Custom Macross inspired design and concept art

[wjrmonkey]

hi, all. First time here. i am a graduate student in New York and I love to draw, paint and design after class. Here are only a few concept sketches of my modern jet fighters like yf-19 and yf-21. Once took a glimpse at the machines in Macross Plus, and i could never forget those hot fighter designs!

The skethes are very rough , but the goal was just first to get the "shape" down. Hopefully I'll have some time to work out the detailed designs and paint them.

Flyby

yf-19 gerwalk

custom design in progress vf-23

BTW, i also dig realistic modern fighters, especially the design of su-27 flanker.

[wjrmonkey]

Also, i know it's irrelevant and i shouldn't be doing this... but here are two custom Five Star Stories fatima portraits I've done recently for fun. So heck why not show them as well...

[grapetang]

*LOVE* the lines on the mechs - VERY fluid & organic (almost birdlike). Looking forward to seeing more!

[wjrmonkey]

Thanks! here's a quick painting study as continuation. It's just a rough color study as i am curious to see what it'd turn out as well ...

[EXO]

I love the look... keep posting!

[Mr March]

Interesting concepts. I love the flanker as well. One of my favorites.

[wjrmonkey]

Thanks! I've just seen your website, and it's full of beautiful mecha drawings!

Custom VF-23 Gerwalk concept sketch

[wjrmonkey]

Custom VF-23 Battroid concept sketch, many details in the working...

[valkyrie13]

Very inspiring.... keep'em coming. I love your work on the F.S.S. fatimas as well!

[Wicked Ace]

So much to like. I, too, look forward to seeing more.

Edited March 4, 2008 by Wicked Ace

[baronv]

Really nice stuff, do you plan on making and sketches from the original SDFM show? Would like to see your interpretation of the VF as well as the characters.

[wjrmonkey]

This period I'm back in the "Macross mood", so probably will do some...

[wjrmonkey]

More VF-23 design angle.

[wjrmonkey]

The brawl - YF-19 vs. YF-21

[wjrmonkey]

[Mr March]

Run Forest, run!

[jardann]

Hey, love your use of color on the FSS portraits. Maybe a little too much linework on the face of the second one, disrupts the fluidity. Your paintwork gives them quite a bit of life.

I like the planes too. Especially the last post of the VF-23 in airplane mode, great blend of your fluid lines and the perfect amount of structure to give it a strong presence.

I think your VF-23 Gerwalk needs some more beef on the legs, looks a little scrawny there. The Battroid on the other hand looks great with dynamic proportions and a lot of implied motion!

Please just take my comments as constructive criticism. I like your style quite a bit and am just trying to provide you with an objective opinion that hopefully will help your future designs.

Very interesting work. Thanks for sharing them here. I look forward to more!

[wjrmonkey]

......

I think your VF-23 Gerwalk needs some more beef on the legs, looks a little scrawny there.

......

Points well taken. True, the skinny legs would look bad if this thing is made into a toy. I also don't want another movie starscream-like mech with chicken legs... so it seems some re-designing is in the works...

When i design a valk, the general idea is to create an elegant, even somewhat fragile being that one can feel it will *glide* in air. Unlike tanks on the ground, which contain a lot of heavy mass, airplanes are like angels, lean delicate creatures. Of course, I talk about all this aesthetic rubbish without any consideration of actual aerodynamic engineering principles.

Stay tuned...

[Ironside]

I like the design. I have to admit, I'm a fan of cleaner art, because the more abstract something gets the less clear I am on what it's supposed to look like. I still like it though. I spent a lot of time trying to figure the details out. Your YF-19/21 drawings helped, because I know what those look like.

Anyway, the point of al that is not a complaint about your style, but a lead in to the question:

Is your VF-23 supposed to look anything like this:

Here's a version without the cell shading attempt.

[wjrmonkey]

I like the design. I have to admit, I'm a fan of cleaner art, because the more abstract something gets the less clear I am on what it's supposed to look like. I still like it though. I spent a lot of time trying to figure the details out. Your YF-19/21 drawings helped, because I know what those look like.

Anyway, the point of al that is not a complaint about your style, but a lead in to the question:

Is your VF-23 supposed to look anything like this:

Here's a version without the cell shading attempt.

Very, very wonderful effort! Ironside. Thank you!

I must apologize because this thread is not quite a showcase of finished designs yet, but an ongoing effort that will have sketches and ideas evolve all along the way. I feel sorry for you to do the guessing, since my concept art does appear elusive at best, messy indeed.

Still, being a pathetic perfectionist, I try to reach for an ideal proportion in all aspect of the mech, and it takes a long time, most of which not spent on sketching, but rather exhausted in my looking at, turning away for a while, and re-examining the design again and again.

Anyway, I'd better hurry up my progress. I'll present much clearer lineart in the near future.

Edited April 1, 2008 by wjrmonkey

[wjrmonkey]

Meanwhile, i am releasing my re-design rough sketches of the YF-19. The design has gone through numerous changes in the past 3 years, and since last year it has taken a definitive shape outline, after which I'll start working out the more detailed mechanics.

The YF-19 is a very sexy design. My version is more streamlined.

The official versions (top view) from Bandai, Hasegawa, Yamato etc.:

My redesign (top view):

[wjrmonkey]

The official versions (side view) from Bandai, Hasegawa, Yamato etc.:

My redesign (side view):

and front view:

[Ironside]

Very, very wonderful effort! Ironside. Thank you!

I must apologize because this thread is not quite a showcase of finished designs yet, but an ongoing effort that will have sketches and ideas evolve all along the way. I feel sorry for you to do the guessing, since my concept art does appear elusive at best, messy indeed.

Still, being a pathetic perfectionist, I try to reach for an ideal proportion in all aspect of the mech, and it takes a long time, most of which not spent on sketching, but rather exhausted in my looking at, turning away for a while, and re-examining the design again and again.

Anyway, I'd better hurry up my progress. I'll present much clearer lineart in the near future.

No need to apologize at all. My personal tastes aside, I was inspired by your VF-23, which is why I started to model it. I'd love to see 3 views of it, like you've done for your interpretation of the YF-19. My interpretation of your work borrows heavily from the VF-0 and Su-27, and involves a transformation sequence probably nothing like you envisioned. I don't think my ideas are better, I just didn't like the images in my head when I tried to apply Kawamori style transforms to the model.

Not that I threw away Kawamori either. What I'm thinking now is a tiny inspiration of my own married to a bit of the VF-25, YF-19 and a dash of YF-21. I'd love to show it here, but I haven even worked on the legs/engines, and I haven't learned enough rigging to actually animate a transformation sequence.

While I'm having fun doing my version of your design, I'd love to see more details on your version because I'd like to do that too. I'm new to 3d modeling, and I'm no where near as talented as others around here but I do enjoy it... Or at least I enjoy doing 3d VFs (I'm working the YF-19, VF-11, a FRX-00 Mave inspired "VF-16" and your VF-23). So keep up the good work. I'd love to keep mooching off interpreting it.

[Mr March]

Hey wjrmonkey, where did you get those YF-19 "OVA Design" schematics? Any chance of some high resolution scans of those?