Developmental Sketches & Doodles (Patreon)

Today I want to share something a bit different: developmental sketches and designs that I used for "Empires: The Ace of Spades". These are designs I came up with years ago to support the development of my sci-fi action universe, and while some of them did get used in the "furry" version of the comic they were always intend for the eventual relaunch into a much broader universe with the original alien setting.

Above is the tank I referred to as the "T-10", a "medium" tank that actually got featured in a paid project for Antarctic Press's "Furrlough" (that was before I decided to break with "furries" entirely; it took little prodding since I was already weary of the genre). 

DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN: ARMORED FIGHTING VEHICLE HULLS

T-10 "Crusader" medium tank hull:

This is the basic hull of the T-10, seen above, with no turret. One of the things I always loved about real military vehicles throughout history was that the hulls of some vehicles got re-used over and over again with different attachments or turrets. I designed a whole batch of developmental sketches that were nothing more than re-usable base hulls that I could draw anything onto.

 The T-88 "Hunter" tank hull:

This is the basis for the "Ace of Spades" tank featured in the story.

The VM-95 TAV (Team Assault Vehicle) hull; the "VM" stands for "Variable Mission":

This is the basic "jeep" or general purpose utility vehicle used by the Central Alliance. I have other pictures with things removed and added, but I want to show a variety of hulls here and not belabor one in particular.

The M-440 "Armadillo" Medium APC hull:

This is recognized as the basic hull of the "Can Opener" APC used by the Combat Engineers in the "Empires" comic. In the Empires universe as I imagine it, the Central Alliance Army divides divisions into "Heavy", "Medium", and "Light" divisions and tailors vehicles accordingly. They have an economy of scale that allows them to get away with it, since niche needs can be filled and --of course-- it also helps to create lots of jobs & profits for corporations.

Heavy APC, unnammed as yet:

Here is a heavy armored personnel carrier hull that is used for a lot of different things. I don't use the "Infantry Fighting Vehicle" designation because in reality all my APCs are heavily armed and armored and can fulfill that role, even though their primary purpose is to provide infantry with battlefield mobility-- in the Central Army, the difference between the APC and the IFV is considered redundant or even nitpicking.

Some examples of hull versatility; here's the same hull featured above with a typical infantry support heavy autoblaster turret on it:

And here it is again, but reconfigured as a ground-based targeting sensor for air-defense units:

It comes as no surprise that one of my favorite people from "Star Wars" wasn't a particular character or actor, but rather design & development artist Ralph McQuarrie. Anyone who's gotten down in the weeds about the development of Star Wars (especially the early days of the Original Trilogy) probably ran across the name of McQuarrie, and saw some of his amazing and imaginative early concept art  for the project.

 In fact, many of the designs we see now in spin-off shows were originally developmental ideas that were supposed to represent things featured in the original movies. The "Sentinel" class landing craft was originally a design idea for the Imperial shuttle that became known as the "Lambda class shuttle" first featured in Return of the Jedi. They kept the design and re-purposed it for something else. 

I tend to do the same thing, and re-use earlier ideas for later projects when possible.  Right now I think the world is ready (maybe even a little thirsty) for some new science fiction that cuts in new directions, so I will do my best.

And as a side note, I didn't forget logistical and service & support vehicles! Below: a heavy-lift truck, yet unnamed but bound to come up at some point:

Anyhow, enough for one day. I hope you enjoyed this look at the behind-the-scenes development of Empires The Reboot and until next time... take it easy out there.