Anathem - Mathic EVA Suit - WIP2

Ok, finally had time to polish up and post the direction I am going in. Still not done and pretty rough around the edges but moving in the right direction. I am having a hell of a time with the rotating hard suit joints - The geometries involved are unlike anything I've had to draft out before so there is some drift between joints and views that I need to hammer out. It would be really fun to see animated but it is not easy to design while keeping it cool.

For the final presentation I will also be including a figure wrapped in the white micrometeorite armor mentioned in the book so I've been adding small electro magnet pads to the suits to anchor those in place.

The various waste and fuel tubes are not really well realized and I may need to just treat them as something that require a teammate to change out due to their placement.

Onward!

"Trust me, my legs and arms enjoy 2-3 degrees of movement!"

Anathem - Mathic EVA Suit - Thumbs 01

I'm going to start a little side project in between jobs to create the space suit used in the last act of "Anathem" by Neal Stephenson. The book's description essentially paints this as a diving hard suit with the limbs being comprised of rotating bulbus sections that are locked together. The pilot enters via a large back door and the hands fit within large roomy forearms with skeletal manipulators that only pop out when in use.

The biggest challenge for me will be to modernize and enhance what could easily be a pretty stupid look - I don't know if you've seen many diving hard suits but most don't look that cool in my opinion. The other thing that worries me is becoming a slave of function - something I can easily chase after, especially when the source material is 100% sound and solid.

We will see how it goes!

Scrap Station Sigma - Alien ship tests

I've been keeping some of this stuff on the back burner but finally got to work a bit more on the design language for the last two races for SSS. These are all still work in progress and the interior art and colors will likely change quite a bit.

The "Ismer'gi" Operate as a swarm of small little bug like creatures. I wanted their ship to feel like a pollen spore or bacteria of just pure organics. The inner floor is not separated enough from the hull yet so will be focusing on that.

The "Phinzor" pilot living ships as well but are more of a bred organism with distinct parts and functions. I went with a mix of flea, tick and burr for this one.

Sketch - "Slimy" + "Wilderness"

Fell a bit behind on my 30 minute daily sketches but made it up with 3 today. This one was with the prompt of "Slimy" and "Wilderness". I wanted to subvert the "too green to be healthy" look that many swamps have with a more wooded feel surrounded by life. If i had more time I would have played that up.

Assorted weekend sketches + The Google Art Project

The "Google Art Project" Chrome extension

A few days ago on the Verge I saw that Google has released a new chrome extension that turns each new blank tab into a masterwork from over the last few hundred years. I immediately installed it and am glad I did! Historically I've never really gotten into fine art but I am finding it really inspiring when something shockingly beautiful pops up unexpectedly!

30 Minute sketches

For a bit I was debating if I would post all of my daily sketches or just the ones I liked most. I think for starters I will post everything as a way to drive myself forward, but I hope they don't turn perspective people away from my work as a whole. I am trying to push myself into different workflows and out of my comfort zone. I've seen some amazing stuff done in 30 minutes and I want to get there!

As always my prompts are coming from Concept Art Sessions. (Who has a TERRIBLE mobile site...)

"Messenger" + "Battlefield"

"Aircraft" + "Research"

"Pistons" + "Delicate"

"Seatbelts" + "Square"

Sketch - "Norse" + "Wagon"

Getting back on the daily sketch horse and will try to get one 30 minute drawing down and out every week day.

This one was hard to start off on because my horse/oxen game is pretty weak - so I knew I didn't want to burn a large part of my 30 minutes on it... 

For the wagon I basically cut a long ship, threw wheels on with a hint of knot work for the spokes and called it a day.

Man that horse sucks hard...

Via Concept Art Sessions - 30 Minutes - Vehicle - Tags: "Norse" "Wagon"

http://conceptartsessions.com/piece/3821/Viking-Convoy