All Finished Ships (So far)

For animators reference (Matt Owen) some ships still require tweaking, but this is an overall progress update. The Aquila Dominion and Athenian Hierarchy ships still need to be drawn however.

Zodiac Court (FINISH POST)

11th May Presentation Questions, Answers, Solutions and Plans

The overall project is a design prototype for a video game I plan to make post graduation. I've taken the largest inspiration from the Homeworld Franchise which is now owned by gearbox. The reason I have chosen the Homeworld games as a basis for aesthetic is that the artists (Rob Cunningham and Aaron Kambeitz)  behind the original two games wanted their game to stand out artistically amongst the many previous science fiction games, which feature ships that they found to be heavilly influenced by the Star Wars franchise, specifically on grey colour shcemes, to counter this looked to the science fiction pulp novels of the late 60's to late 80's. Artists like Chris Foss, John Harris and Peter Elson, while Kambetiz states the most of these artists are derivatives from Chris Foss's work, which pioneered the style. My BA7 research document featured a number of these and similar artists. The summer before the project stated (2014) I read numerous pulp sci fi novels as research Issac Asimov's Foundation trilogy inspired me the most in terms of a grand space opera, while my project at this time does not focus on individual characters at all (I plan to change this when I take it further) the larger political machinations greatly interested me.

The project itself along with its long term goal is the design for a tactical strategy game that I'd like to build for android OS, but I've also put thought into a card or boardgame, while these future plans do not feature in the project directly, they are what I would want the long term result of this project to be. Currently under the working title of Project Schism.

Project Schism at this time is being presented with concept art as a means of promotional material for the future larger project that will be posted on my personal website. Creating Project Schism for my BA8 has been an endeavor in which I knew I wouldn't be able to do what I wanted alone. So I recruited some talented people together who had the skills I lacked (Webstie design, Music, Animation) and I wound up quickly as creative director of the project managing my team and keeping them on track with what I wanted through communication and critique. The project has also given me experience into what it is like to run and organize a project different areas, each with their own attributes and distinctions. With the music for my project (which will be used into the exhibition piece)

Vincenszo Prestigiacomo (Vinny) and Ben Mills have collaborated on the creation of the music throughout the project often mutually advising me on what works and what doesn't, not being experience in the creation of music anyway personally, it has also taught me to clearly state what I am looking for through examples and themes, while leaving enough creative freedom to the artists to let them come out with something unique which in turn I hope will give my project a unique feel.

Matt Owen and Simon Jarvis meanwhile cover the more technical aspects of the project regard website design and construction (Simon). Whilst Matt's main focus is animating the spaceship concepts and creating a interactive animation which will be accessed through the site which Simon is building. More role in regards to this is creative direction and approval whilst being likewise updated with what is possible and the limitations with the software being used. 

Ixion Federation Colour Test and Iteration

Like with the Shakti Protectorate ships, I did a iteration/colour test. However due to the background of the faction, each version of how the white stripes are displayed can be representative of which clan possesses that ship. However for the final concepts I will be using the bottom left.

Ixion_Federation_silhouettes

Aquilla Domion Enviroment: OUN (Orbital Uteral Nexus)

Environment piece done for the project in between factions for a break in drawing Ship profiles.

Ixion Fed Fighter

Unlike the last two factions were I started with their captial ships, because of the nature of Ixion fleet building I wanted to start with the smallest craft (The Fighter) and take a look other the work of Homeworld artists Rob Cunningham and Aaron Kambeitz work for inspiration, since their ships often have a very industrial design that I think would fit the feel of the Ixion Federation that while not as Streamlined as the Shakti Protectorate or not as utilitarian as the Confederacy I want to convey a very modular approach such as found in their Taidan Empire ships along with the Turanic Radiers faction from the first game.

The Ixion Federation

The lore of the Federation is that they are the descendants of the inner colonies first colonized to provide resources for the Sol system by the United Sol Empire, since the Sol Vanguards military coup and reformation with some of the inner and outer colonies as the Shakti Protectorate, the remainder of the world the Empire left behind began to integrate after a centuries of having all communication blocked, through this they had developed their own cultures and societies on the removal of their isolation they quickly conquered their neighbors and forged alliances with others. Through this the Ixion clans and soon became the Federation, while still plagued with rampant infighting and due to their homeworlds being long stripped of any resources they relay on the derelict hulks of the other factions major conflicts to build their own ships to patrol and expand their own borders, smaller Ixion vessels are often of their own building but their captial ships tend to the resurrected Dreadnoughts of the larger factions flying the Federations colours. In the BA7 brief I planned no Ixion Ship to be the same, I want to keep this mostly true, but I I assume they would be able to construct their only smaller ships (Fighter, Corvettes and Frigates) but anything bigger would be either captured from another faction or refitted construction, cargo and foundry ships.

Final Shakti Protecterate Ships