Art inspiration album

[bszlrd]

A fluffyfreak said, let's collect some inspiration we feel good about. And discuss and dissect them throughout. :) Let's collect material for that mood board.
I'm asking you that don't just collect concept art and paintings and such from artists around the world, but let's get a lot of inspiration from real things around the world. Architecture, industrial design for example. It's very important in my opinion to get closer to the source, aka the real world if we want to get proper diverse inspiration.

To admins: Is it possible to have a separate board for art discussion, so we don't end up cluttering the game dev board? Especially when this whole art guide thing passes preparation phase and we get to more specific discussions.

Let me start:
Sci-fi-o-rama: A very expansive collection site for science fiction illustrations. Book covers, comics and such. Artist name tags are there, so it's quite easy to search for a specific artist.
Concept Ships blog: Most of you already know this (and sister sites) I think, but it's worth to mention. I features space concept art from all over the world. The specturm is kinda wide from very over the top to more down to earth stuff.

I kinda like the ship and world design from Cowboy Bebop:

There are maneuvering thrusters and similar details.
Planetes has some very nicely and sanely designed hardware too:

I'm citing this two because they achieved a good balance of looks, function and believability/realism. Also the ships in Cowboy Bebop are quite colorful, and I like that.

I really like the way Ian McQue uses colors and form and detail. Not really hard SF usually, but his artwork is very dynamic and I like how he creates detail and uses color.

or: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KY5Ft10D0Sk/T ... _SMALL.jpg

And I've already mentioned Jean Giraud - Möebius in the other art thread.
Some examples from the movie Masters of Time:





And some real world examples which comes to my mind.
Streamline Moderne style
I really like the trains, engines from that period:

Partially Art deco inspired style would be fit for Sol Federation in my opinion.

Soviet and pre-Iron curtain Eastern European car and train manufacturers have very distinct styles too, and I will certainly research that in-depth. Those are quite an inspirational gold mine.

Of course I have a whole lot of other stuff about this in my mind, but these are enough for starting up the thread. :) So let's collect!

[Tichy]

Ok then... Sportsbikes! :)
This was my previous morotbike. I always loved the "organic" look of his fairings, his lines and how they intersect on its sides. A similar style could be good for some fighter or some exotic ship.

[FluffyFreak]

@nozmajner,
You listed two of my favourite anime series first, I'm impressed :D

[bszlrd]

I've never saw Planetes, only read the manga BTW :)
Also I'm right now looking for train images for this thread.

[FluffyFreak]

You mean trains like the Narita Express?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mawari/8164133714/ : http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/HS6PtrvO ... z14k7ePTMS

Which is the coolest looking train ever :D also it has swivelling motorised seats!

[bszlrd]

For example. I like the shape of that train. But I was thinking about more eastern European / less modern trains really.
Like for example: (where's the easter egg?)
Russian:



There are some very nice details on this one:



Hungarian:






It's hard to make a good picture if this engine, but it has very nice proportions:


Trans Europe Express:




There are some very nice details that could be fitted (but not forced) in a space travel context. There are very beautiful proportions too.
Images are form wikipedia.

[Ray]

Would be great to have some elegant-looking ship with Solar Sail also. Will try make a sketch.

[Nyankosensei]

ship like this can be interesting ?



high G with deneb capacity

[bszlrd]

Yes, these are nice, and you can pick up ideas from them but you shouldn't copy any of these kind of images. At least because of copyright, but also it's always better to draw your inspiration from real stuff instead of someone else's work.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't ever look at any sci-fi spaceship design, but if you are looking only at them, you will draw your visual vocabulary solely from them and would end up repeating and reinterpreting the same thing all the time.
But if you are looking for inspiration in other areas as well, then your vocabulary will expand and your designs will benefit from it a lot. That's why I collected a whole lot of trains here for example and I'm constantly on the lookout for other things as well. To aid a more divergent thinking when coming up with ships.

Also don't forget that the look and the function needs to be in agreement. This craft wouldn't work too well as a Deneb size transport, it looks more like some kind of medium combat craft.

[Evarchart]

Nice thread! Great inspiration