20+ years ago I had one last project slated to become a poster with SciPubTech… the Defiant… The Defiant had just been announced and I was able to include an exterior drawing with my DS9 Poster… Over the subsequent seasons and in First Contact the Defiant became a legendary baddass ship and a full cutaway planned to come right after the Voyager Poster…. But then the market for Trek took a bit of a dive and the poster which was drawn and ready was put on the shelf where it sat… Until 2022 where it’s joining the Ships Of The Line Calendar!!! The feelings of regret have dissolved into relief and a big thanks to Doug Drexler and my brother Matthew for helping make it a reality…. Sorry I can’t show you in high def but I can share some of the historical images of what might have been…. Over the years I have shared the pencil final drawing in various posts and a quick search of google will turn it up!!!
Every drawing starts here with an image of a model... It helps cut to the chase with size and proportion and with the right lens the correct perspective.
As you can see the highly dynamic comp for the poster in the lower right including plans to show a runabout also cut away...
While I didnt use it for the calendar ... perhaps one day it will make a future year.
Next came the initial pencil drawing which would have gone to the color artist in 1999... Sadly it sat in a tube for over 20 years... The Trek Product stream like Trek slid into a hiatus until JJ Trek of 2009. And then products began to re-emerge.
Now that trek was back and the need for new products I pulled the drawing out and scanned it and began the process of tracing it into Adobe Illustrator. after that I spent nearly 2 months filling in all the base colors of every element of the drawing.... it was tedious but I had great samples sent to me by the Star Trek Art Department including images from the set so I could sample all the colors that they used on the show. Once that was completed the file went to my brother Matt who began to add the shadows and highlights that give the illustration the 3D quality. My next step was to create the background. Time was tight and I thought of several different scenarios but I just didn't like any of them. Then I remembered I had photographed the real DS9 model when the Star Trek Exhibit was in Detroit at the Henry Ford Museum. I had about a dozen views in high res so I began to crop them and place them behind the art until I found a good view. I then photoshopped lights in the windows bringing the station to life. I found a hubble star field image for the stars in the background. I then sent that final art to my brother who began to match the lighting with that of the defiant completing the look.I will revise this post in July when the Calender hits the bookstore shelves with the next steps
PS. This was not my first drawing of the Defiant.... first came the exterior used on the DS9 cutaway poster... But then my first simplified cutaway drawing was used by Playmates Toys
