does anyone know how to get in to 3d modeling and 3d printing? Or like some beginner CAD software I can use on iPad?
Specifically wanting to make a 3d model of this ship from the science fiction novel I’m writing. I’ve decided to call it The Dart. Theres just something iconic about it to me so I’ve expanded its lore and assigned it to the main character’s storyline.
Theres going to be a lot of them too. A fleet of Darts from Earth will battle the Martian Navy in space.
I’m trying to design some scale models of my spaceships and such to make in to toys and keychains mostly for myself and some friends :3
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!!! Thank you in advance!!
Here’s a new starship! Similar shaped to a previous one I did, just at a different angle and color scheme.
Perhaps I’ll draw some planets or a capitol ship next idk I’m just going with the flow :3
Story outline is in a good place right now I just haven’t had a good time to sit down and just write. So these starships have been a good way to immerse myself in the world while not having to worry about specifics. Plus they’re pretty quick to come up with.
Speed draw below :P
if you’re reading this i wanted to say hi and have a good night :o
This is the first prototype vs. the most recent prototype (ignore the bad paint job, it was practice on a mini version before doing a much larger one)
I love them both so much!!!!! I can’t wait to introduce you all to the character who pilots this ship. She is the main character and has an incredible arc of love, self-worth, and hope against all odds.
Also is it weird that I’m making models/toys of my book when I haven’t even fully finished the first chapter….
ehh idc they’re for my own personal enjoyment anyway. I love spaceships I’ve always loved spaceships. I want to make the mini version into a keychain like those little NASA Space Shuttle ones I loved those so much 🥹
Over the past month I have been refining the design of my main character’s starship called the Dart!
I got really high on 4/20 then casually just learned how to 3d model on my iPad. It was surprisingly fun and easy lmao. Below are a couple of my favorite screenshots.
ALSO- I made new art! It might get its own post because I wanna talk some more about this one and compare it to the previous edition.
Finally the moment I’m most excited to share- I HAD MY MODEL 3D PRINTED!!!
MAJOR thank you to a family in my local community who helped with the formatting and did the actual 3D printing on their machine. I will be sure to share their small business in here as soon as I am given permission. They did a fantastic job, are very trustworthy, and very pleasant to work with. They also told me how much they loved the design which was so heartwarming to me like OMG- I have fans? People, who knowing very little about the story came to love and appreciate my silly little drawing 🥹 That was just so very special to me and I’ll remember that interaction forever. I will definitely be doing more projects with them because they are so passionate about what they do and I admire that so much.
Anywho…
If you’ve made it this far in to the post it means you’re invested and I’d like to thank you for reading this far. Here is your reward (featuring Willow the Dog).
This was the first thing I did when I got home. I am so happy right now. And I’m so thankful to everyone who helped get me here.
Introducing the PROTOTYPE version of my starship- The Dart!
Currently working on making a real-life scale model of the main starship from my upcoming science fiction book set in our solar system 10,000 years in the future. I’m learning some 3d modeling software to hopefully 3d print one soon!
If you’re following along my novel writing journey here early you’ll enjoy this fun fact:
The Dart was the first starship I ever designed. I didn’t think much of it at first, nor did I care enough to name it. As I drew more ships I experimented with different shapes, angles, colors, and backgrounds. I thought I would eventually create my magnum opus of the series but I just couldn’t. I kept trying to one-up myself and over many failures I determined it must be impossible. I stopped drawing for a time (artist’s block) but conveniently my writer’s block was lifted so I started writing.
My main character, Eletris, is an Earth-Born Human living in the Martian Capitol City. Eletris works as a scrapper and is a collector on the side. She processes space scrap at the recycling and refinement facility but sometimes finds items she wants to keep. These are very old things like Records, CDs, DVDs, Flash Drives, Glass Drives, and other pieces of art, media, photography, technology, and historical artifacts. She enjoys collecting trinkets that would otherwise be thrown away and forgotten. I’m not going to give away much more about the story just yet, but that’s my character. That’s what she’s like. She finds joy in the weird and the whimsical. And she loves sharing this with her lover, Andrietta, who also is fascinated with lost media and space age human history.
So once I discovered my characters I proceeded with the story and had a set-piece in mind involving a starship. I looked over all my designs to try and pick one for this story element. It was going to belong to Eletris.
It felt impossible to assign my starships to the main character. It was like deciding which two of my children should marry each other. It was mega weird and it didn’t feel right. But then as the days went by I kept coming back to that first one. More and more I found that off-white starship skittering across the horizon on a sunny day. I kept thinking about it. It became my desktop wallpaper at work. I set it as my iPad lock screen background. I kept seeing it in my mind’s eye throughout the course of the story.
There was just something… iconic about it.
Then, out of nowhere I thought about how Eletris herself would’ve immediately seen it and wanted it. I would’ve said to her “yeah it’s just the first one I drew. Doesn’t even have a name,” and she would’ve been like, “Dart.”
“It’s called the Dart.”
The Dart. The one I forgot about. The one I cast aside. The one I declared beneath all the others as I chased an impossible goal. My magnum opus was staring me in the face the entire time. And now I want to make it a reality.
My mom (who is a librarian) gave me a bunch of discarded library books about space!!! (And an Indiana jones art book because I saw it and wanted it)
Most of these books are from the 1980s and early 2000s and contain graphics, illustrations, physics, articles, and plenty of other supporting material I can draw inspiration from when I’m writing or drawing.
Also the DK eyewitness books always went so hard I think I actually had this one as a kid but this one’s cool cus it comes with a CD! Def gonna pop it in my car later to see what’s on it.
All of these illustrations look so cool I love how space is drawn and painted without any cgi or ai… half the references I look up online are useless garbage slop. Now I can officially say fuck you google, imma do my own thing.
