Art Challenges for Infinity Fan Art (Challenge 4 - An Infinity Short Story - Ended! - Winner: ThornEel!)

General
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Yeah this contest was very motivational, and it was the first time for me to draw all the linework on paper and only do color etc. in PhotoShop (simply because of time constraints ;))

Thanks! His style is actually a big inspiration to me, and I happen to do the same study (Industrial Design at the Technical University in Delft) and use the same materials :smile:

Anyway, my vote goes to

LucasFIN’s Eternal Harmony Class Destroyer

Firstly, it’s fits the ‘Centauran destroyer’ description best. It’s definitely Centauran looking with all the curving armor and dark exposed greeble, and it looks dangerous and very capable of destroying things :wink: It’s also a very complete submission with 2 sideviews and a perspective view, though an underside perspective view is missing. I’m really impressed how all details are accurately present on all views. The windows make the size of the ship clear, but I think the greeble could have been more detailed to help read the size. I like how even the name is Centauran btw :wink:

I do think the part behind the front turrets is too thin. In combination with the roundness of the front part it creates some sort of ‘curl’. I think the sideview has a very cool silhouette, but in the other views the outline is a bit too clean for my taste. The ship is sometimes quite organic with armor flowing from one curve to the next. I prefer a bit more geometrical shapes plus more exposed greeble, but that might take it away from the Centauran look to much.

I was very impressed by Universalpainkiller’s Tsedakah Destroyer. I’m not sure it counts as concept art being a 3D model, but the speed in which the ship was created and modified was very impressive. The reason that I didn’t vote for this ship was that I don’t like airplane wings on spaceships, and this concept has a lot of them :wink: I think the overall shape is a bit too complex, while it lacks greeble and cuts in armor. I really like the amount of detail and attention to features such as turrets and a hangar (I forgot the hangar completely :P)

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  1. Wybo with his Deimos Class Destroyer

With Lucasfin’s a close second.

My reason for Deimos concept is that I feel it captures the feel of the Centauraus style fairly well (albeit not perfectly), without pushing the egg, oval theme too far. further I like the use of smooth / soft shelled surfaces mixed in with good use of industrial greeble to brake up the form a bit. I would have liked to see some incorporation of HP fixtures on the side and possibly a small hangar bay entrance though unsure what exact size it is.

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My very subjective vote goes to

Universalpainkiller’s Tzedakah Class Destroyer.

This was a close call.

Lucas Eternal Harmony is the closest to Centauran design, which is a plus for me - I love the Centauran design (the Orca is still one of my favourite SF design ever). And it is a well-done ship that I could see ducking it out with SFC warplates or Deltan space knives with ludicrous turret fire.
The only problem I have with it is the thin point between the front and the middle parts. It makes the ship look a bit fragile and unbalanced, and doesn’t quite looks right to me.
Also, simultaneous points down (a few) and up (quite more) for the title. It’s over-pretentious and unsubtle - exactly how I imagine some Centauran builders naming their destroyer. Or it is violently ironic, something I can imagine a few Centauran doing for the fun of running over (but not crossing) the yellow line. Probably both :smile:

Wybo’s Deimos looks great. IT feels more industrial than military to me, something that actually seems quite difficult to pull off with Centauran design. It could also be an earlier design, a mean little beast from before the Centauran got the hand at making those sleek, beautiful machines of war we know and love.
And the artwork itself is the right mix between hand-drawn and Photoshop-improved IMHO.

Universalpainkiller’s Tzedakah is actually the less Infinity-looking ship with all those wings AFAICT, which should be a slight point down for me (again, I love Infinity’s Centauran style). It is also great-looking death-dealer and still has that slickness that characterise the Centauran ships.
And for some reason, when seeing it, I thought about a smaller (because of the bridges), older design meant for dual atmospheric and space duty.
I imagined it being a ship from the end of the Endless War (my nickname to the SFC independence war), when the Centauran are finally rising out of their Harmony-favoured reserve, and start what would have been unthinkable a mere century ago - an expeditionary army. I imagined it being the silhouette heralding a new era, the spectre of what shall end not only the war, but the last, faint hope of escaping the spiral of madness and destruction before it reaches its ultimate conclusion.
(I really need to take time and write that down at some point. I promise, it makes sense in context!)
Because as far as silhouettes heralding endless night and all that, it’s got a pretty nice one.

So I’m not really voting on the quality of the ships, the three of them look pretty great to me; it’s simply an out-of-nowhere gut feeling in favour of UPK’s one :smiley:

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Yes, my motivation needs to be introduced to some productivity


I’m going to have to cast my vote for:

LucasFIN’s Eternal Harmony Class Destroyer

Lucas nailed the quintessential Centauran design on the head and managed to give it a bit of style above and beyond the usual egg shape. A bit of variety in the Centauran ships will go a long way towards making them interesting. Elegance would be the key concept for me when it comes to Centauran, but it doesn’t have to be 100% egg all the time :wink:

That being said, I think Wybo’s is a great departure from the standard style, but I just would have preferred it to be a little bit more curved and smoother than it is right now. It feels more Deltan with a touch of Star Fold thrown in, as opposed to Centauran with a touch of Deltan. I’d still fly it though :smiley:

Universalpainkiller’s is extremely well done and I’m thoroughly jealous of his skill at going from concept to model in as little time as he did. However, his concept is too “winged” for a destroyer in my opinion. Had this been the design for a frigate or corvette, I would have jumped on it. I might be a little biased, though, from previous design philosophies wherein the largest trans-atmospheric ship capable of landing was a frigate (destroyers were required to have a hangar of some type). Still awesome though :smile:

All around, good job guys!!!

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I am voting for:

Universalpainkiller’s Tzedakah Class Destroyer.

While the Tzedakah does not even try to be consistent with Infinity lore (it’s a capital ship with wings for crying out loud) it does seem internally consistent with a very large ship designed to also function in an atmosphere. Visible VTOL engines, air intakes, wings that double as an external flight deck, provide cover for it, and serve as weapon mounting points (with enough room for automated reload and service access).

The negative: the angle of the images make the engines seem unbalanced, the firepower seems heavily focused towards the front with a total of 3 visible turrets (each presumably mirrored on the far side) likely to have an angle on a target below and behind the ship (atmospheric capital ships, fine; capital ships that needs to turn to shoot, less so), and the rearmost downward-pointing wings seem entirely superfluous - which given that internal consistency is what wins my vote is a significant issue.

With regards to the other two submissions, the Deimos is by far the most sensible with what seems like VLS (well, PtPAoPLS) missiles, minimal surface area, and what surface area there is angled to better deflect incoming fire while approaching a larger hostile ship (which probably wont take long with those engines). It just looks more like a modern-day tank with the threads taken off than a capital ship.

Finally the Eternal Harmony: seemingly balanced engines, unique design elements that would let you recognize it by the time it’s 10 pixels long, 360Âș firing angle, even visible directional thrust ports, everything I’d want in a large spaceship except
 the oh-so-thin neck. Having an obvious weakpoint like that is great in a game, certainly, but just does not fulfil my desire for internal consistency.

Now, with regards to the next competition, I don’t have a creative bone in my body (or if I do it’s best expressed through code), but what I’d personally like to see is these (or other) models fully textured. I mean, I realise that the current look is probably exactly what they’d be like coming out of a Centauran shipyard, but they’re warships, right?

Obviously, if there aren’t two people making textures there’s little point in having a competition about it, but I figured I’d mention it in case no one else has an opinion on what to do next.

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I’d also like to see that. If we find enough modelers/texture artists to do them. :slight_smile:

That thin neck seems to be the most disliked point in my ship. Perhaps I will fix it if these concepts ever get in the modeling phase.

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Score at the moment:

Wybo with his Deimos Class Destroyer — 3
UniversalPainKiller with his Tzedakah Class Destroyer — 3
LucasFIN with his Eternal Harmony Class Destroyer — 3

So according to my calculations it’s tied. If you haven’t voted yet make sure you do so before next sunday! :wink:

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Well, here I was going to cast my humble vote, and here I am, the tie breaker. Gulp. :anguished:

Hmmmm
 All the designs are well done. I’m going to have to think about this one. As a finished concept I believe Lucas has the best. However, I really like Wybo’s concept. Just as Andre said, just a few more details to really get the scale down, i.e. engines, fighter bay entrance, etc. But after looking at it, I would have to say that it is my favorite shape of the three.

Therefore, my vote goes to


Wybo’s Deimos Class Destroyer

Excellent shape, captures a certain elegance and aggression which I admire. It so desperately deserves a few more details to get it perfect, though.

I really don’t know if I am even remotely up to the challenge of modelling it, though. It’s been so long


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Well, I guess I’ll hasten the lead
 I vote for the:

Deimos Class Destroyer

While all submissions are really great (and thanks to you guys for making them!) I feel that the Deimos is the freshest design of them all. It clearly does not fall into the standard cigar shape, instead going for a very blocky, unique silhouette. I especially like how the surface is mostly smooth armor even though greeble can be seen in the gaps. The sharp front and blunt end stuffed with engines (I think) make it look like a very capable ship that I would love to fly (meaning not too slow for a capital ship).

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So is it ok to upload refined images if for no other reason than improvements?

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No probs. Just put it in the same post linked in the voting post.

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I made some changes. Trying to get to a satisfactory point to justify moving to texture process.


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Cool! You got rid of the back winglets. Me likey :slight_smile:

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Added some bulk under front nose. I think I will keep the winglets off the back now.



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Score at the moment:

Wybo - Deimos Class Destroyer — 5
UniversalPainKiller - Tzedakah Class Destroyer — 3
LucasFIN - Eternal Harmony Class Destroyer — 3

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One more day left to vote! :wink:

Edit: It’s sunday. I will be closing the vote later today.

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I vote for LucasFIN’s Eternal Harmony Class Destroyer.

If the competition was just ‘Destroyer’ then Wybo would have had my vote with what I feel is more of a Deltan design. However I believe LucasFIN’s fits the brief much more accurately while being an excellent design in it’s own right.

While I appreciate the amount of effort that UniversalPainKiller has obviously put in to modelling his concept, I feel it is quite far from the Infinity art style.

Well done to all three and I hope to see more people getting involved in future competitions!

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I guess we won’t be getting any new votes. So the voting has closed!

The winner of the first challenge is:

Wybo with his Deimos Class Destroyer — 5 votes

2nd place:
LucasFIN - Eternal Harmony Class Destroyer — 4 votes

3rd place:
UniversalPainKiller - Tzedakah Class Destroyer — 3 votes

Congratulations to Wybo and all the contestants and thanks to all who voted.

Edit: Addded hrobertson’s missed vote for Lucas.

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Congrats Wybo!

It was a really good competition. Top notch artwork by all! Well done, everybody!

@Wybo - If you want, I can make a quick modeling job of the Deimos to jump start getting the concepts down of the other views, but I’m afraid that with school coming up in a couple weeks and the fact that I’m not a good modeler anyways I can’t help you more than that. :disappointed:

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Next challenge?

Let’s have a quick discussion about the next art challenge and what it will be like. I’d like to know what type of a challenge would interest most people in the community. So pick a type or few and let me know if you would be taking part in the competition or if you would just like to see a competition concentrate on that particular type of a challenge:

  1. Concept Art
  1. Modeling
  1. Team work (for ex. Concept + Modeling)
  1. Fan Stories
  1. Music
  1. Non-Infinity related art challenges
  1. Something else (what exactly?)
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