marinersubmariner - Tumblr blog

[marinersubmariner]

I don't normally like to show WIP/sketchy/unfinished artwork because my process is a complete mess and I'm embarrassed by how bad it all is before I reach a point where I'm satisfied enough to call something done. That being said, as the AI inundation is upon us, it feels valuable to share the human trial and error and my own manic desperation that goes into making art. I always spend too much time on stuff that ends up looking like it should not have taken that much time, but I REALLY overcooked my last drawing and fried my own brain. Trying to draw a speeder bike was torture. Here's some of the goofy shit I did!

I really had intended to simply draw an existing speeder bike, but as I considered the ~aesthetic~ I wanted and examined the standard ROTJ-style bike, it wasn't working for me. In terms of motorcycles they're too much like choppers for my taste when I vastly prefer the chunky '80s futurism/cyberpunk/mecha anime look (clearly, since this started out as an Akira reference). But. I have zero expertise in mechanical design or even concept art itself. I do not know how vehicles work or how to draw them. And referencing either real or fictional motorcycles isn't a huge help because they have wheels to focus the design around, which of course hover bikes don't have.

So obviously trying to both design a speeder and draw it in perspective was really difficult to wrap my brain around. I started out by photographing one of my old '90s Micro Machines for reference, but it wasn't exactly useful for extrapolating the shape into a new design:

I sketched out some profiles, but, again, tough to convert to 3D using only my very weak power of imagination:

The only 3D-adjacent tool I know well enough to use is After Effects, which is a poor substitute for a real 3D modeler because it can really only do flat planes and basic shape extrusion, and it was too cumbersome for this. I started to try it and it sucked:

"Just learn a 3D program," you say. "Blender is free." WELL. Maybe someday. But not today. So I resorted to building it in miniature out of cardboard:

This is less mortifying than taking pose reference photos of myself (which I have done a lot! it's a great way to make yourself feel like a complete lunatic!!!) but it was also more work, so. Still makes me feel like a lunatic.

Thankfully it did make it possible for me to finally draw something. The design isn't groundbreaking, and I still have absolutely no idea how to create convincing mechanical details despite poring over mountains of concept art… but an attempt was made. My perspective is probably still out of whack because, despite having studied art throughout my entire academic career, I never officially learned all those multipoint perspective tricks, drawing cubes inside of cubes, etc. I've always preferred and been much better at organic shapes than anything mechanical or architectural.

My initial iterations were more X-Wing/BSG Viper-esque, but I kept being unhappy with the nose shape. I wanted it to be pointy and triangular but I couldn't add enough detail to make it interesting. Even after building it MULTIPLE TIMES I didn't like it, so the shape I ultimately landed on… wasn't one of the prototypes I built. LOL. It was just so hard to tell in the earlier stages, so I had to go through the whole refining process just to land on "nah." It looked alright in cardboard, and then translating it to line art, and then once I colored it I didn't like it. It would have been a lot easier if I could tell at an earlier stage than that!!!!!!

There wasn't any one ship/vehicle I referenced, but things I looked at for inspiration included: the Akira bike (obviously), Tron lightcycles, every time we've ever seen a speeder bike in any piece of Star Wars media, actual motorcycles, X-Wings, A-Wings, U-Wings, Jedi Vectors… etc.

Once I had settled on the split nose, I tried adding vertical stabilizers to the tail section for some more interest back there and to balance out the front, but even though I liked them I thought they made it too busy. It also started to look too much like a miniature ship instead of a bike, like he was riding one of those coin-operated kiddie rides. No!!! I wanted this to look cool!!! So I stuck with the nondescript tail section.

Pose and likeness referencing aren't very exciting but just know that I use a mishmash of references for literally everything. Normally I would pose myself (even though translating my own blobby female proportions into those of a large man is another layer of awkward difficulty), but riding a speeder is a tough action to recreate so I downloaded the "MagicPoser" app on my phone and used that instead. The basic version is free and you can move around limbs and joints in their normal range of motion—some of it gets rubbery, but for the most part it did what I needed it to do.

Also just had to make up an excuse to put him in a pilot helmet! The shape is based on a Y-Wing helmet—a personal favorite of mine—which made sense to me for using on a speeder since it has more face coverage like motorcycle helmets tend to have. (not that I drew him actually wearing it on the speeder, haha. safety first, kids!!—UNLESS you're a dumbass space wizard, then just do whatever looks cool.) I really waffled back and forth on what color to make the visor, because I'm extremely partial to the pink from the Y-Wing helmet, but ultimately I went with the more traditional yellow-orange. Either one looks good with blue and white so I still like 'em both.

This all feels like it was an enormous waste of time, but I did realize the thing that was in my head, so. I guess that's an accomplishment. Unfortunately the problem with making art for myself is that I invariably end up hating my own work, and being in a dead/dying fandom on a dead/dying platform means there is very little external validation to counteract the self-loathing brain worms. Agony!

[marinersubmariner]

I thought it would be cool to see a Ben Solo Akira slide, but since the Akira slide has been parodied to death (including by Obi-Wan Kenobi himself in Tartakovsky Clone Wars) I changed the angle a bit to be less redundant.

Also for some reason I felt the need to make my life really difficult by trying to design a new speeder bike??? Which foolishly seemed necessary to me because I wanted to align it more with the cyberpunk anime look. And then I just had to keep going and give him a helmet and facial injuries for my own amusement.

Since this sort of started out as a biker gang AU, it really should have aesthetically been Kylo and the Knights of Ren, but that went right out the window because I'm incessantly compelled to dress him in blue.

The design on his helmet is a zoomed-in portion of the symbol from Anakin's podracer and racing flag (grandpa's #1 fanboy). I was initially messing around with placing it in full but thought it looked too busy. I do kind of wish I had figured out a way to keep more of it, because after I drew it I realized it looks like a blue butterfly?!?

Galaxy brain connections just happening to me completely by accident

Details:

[marinersubmariner]

BD-1 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

[marinersubmariner]

Field work site: waterfall biome 💧 Lots of heart went into this piece ☺️ I go into the enjoyment I feel thinking about the game “Wind Waker” now and then, and it comes through my pieces a lot of the time I reckon!

I think of bright, vibrant colour, life breathed into every corner, the thrill of adventure and exploration, and I hope I can imbue my art with some semblance of this essence.

I’ll be making prints of this piece, only once. It’s the design for my patreon launch special you can check my page for more info if you wish

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The Millennium Falcon arrives on Takodana by Robert Watts

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i made a tumblr to post all my reylooooos (twitter)

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Japan, 1993 // designer: Nobuaki Takeara.

[marinersubmariner]

[439/10,977] Australasian Darter - Anhinga novaehollandiae

Order: Suliformes Family: Anhingidae (darters, anhingas or snakebirds)

Photo credit: Drew Davison via Macaulay Library

[marinersubmariner]

oh, pine trees and summer weeds 🍃

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Pyrite Planet Arena (2018) by Phil Saunders https://www.artstation.com/artwork/RYbBXe

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Some portrait sketches for Yoshii Toranaga beauty appreciation.

[marinersubmariner]

Setting aside the maintenance and hyperdrive questions of how these ships even made it to Exegol in the first place, I do like seeing the original X-Wing and TIE Fighter together here. Enemy fighters from an old war now aligned side-by-side. A new generation redefining the vestiges of a conflict they inherited. He parked next to her. IT'S CUTE

[marinersubmariner]

Illusion , Kichijoji 吉祥寺

[marinersubmariner]

Chilean plasterer bee, Caupolicana fulvicollis, Colletidae

Photos 1-2 by pedrova, 3 by enriquezrenteria, 4-5 by cesar_picar, and 6 by edonoso

[marinersubmariner]

Luck & Probability Sector.

Do you have a lucky charm you always carry with you or that helps you in your challenges?

I have a four-leaf clover keychain my mother gifted me when I was 7.