that it’s wake trail would not be traceable, very much like the caterpillar drive from the Red October. As far as this detail went, I wasn’t happy with how these additions obscured the sweeping lines of the ship, and in the plan views there is a view of the ship with and without these nacelles. On the “without” view, there is a bare section entitled “Engine Mount”. This would be the future mounting point for the second wing. From this point on, I scrapped the warp pods and started working in a subtle bi-wing that would further carry the design flow that Andy had come up with for TNG. This will be the last post of the Valdore until next week due to I have to go home and dig out the rest of the big drawings to scan. HAA! So enjoy, and tomorrow will either be more Xindi ships or a pin up update with Jessica…or both! Ok, have a great Thursday, fellow bloggers.
the color pass was the next drawing requested and here she is all green and Romulany
first pass of the belly details
profile schematics
Eavesdropping with Johnny 
Yeah, I’m really digging the Valdore. The beak is quite interesting as well, gives the whole ship more an avian look than the D’Deridex. It was a good thing you ditched the secondary warp nacelles, I agree that they obscure the intricate linework a little bit too much. Yould’ve gone with extending nacelles, though…
^ And that was to be “You could’ve gone… I miss the edit function 😦
You and me both brother!
“all green and Romulany” – now there’s a sentence you don’t see every day! I love this ship’s sleek and fierce lines. It was a great counter to the Scimitar.
Thanks Don!!!
Amazing. I love how you can draw all these details into different perspectives and have them all perfectly align! I guess I use a computer too much, but I’m just in awe of you and all artists really.
I so wish I could do the modeling in the computer,,, wonder if that processing mentality would transfer over from brain to pencil, to brain to mouse???
The skills transfer is unlikely – at least at the speed you are probably used to working at. Trust me – you are far better off working on paper. As someone who dabbles in illustration and concepting after almost 20 years of (nearly exclusive) cg modeling, I’d take your drawing skills over cg modeling skills any day!
Plus, you never have to worry about expensive software upgrades, or incompatible formats, or corrupted files, or dead batteries, or being unable to work away from a terminal, or….I could go on.
Anyway, your work is awesome and I really enjoy your blog (and the frequent updates!) I was just looking at your “Gen & FC Sketchbook” for inspiration yesterday. Always inspiring.
Hi John – thank you for posting these drawings, the detail is stunning. The Valdore has always been one of my favorite designs. I didn’t realize until your post yesterday that it really does combine the best elements of Klingon and Romulan design aesthetics. Can’t wait to see Day Three!
Since you’ve given us the Scimitar and now the Valdore, will you be going for a clean sweep of the bad guys from Nemisis and be posting your designs for the Scorpion?
As always, thank you for taking the time to share these great images with us.
Best regards,
Rich
Yeah I’ve been saving the Scorpion for a week when I have a lot of time because it is a pretty big file. Thanks for the note Rich and look forward to getting more of this one posted.
I love that color pass. That’s an awesome drawing. 🙂
Those nacelles you designed for the belly are pretty sweet, even though they did mess with the flow of the belly a bit. However, with the way you designed them, they only slightly obscured things. And that’s also a great idea, having special nacelles for the ship when cloaked. You guys really put a lot of thought into this ship. 😀
It is a funny thing to justify something so fictional in such a practical way,, it’s almost like make believe when you were a kid playing with your army soldiers in the running water of the gutter. always adding some imagination to make those little plastic guys more real!
you are the man mr. eaves!
Really beautiful.
The Valdore is very impressive and – what’s most important to me: – elegant, majestic. But at first I expected a bigger gap between the two necks.
But the Valdore’s appearance is striking.
What makes me very happy: the pics of the lateral view!!!
Thank you for this addition to the row of Star Trek’s romulan ship!
I’ve been following this blog for some time and marveling at your designs Mr Eaves and I will say without a doubt that both your talent and your style is an inspiration. Despite being accepted in the Navy’s nuclear program, I continue to peruse my art work on the side and the valdore series is just another in the long line of your work that I look to for inspiration. Thanks for the sharing your talent and as I know first hand when it comes to posting online – life offline and work come first!
Great stuff! I just love the attention to detail and the level of thought that goes into the designs and the logic behind them. Frothing at the mouth ready for day three next week! 🙂
Beautiful design work.
I like everything about the ships of Nemesis…the Valdore, as has been mentioned, is a fitting addition to the E-E and Scimitar. This is my favorite BoP rendition, and it is really due to the ties to a mix of earlier versions (as Syd mentioned yesterday), as well as it’s later, end of the era (TNG) looking fierceness.
She’s a beauty, John! I’m also looking forward to some more Scorpion stuff…my favorite fictional dream vehicle. My goal is to achieve professional success so that I can buy myself one of these personal flyers! 😉 If not, then maybe the Argo off-road vehicle or your hover bike design. 🙂
John
cool drawings, but your drawings are always cool.
So got any pciures of Dina Myer to go along with the Valdore?
Ha ha
I have been wanting to model this mesh every since I first saw it at the theaters. You are incredible at designing and I am very happy to have been lead to your blog – a awesome source for us “hobby” 3d modelers. After seeing your Dominion/Cardassian designs and then Klingon and misc ships from ENT all I can say is WOW….you are the heart of the visual genre of Star Trek and I thank you
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For some reason I like the ship better in your sketches than the final version on the screen.
Anyway, do you have a side view with the wings and nacelles?
I looked around but couldn’t find any info on the drawing techniques/supplies you use. Do you have a post on your methods and techniques, or are they trade secrets?
I’m going to guess pencil, paper, and absolute buttloads of practice. 😉
The ship was CG, but a bunch of us were on stage shooting motion control fire elements for the big fight.
And some well known folks too: Joe Viscocil (Pyro – you might remember him as the guy who blew up the Death Star and suppled the Scimitar explosion), Dennis Hoerter, who did all our rigging and rigged just about every ship model filmed for TNG, DS9 and VOY, and our Director of Photography, Eric Nash, who shot alot of the TNG and DS9 models over the years. Yours truly did all motion control on the show.
Funny, all of us standing around with a state of the art Motion control rig photographing some burning steel wool on a C-stand.
Thanks for the insights on that, Chris! I really enjoy hearing about how things onscreen came to be. I laugh when I picture you there watching the steel wool burn. 🙂
yeah it kept going out too and Joe kept having to relight it – – –
The element was something the CG crew could have done, but I think they were trying to keep their 3d resources on ship rendering.
The fans clearly love the Romulans and their big, scary green birds. I must say, it makes me sorry that the new movie put the Romulan villains in a Borg-y giant squid or whatever instead of a high-budget big, scary green bird…oh, and that the movie also destroyed Romulus entirely. Guess the birds are extinct 😦
I bet I am not the only one who would love it if a future SOTL calendar contained art featuring Andrew Probert’s warbird and John Eaves’s warbird flying in formation together.
Dr. Schneider is a shark, and in the depths the currents have borne to him the scent of his sideview prey.
I wouldn’t count the Romulans out entirely, I am sure there are some fleets and colony worlds and outposts still out there. The Countdown comic book revealed an interesting place . . . . .
Hopefully Doug Drexler is reading this. He’s involved in the creation of the SOTL calendar. He did give us a preview of the 2010 SOTL calendar on his blog (http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/2010-sotl-closeup-–-andrew-probert-refit-at-station-gray/) of the D’Deridex in drydock drawn by Andy Probert himself.
You know, I’d have dug a four-nacelles all the time (instead of just some of the time) approach to the Valdore. Two big, two smaller. 😀
Mr. Eaves,
You said: “It is a funny thing to justify something so fictional in such a practical way”
I think this is why your designs are so good! It really gives your designs a lot of “pizzaz” and they look as if the engineers and designers of the various fictional races have put a lot of time into these designs.
I have been reading the blog quite a while and did not realize all the stuff you have designed.
I enjoyed your presentation at Wonderfest immensely. It is too bad that your talent and skill were not utilized more in the new Trek movie.
Question: Is the green and Romulany look achieved with markers? If so, you are smooth!
Also, are the white highlights a colored pencil or gouache?
Thanks for time you take to post all this stuff. I became a fan at Wonderfest–a great show!
Finally, this is great stuff..And now we want to see what has been done in the CGI-department (did Doug Drexler finish off the final model and if not who and please post them)
Either way would have looked awesome, but I’m glad you ended up going with the double wing instead of the extra nacelles.
I love the hooked shape of the prow — looks ferocious, as a Romulan ship should.
Wow that’s a really impressive design ! I watched Nemesis but don’t remember much about the ship … but anyway the CGI model couldn’t be as detailed as this so I don’t care !
On a side note the ship greately reminds me of the Orion attackers from Enterprise’s “Bound” but the connection to TNG’s Romulan ships is easier to see 😀
Never quite saw the beak part of the ship in the movie. Lovely lines!
Sweet stuff mate.
Looking at that clocked engine, it looks like the front has a bit of a starfleet desgin to it. was that intentstional?
The subtle second wing was a great element to add to the design. Looking forward to seeing the CG images next week. We’ve only seen one or maybe two beauty shots of the CG model, but it looked very faithful to your design.
I LOVE this ship! I always hated the TNG Warbird and thought this design was just so sleek and elegant.
Alec
John, I have always loved this design. Elegant. Aggressive. Yet pays homage to Probert and his innovative take on starship design. All traits of a great designer. This one really sings! In fact, I totally ripped off the spirit of it for my kitbash…the Val’Jorran. Know you are an inspiration for a lot of modeling fanatics out there.
http://www.feymanshipyards.com/AdversaryVAL.html
I have to say, I was equally intriqued by the option you described as too “batman” with the upswept wings. Another thing I have been playing with in some of my Romulan designs. It harkens back to upward angle of the TOS Romulan ship of old. As always, looking at your process gets my brain whirring and my fingers wanting to get my hands on some styrene…
Thanks again for this gift of your blog, always a delight.
Michael
This is my fav romulan ship ever! Thanks for posting these up!
this stuff is beatiful