Starship Sketches
Here are several of my first starship sketches from a time before I learned to work with CAD software. Some of them are rather embarrassing. But please keep in mind that I was young and needed the money. ;-)
![](sketches/sketch1-s.jpg)
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ca.
1986 This is my first attempt to draw the refitted Enterprise
- at least the oldest one that I could find. Since I had only a video of
the Star Trek movies, the drawing is accordingly inaccurate.
![](sketches/sketch2-s.jpg)
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1991 When I bought the Enterprise model kit, I had the instruction sheet as a
much better reference for a drawing - including some of the errors of
the AMT model like the too small deflector dome.
![](sketches/sketch3-s.jpg)
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1989 This Enterprise-D is the first computer drawing of a starship I ever
made. It was done on DOS with Dr. Halo, a crude pixel editor (compared
to which even Paintbrush looks professional).
![](sketches/sketch4-s.jpg)
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1989 I sketched up this alternative design for the Enterprise-D, as I was not
content with its look at first. Today I know this was because the ship
was mostly shown from the fore/ventral perspective, which is about the
only angle from which it doesn't look excellent. The Galaxy is now my
favorite design.
![](sketches/sketch5-s.jpg)
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1989 Well, this is embarrassing. Some sort of an über-ship, supposed to be more
powerful than the Galaxy. If you look closely, you will see that I modified the
neck with correction fluid. Also note the TOS-like nacelles, which I used
because I thought of the gleaming Galaxy nacelles as an exception.
![](sketches/sketch6-s.jpg)
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ca.
1990 This ship (Bombay class) is clearly better thought out.
Without knowing much about 24th century vessels besides the Galaxy (it
was only the second season of TNG in Germany), I tried to develop a
distinctive look. Much of this design was later incorporated into other
ships like the Buenos Aires class.
![](sketches/sketch7-s.jpg)
![](/zoom.gif)
ca.
1990 This is my first attempt to develop a pre-TOS look. I
was quite fond of Matt Jefferies's idea to hide mechanical parts behind
hull panels. But it was difficult to come up with a look different from
the good old Constitution, as indicated by the many erased shapes that
are still faintly visible.
![](sketches/sketch8-s.jpg)
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ca.
1991 I always wanted to design more small ships or runabouts,
but soon noticed that it would be useful to come up with a plausible
internal structure too. Since I never thought I was good with that, I
didn't pursue that goal any longer.
![](sketches/sketch10-s.jpg)
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ca.
1992 Here is the design of a Starfleet fighter. Like many
other fans, I wondered why Starfleet would solely rely on large
starships. The design is from a time before I saw the runabout, which
established a more "complex" look of small vessels.
![](sketches/sketch9-s.jpg)
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1996 This is the first sketch of the Klingon Boreth
class. It is one of the few finalized designs that I still conceived
on paper. Almost everything else since 1994 was directly drawn in
Micrografx Designer.
![](sketches/sketch11-s.jpg)
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1999 When I conceived a Renaissance-class
design for the ASDB, I mused
whether this design couldn't be updated. But this never got beyond the
pencil&paper stage.
![](sketches/sketch12-s.jpg)
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2000 Whenever I sketch up something today, I always try to match a side view
and a top view. Here is something drawn on waste paper. Note the
wrinkles in the paper, as they are visible on the left nacelle in the
top view.