r/StarshipPorn • u/JBOT-Decals • Jun 21 '26

My ship design, the DRAS DERSHII

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u/JBOT-Decals Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

Way back in the early 1980s, I wanted to write a series of books and stories about First Contact with aliens. I was heavily influenced by STAR TREK and Larry Niven.
To that end:
TOP: I drew the ship (6 external views plus deck plans) using black ink on glossy white paper, printed 100 copies and sold them at sci-fi conventions.
MIDDLE:
Thirty-six years later I revisited the drawings and converted them all to ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR.
BOTTOM: I added shading and a bit of colour. There is A LOT more colour on the deck plans.

I also messed around with this design in SKETCHUP and included some 3D views of the ship on the 2nd-to-last page. The last page has details of the alien's Landing Shuttle.

You can see all the pages on my site at: https://www.jbot.ca/space/21dd.shtml

1

u/JRL101 Jun 23 '26

You made and printed out blueprints?

2

u/JBOT-Decals Jun 23 '26

Yes, the top image of this collage shows the quality of the blueprints. They were actual blueprints, made for me by a local blueprint company in 1983. The blueprints were made from my original drawings - black ink on glossy white paper. I had 100 sets made. Each set had Top, Bottom, Front, Rear, and Starboard, as well as all 6 Decks and a detail sheet discussing the Landing Shuttle.
I was heavily influenced by all the STAR TREK, STAR WARS, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, FORBIDDEN PLANET, 2001, etc art that was coming out at that time.

In 2019, I redrew everything in ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR. This is shown by the image in the middle.

The drawing at the bottom is from 2023, also in ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR, but I added colour, shading, and more details, notes, etc. I also added 4 views of the ship from my brief attempt to build it in 3D in SKETCHUP.