Dark Duel's Shop-Fu and assorted artsy stuff

[Dark Duel]

I took another crack at my original plan for the catapults on the Concordia.

This is the result. The bulk of the new parts came from the Archangel, but I also used a couple of parts from the Girty Lue for some superficial details. I still left a section of open deck on each catapult large enough to hold a mobile suit, and I also slightly extended the stern deck.

I think this turned out better than my last attempts(and ironically also IMO increases the resemblance to the original Minerva)

Colors is the next step

[Deathzealot]

Huh. That it does! Looks good!

[Dark Duel]

Glad you agree.
Anyway, got the first color scheme done. As with the previous version, the first basically keeps the canon Millennium's color scheme...with one minor variation, in this case. Just thought that added little pop of color on the outside worked pretty well.

I've got one or two other color scheme ideas that I may try later on

[Deathzealot]

You are quite welcome! I am actually liking this version.

EDIT: OH! Forgot to ask if you had seen that MAHQ put up new lineart for the G-Witch series, mostly ships and vehicles, while the new GQX movie got some lineart as well for some of their ships. I wanted to see what you think of the various UC ship redesigns that they did.

[Dark Duel]

Saw some of it, yeah. Interesting enough, nothing super ground-breaking as far as the ships.

[Deathzealot]

Saw some of it, yeah. Interesting enough, nothing super ground-breaking as far as the ships.

Raised eyebrow. We are talking about the GQX version of the Salamis, Magellean, and the Musai, right? They look really different from the original designs.

[Dark Duel]

Yeah, kinda. They definitely have a more "industrial" aesthetic compared to the originals and do look quite a bit different. But compared to how drastically the MS have been redesigned, the ship redesigns are a lot more conservative IMO.

Anyway, experimenting with color scheme ideas for the Concordia, my next attempt was something with white as the primary color for the hull. What I was trying to do was to come up with a color scheme that worked as a kind of a callback to that of the Archangel without completely replicating the same color scheme, so I had the idea of reversing the secondary colors, which yielded this.

Next thing I want to try is something with a light blue for the main hull, but I'll need to find a good set of complimentary colors. Maybe a two-tone blue and gold? Not sure yet. Might go digging through major warships in various other series for ideas.

[Deathzealot]

Yeah, kinda. They definitely have a more "industrial" aesthetic compared to the originals and do look quite a bit different. But compared to how drastically the MS have been redesigned, the ship redesigns are a lot more conservative IMO.

Fair enough. For me if the Federation ships didn't have those spikey bits near the aft end of the ships, I would perhaps like them a bit more. As they really do have a different "feel" to them but at the same time a similiar feel to the older Federation ship designs from 0079 and the following series. Meanwhile, for Zeon, I do like the whole back-end cargo container feel of the Musai I think it took the whole bit of disconnect, if you well, between the engine pods, and the two main body parts do seem off to me.

However! That isn't what this thread is about, my apologies!

Anyway, experimenting with color scheme ideas for the Concordia, my next attempt was something with white as the primary color for the hull. What I was trying to do was to come up with a color scheme that worked as a kind of a callback to that of the Archangel without completely replicating the same color scheme, so I had the idea of reversing the secondary colors, which yielded this.

Hmmm... that does look interesting and yeah, the callback to the Archangel can be seen. Though I would totally see a change in the overall scheme for the Archangel due to COMPASS now controlling the ship which would look similar to the Concordia. Just a thought that I had. Sorry.

Next thing I want to try is something with a light blue for the main hull, but I'll need to find a good set of complimentary colors. Maybe a two-tone blue and gold? Not sure yet. Might go digging through major warships in various other series for ideas.

Hmmm... Blue and Gold. That would look interesting, but maybe try a more bronze secondary color for I have seen a Blue and Bronze color on a ship design before which look quite fetching. Anyways. Can't wait to see what else you are exploring.

[Dark Duel]

Hmmm... that does look interesting and yeah, the callback to the Archangel can be seen. Though I would totally see a change in the overall scheme for the Archangel due to COMPASS now controlling the ship which would look similar to the Concordia. Just a thought that I had. Sorry.

Well, at least in my particular case the Archangel was fatally damaged and abandoned after Operation Angel Down, so there are no longer any ships of the class operational. ISAF starts out operating three main ships: it got the Minerva from ZAFT, the Alakhshya from the Alliance, and the Kusanagi from Orb. Informally the flagship is the Minerva at first because it's the only one of the three with trans-atmospheric combat capability, and ISAF operates both on Earth and in space.

That's part of why I thought a callback to the AA in the color scheme might be an interesting idea for ISAF's newest flagship, as it echoes some of the themes of the later arcs of GSDA in the sense of the torch being passed on to the next generation.

A big part of the change to Shinn's character and motivation in GSDA is rooted in the fact that the Destiny is developed from the Freedom - and when Shinn learns this, he comes to the conclusion that with the Freedom gone and Kira dead(as far as he knew at the time), he sees it as being up to him to carry on that legacy. Basically, I had the idea to take that concept and apply it to the Concordia, making it a symbolic successor not only to the Minerva, which it replaces as ISAF's flagship(though the Minerva is still operational), but also to the destroyed Archangel

Hmmm... Blue and Gold. That would look interesting, but maybe try a more bronze secondary color for I have seen a Blue and Bronze color on a ship design before which look quite fetching. Anyways. Can't wait to see what else you are exploring.

Blue and bronze...not a bad idea. I might try that out, actually...Either a two-tone blue with bronze highlights, or blue and black with bronze might look good. I'll experiment a bit.

EDIT: So started working on a blue...only partially colored so far, but I've got two ideas I'm trying that I'd be curious to get your input on:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/543 ... ae4e_c.jpg

[Dark Duel]

Well, neither of my previous two ideas turned out quite the way I liked - the darker was too vibrant, and the lighter was too light, almost ended up looking more like a light gray than a blue. So I went back and went for a primary hull color that was sort of midway between the two, which turned out a lot better IMO. I initially went with an all-bronze secondary trim color, but that looked a little ostentatious so I added some white and a little bit more blue instead and liked that better.

But I'm of two minds on how to go with the catapult hatch:

IDEA 1 goes for a darker color on the hatches, more in line with previous color schemes where the hatches are darker than the surrounding hull.

IDEA 2 instead goes for the same lighter blue-gray as the tip of the upper bow. I like both, though I'm maybe leaning slightly more towards this one.

Curious to hear what you think.

[Deathzealot]

The lighter works best I think, goes better with the rest of the colors. Looks really great!

[Dark Duel]

Thanks. Now the challenge of course is deciding on which of these three color schemes would be the final color scheme I pick - Minerva grey, white, or blue.

I suppose I could see how each looks together with the other three ships I visualize ISAF operating: The aforementioned Minerva, the Kusanagi, and the Niranjan-class Alakhshya.

[Dark Duel]

Back to mobile suits this time, but unfortunately it's not the Inferno Buster yet. No, I had another idea I wanted to try instead, which was a minor upgrade to the Gaia Gundam. Sort of in line with the Impulse Spec-2, it's not a massive improvement, just a minor upgrade to the existing machine. In this case, the original "wings" are replaced with a new lifter unit that allows it atmospheric flight capability(taken from the Immortal Justice, but modified to add wing beam blades). It's not super maneuverable in the air, as it's still predominantly intended to fight on the ground, but it is fast. It also uses a new shield and a pair of new beam rifles. Quadruped mode is going to be a little tricky, but I do want to do it as well. Color scheme wise, I'm planning on red and white, with some black accents.

Non-nuclear powered, like the Impulse 2 and the GELGOOG. My thinking is this would be what Stella initially pilots while Shinn's in the Impulse. Once Shinn and Luna get the Destiny and Inferno Buster, Stella likewise would upgrade to a different unit.

[Deathzealot]

Oh sweet! That is great. Ever since I saw the Impulse Spec-II I wondered how the other surviving G-Weapons looked in a sort of Spec-II version, and this is great. Keep it up.

[Dark Duel]

I'll probably only do the Impulse and the Gaia, TBH. The Chaos got turned into a mobile armor and I already did a successor of sorts to that in GSDA with the Thales(which is like the unholy bastard child of the Exus and the Euclid, and in-story is both an upgrade from the Chaos and the original prototype from which the Euclid was developed), the Saviour's already had its upgrade too, and I very likely won't do the Abyss.

As for the OG 5 G-Weapons...the Blitz is out because Mirage Colloid is illegal, the Aegis is superfluous because if I write a sequel I eventually plan to redeploy the Knight Saviour, and the Strike and Duel have already seen upgraded successors so that just leaves the Buster - which is next on my list. I just want to finish the Gaia first, but Quadruped mode lineart is proving...problematic.

[Deathzealot]

There is the Strike Rogue. Kind of annoying that the Buster and Duel got upgrades along with the Destiny Era Machines but the poor Rogue got nothing outside of an external pack thing. A Strike Rogue Type-II variant would be an interesting idea, I think. Though now that I am writing this, I wonder how a Strike-E Type-II would look like as well.