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Description
Concepts on the way to finalizing the layout for the Stormshadow's Command Deck: a blend of starship bridge and cockpit aspects.

In the first concept above — which is essentially a direct translation of the pencil rough — my sense of scale had proved to be off; and for this plan to work, the viewports would need to be nearly doubled in size. This would have been a minor problem even though it would make the ship look significantly smaller. More seriously, the plan rendered at scale felt wrong, seeming too voluminous, wasting too much space, having too many unnecessary seats and stations (especially in fire control) and lacking the sort of close intimacy and drama I had in mind.

The second was an attempt to fit everything behind the viewports as originally planned and tighten up the interrelationships. I abandoned the layout of the prior concepts and attempted something more conventionally linear, with the pilots right up front and a single gunner's couch positioned between them. This portion of the new plan did have the nigh-claustrophobic intimacy I wanted, but the rest did not. The remaining stations had a massive wasted volume in the midst of them. Worse, the Command Dais was now too far back be useful or dramatic. Still, it was closer.

The third concept marked a return to the original layout idea, but with all the elements more effectively wedged into the tapering hull. The effect produced an exotic pseudo-cockpit: the pilots central with stations arranged ahead and below; the new Gunner's Pod isolated in the nose in precise accord with the image I was seeking; and a feeling of claustrophobic function-over-comfort spatial planning that both made sense in terms of realistic operations and would serve dramaturgical requirements neatly. In short, this was clearly the solution.

The final plan was developed from there.

(Download for full resolution)

Digital Illustration, Adobe illustrator.

First Concept

_________
"Star Wars" is a Registered Trademark of Lucasfilm Limited

Description
Concepts on the way to finalizing the layout for the Stormshadow's Command Deck: a blend of starship bridge and cockpit aspects.

In the first concept above — which is essentially a direct translation of the pencil rough — my sense of scale had proved to be off; and for this plan to work, the viewports would need to be nearly doubled in size. This would have been a minor problem even though it would make the ship look significantly smaller. More seriously, the plan rendered at scale felt wrong, seeming too voluminous, wasting too much space, having too many unnecessary seats and stations (especially in fire control) and lacking the sort of close intimacy and drama I had in mind.

The second was an attempt to fit everything behind the viewports as originally planned and tighten up the interrelationships. I abandoned the layout of the prior concepts and attempted something more conventionally linear, with the pilots right up front and a single gunner's couch positioned between them. This portion of the new plan did have the nigh-claustrophobic intimacy I wanted, but the rest did not. The remaining stations had a massive wasted volume in the midst of them. Worse, the Command Dais was now too far back be useful or dramatic. Still, it was closer.

The third concept marked a return to the original layout idea, but with all the elements more effectively wedged into the tapering hull. The effect produced an exotic pseudo-cockpit: the pilots central with stations arranged ahead and below; the new Gunner's Pod isolated in the nose in precise accord with the image I was seeking; and a feeling of claustrophobic function-over-comfort spatial planning that both made sense in terms of realistic operations and would serve dramaturgical requirements neatly. In short, this was clearly the solution.

The final plan was developed from there.

(Download for full resolution)

Digital Illustration, Adobe illustrator.

First Concept

_________
"Star Wars" is a Registered Trademark of Lucasfilm Limited