Dark Duel's Shop-Fu and assorted artsy stuff

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Dark Duel
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Re: Dark Duel's Shop-Fu and assorted artsy stuff

I took another crack at my original plan for the catapults on the Concordia.

This is the result. The bulk of the new parts came from the Archangel, but I also used a couple of parts from the Girty Lue for some superficial details. I still left a section of open deck on each catapult large enough to hold a mobile suit, and I also slightly extended the stern deck.

I think this turned out better than my last attempts(and ironically also IMO increases the resemblance to the original Minerva)

Colors is the next step
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"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
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Deathzealot
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Re: Dark Duel's Shop-Fu and assorted artsy stuff

Huh. That it does! Looks good!
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Dark Duel
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Re: Dark Duel's Shop-Fu and assorted artsy stuff

Glad you agree.
Anyway, got the first color scheme done. As with the previous version, the first basically keeps the canon Millennium's color scheme...with one minor variation, in this case. Just thought that added little pop of color on the outside worked pretty well.

I've got one or two other color scheme ideas that I may try later on
// ART THREAD // NOT ACCEPTING REQUESTS

"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
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Deathzealot
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Re: Dark Duel's Shop-Fu and assorted artsy stuff

You are quite welcome! I am actually liking this version.

EDIT: OH! Forgot to ask if you had seen that MAHQ put up new lineart for the G-Witch series, mostly ships and vehicles, while the new GQX movie got some lineart as well for some of their ships. I wanted to see what you think of the various UC ship redesigns that they did.
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Dark Duel
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Re: Dark Duel's Shop-Fu and assorted artsy stuff

Saw some of it, yeah. Interesting enough, nothing super ground-breaking as far as the ships.
// ART THREAD // NOT ACCEPTING REQUESTS

"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
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Deathzealot
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Re: Dark Duel's Shop-Fu and assorted artsy stuff

Dark Duel wrote: Mon Mar 10, 2025 10:37 am Saw some of it, yeah. Interesting enough, nothing super ground-breaking as far as the ships.
Raised eyebrow. We are talking about the GQX version of the Salamis, Magellean, and the Musai, right? They look really different from the original designs.
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Dark Duel
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Re: Dark Duel's Shop-Fu and assorted artsy stuff

Yeah, kinda. They definitely have a more "industrial" aesthetic compared to the originals and do look quite a bit different. But compared to how drastically the MS have been redesigned, the ship redesigns are a lot more conservative IMO.

Anyway, experimenting with color scheme ideas for the Concordia, my next attempt was something with white as the primary color for the hull. What I was trying to do was to come up with a color scheme that worked as a kind of a callback to that of the Archangel without completely replicating the same color scheme, so I had the idea of reversing the secondary colors, which yielded this.

Next thing I want to try is something with a light blue for the main hull, but I'll need to find a good set of complimentary colors. Maybe a two-tone blue and gold? Not sure yet. Might go digging through major warships in various other series for ideas.
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"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
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Deathzealot
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Re: Dark Duel's Shop-Fu and assorted artsy stuff

Dark Duel wrote: Wed Mar 12, 2025 10:27 pm Yeah, kinda. They definitely have a more "industrial" aesthetic compared to the originals and do look quite a bit different. But compared to how drastically the MS have been redesigned, the ship redesigns are a lot more conservative IMO.
Fair enough. For me if the Federation ships didn't have those spikey bits near the aft end of the ships, I would perhaps like them a bit more. As they really do have a different "feel" to them but at the same time a similiar feel to the older Federation ship designs from 0079 and the following series. Meanwhile, for Zeon, I do like the whole back-end cargo container feel of the Musai I think it took the whole bit of disconnect, if you well, between the engine pods, and the two main body parts do seem off to me.

However! That isn't what this thread is about, my apologies!
Dark Duel wrote: Wed Mar 12, 2025 10:27 pm Anyway, experimenting with color scheme ideas for the Concordia, my next attempt was something with white as the primary color for the hull. What I was trying to do was to come up with a color scheme that worked as a kind of a callback to that of the Archangel without completely replicating the same color scheme, so I had the idea of reversing the secondary colors, which yielded this.
Hmmm... that does look interesting and yeah, the callback to the Archangel can be seen. Though I would totally see a change in the overall scheme for the Archangel due to COMPASS now controlling the ship which would look similar to the Concordia. Just a thought that I had. Sorry.
Dark Duel wrote: Wed Mar 12, 2025 10:27 pm Next thing I want to try is something with a light blue for the main hull, but I'll need to find a good set of complimentary colors. Maybe a two-tone blue and gold? Not sure yet. Might go digging through major warships in various other series for ideas.
Hmmm... Blue and Gold. That would look interesting, but maybe try a more bronze secondary color for I have seen a Blue and Bronze color on a ship design before which look quite fetching. Anyways. Can't wait to see what else you are exploring.
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Dark Duel
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Re: Dark Duel's Shop-Fu and assorted artsy stuff

Deathzealot wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 1:35 am Hmmm... that does look interesting and yeah, the callback to the Archangel can be seen. Though I would totally see a change in the overall scheme for the Archangel due to COMPASS now controlling the ship which would look similar to the Concordia. Just a thought that I had. Sorry.
Well, at least in my particular case the Archangel was fatally damaged and abandoned after Operation Angel Down, so there are no longer any ships of the class operational. ISAF starts out operating three main ships: it got the Minerva from ZAFT, the Alakhshya from the Alliance, and the Kusanagi from Orb. Informally the flagship is the Minerva at first because it's the only one of the three with trans-atmospheric combat capability, and ISAF operates both on Earth and in space.

That's part of why I thought a callback to the AA in the color scheme might be an interesting idea for ISAF's newest flagship, as it echoes some of the themes of the later arcs of GSDA in the sense of the torch being passed on to the next generation.

A big part of the change to Shinn's character and motivation in GSDA is rooted in the fact that the Destiny is developed from the Freedom - and when Shinn learns this, he comes to the conclusion that with the Freedom gone and Kira dead(as far as he knew at the time), he sees it as being up to him to carry on that legacy. Basically, I had the idea to take that concept and apply it to the Concordia, making it a symbolic successor not only to the Minerva, which it replaces as ISAF's flagship(though the Minerva is still operational), but also to the destroyed Archangel
Deathzealot wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 1:35 am Hmmm... Blue and Gold. That would look interesting, but maybe try a more bronze secondary color for I have seen a Blue and Bronze color on a ship design before which look quite fetching. Anyways. Can't wait to see what else you are exploring.
Blue and bronze...not a bad idea. I might try that out, actually...Either a two-tone blue with bronze highlights, or blue and black with bronze might look good. I'll experiment a bit.

EDIT: So started working on a blue...only partially colored so far, but I've got two ideas I'm trying that I'd be curious to get your input on:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/543 ... ae4e_c.jpg
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"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
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Dark Duel
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Re: Dark Duel's Shop-Fu and assorted artsy stuff

Well, neither of my previous two ideas turned out quite the way I liked - the darker was too vibrant, and the lighter was too light, almost ended up looking more like a light gray than a blue. So I went back and went for a primary hull color that was sort of midway between the two, which turned out a lot better IMO. I initially went with an all-bronze secondary trim color, but that looked a little ostentatious so I added some white and a little bit more blue instead and liked that better.

But I'm of two minds on how to go with the catapult hatch:

IDEA 1 goes for a darker color on the hatches, more in line with previous color schemes where the hatches are darker than the surrounding hull.

IDEA 2 instead goes for the same lighter blue-gray as the tip of the upper bow. I like both, though I'm maybe leaning slightly more towards this one.

Curious to hear what you think.
// ART THREAD // NOT ACCEPTING REQUESTS

"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
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Deathzealot
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Re: Dark Duel's Shop-Fu and assorted artsy stuff

The lighter works best I think, goes better with the rest of the colors. Looks really great!
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Dark Duel
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Re: Dark Duel's Shop-Fu and assorted artsy stuff

Thanks. Now the challenge of course is deciding on which of these three color schemes would be the final color scheme I pick - Minerva grey, white, or blue.

I suppose I could see how each looks together with the other three ships I visualize ISAF operating: The aforementioned Minerva, the Kusanagi, and the Niranjan-class Alakhshya.
// ART THREAD // NOT ACCEPTING REQUESTS

"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
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