Final Whale Airship Concept

For my final design I really think I took the whales shape into consideration by creating a ship which fits with the curves of its body.

The first of the two images shows the whale without the hydrogen balloon and without the sails which give the ship a western steampunk styled look. when coming up with ideas for this concept me and Alan spoke of creating a piece of work which was a mash up of different time periods. A good example of this would be the T'V series Dinotopia.

 This second concept I have just added the sails and the Balloon to the ship which completes the design. This is my final design but once I get to the maya stage of creating the ship it could slightly change.
 

Concept Design - Trial and Error

After spending weeks designing I finally thought I had a solid idea which I tried creating in photoshop. After taking the design to Alan we decided that the ship didnt flow too well with the whale making it look like the ship was carrying the whale and not the whale carrying the ship.

The first of the two images is the ship without the whale. In this design I was at fault because the design of the ship made it look like a battle cruiser which carried the creature, where in my design I wanted the Whale to be carrying the ship. 

The second image I used a picture of a whale and tried to fit my idea around the creature. It was only when I finished the design that I actually realised the problem which I had with it. My initial thoughts showed told me that this was a good starting point to create something better, something which isn't so straight and more curved to fit the whales features and shape.

Concept Art Sketches

I havent had access to the internet for a few weeks now which is why I have been taking so long in uploading my posts/work. Hopefully from now to the end of the project I will be uploading my work as I go along.

The images below are some sketches which I created in order to help me create an idea of how my whale airship will look like once I take it from sketch to maya.

GOW 3 - Junk Research

For the past couple of days I have been doing research into vehicles which may represent a junk type factor in their design. For research purposes I have been looking at a video game called Gears of War as this has some key examples throughout its design. In particular, throughout the trilogy there is a race of creatures known as the Locust. 

The Locust Horde was a race of reptilian humanoids who wanted a mass planet extermination of every man women and child in the human race. They consist of a common race of drones and all manner of other animals which are indigenous to their underground tunnel homes. 

Most of the Locusts technology was stolen or salvaged from what the humans left or lost in battle. It is throughout this race that my project can find inspiration. In my concept taken from Scott Westerfelds novel Leviathan, the British manipulate creatures and use them for their benefit which is also the same method as the locust use in Gears of War. Some examples of this are in the images below.

Reaver - 

Bloodmount - 

Torture Barge - 

Siege Beast - 

I have chosen to write a little about the Locust Gas Barge and not the other examples because this specific example is more specific to my project. The gas barge is an extremely large creature which can float and propel themselves through the air. 

The Locust use these barges as a form of flight transport. Each barge carries a metal platform underneath, sporting turrets and cannons which are used to defend the ship from enemy forces. Unlike Reavers, the barges are much more sluggish and large which means they are an easier target.

A turret made from salvaged human weapons. 

The Locust have gathered weapons from the dead and created a powerful and useful weapon from the scrap remains of unwanted junk.

Return of the Jedi - Junk Barge

Whilst talking to Alan in my tutorial on Friday he told me to have a look at some of the vehicles in Return of the Jedi, in particular the Khetanna.

The Khetanna was a Ubrikkian industries luxury sail barge, owned by the crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure (also known as Jabba the Hut). He used this barge to sail across the Dune Sea of Tatooine and for pleasurable expeditions to the Great pit of Carkoon.

The reason that I have researched this vehicle is because me and Alan talked about some of my sketches in my book and decided my designs were progressing more towards creating a junk type barge, similar to the Kheetana seen in the images above. 

Another vehicle which we talked about looking into was the smaller vehicles which accompanied the Khetanna. These vehicles were called Skiffs which carried the Huts guards.

Engine Research

For my project I need to design and make a whale airship based around WW1. One of the main problems that I’ve had already throughout this project is trying to make the airship fly without it being too unrealistic. After much research I decided to create an engine which is attached to the whale. The Whale breathes hydrogen from its air holes, passing through pipes which are then attached to a balloon above the Whale, enabling it to float. In order to create an engine I have been gathering reference images to create an idea of how this could progress in the design stages of the project.

These are different examples of Steam powered engines which were used during and before the time period of this project. 

Engine Research

Pierre Matter

Whilst researching for this project and around the Steampunk genre I came across a remarkable artist/sculpture called Pierre Matter.

Pierre Matter was born in France 1964, he was a mystical child and a troubled teenanger . Matters work represents how modern technology has invaded every part of our existence. Matter uses many industrial objects and diverts them from their initial use to create his sculptures. Some of the more common materials that Matter uses consist of car parts scrap metal, sluice gates and even electrical components. Matter is quoted saying... “In so far as I create my works out of derelict objects because they have become useless or ineffectual, scrap metal which will live a new life in my sculptures, will survive to deterioration and become the privileged witness of a materialistic time of accelerated wasting.   I am strongly influenced by the “anticipation” and “prospective” spheres, from Giger to Jodorowsky, and Jules Verne. Materialism is cracking all over, we are changing world, the present and the future are merging more and more, everything is becoming fluid and our landmarks are getting blurred.”

 

I have selected a few of Matters images to show in my blog for inspiration to this project and for an amazing example of the Steampunk genre from an artistic point of view. Whilst browsing through Matters amazing collection of works I came across two pieces in particular which I found more influential to my specific project. 

The two images represent a whale but in an industrial form. The first is a painting which Matter has created with a submarine in mind. He uses his steampunk style to create an image by taking a natural creature and creating an image which represents his style. The second image is similar, however this image captures an amazing sculpture which Matter has created with his bare hands.

Showreel of Matters works...

Pierre Matter

What is Steampunk?

The term Steampunk is seen to be a sub genre of alternate history, fantasy and science fiction. The popularity of this genre came about between the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. 

 

“In three short words, steampunk is Victorian science fiction. Here “Victorian” is not meant to indicate a specific culture, but rather references a time period and an aesthetic: the industrialized 19th century. Historically, this period saw the development of many key aspects of the modern world (mechanized manufacturing, extensive urbanization, telecommunications, office life and mass-transit), and steampunk uses this existing technology and structure to imagine an even more advanced 19th century, often complete with Victorian-inspired wonders like steam-powered aircraft and mechanical computers.”