DD 886 u.s.s. Orleck design process

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The gun mount was done using basic, line shading, remember, this is very, very small.

Once the basic line-work was done, I threw in a few drop shadows to accentuate depth of ladders and handrails.

Note that the blue base has a white fold line, this is the color best seen on both the blue and navy grey base of the mount, however, note as well that the back fold lines of the base are black.

This is to allow for easy visibility and in the back where any revelation is less likely to be seen.

Normally I don't post large images but I did this time specifically so that you may then zoom in and see how it is all done with lines and a few drop shadows.

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I noticed the duplicate photo after I posted it, here, it's Friday and I'm in a rush to start of the weekend.

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Here are a few closeups of this technique, simple line shading augmented with the occasional drop shadow to "achieve the full effect".

Note that there are only TWO line colors, one darker than the background grey and one lighter.

The full range of effects can be done using only these two colors.

A, "color, line and object palette" was quickly established to determine those two colors as well as all other colors to provide for, "consistency".

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Okay, moving on to the superstructure, this is where the real fun begins...

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The two gun mounts, facing in opposite directions required all of the shading on Mount 52 (aft mount) all had to be altered.


While it may not be readily apparent, the shading and shadows on both differ, requiring the rotation of every hex bolt.


They are definitely different from one another.


You may wonder why I go to such an extent, the reason being that the shading and shadows have to be consistent to, "bring it all together" as a whole as these actual parts will be used for the full color illustrations.


Working on the first deck superstructure today.


(stay tuned)...

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This is what I'm working on today, it's the first deck superstructure and will be "great fun" as I "sort" all of this out referencing the 1,000's of images that I have.

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What is really interesting is that the process, "goes full circle" as mentioned, the full color illustrations are the last to do.

As mentioned, the actual parts will be used for the illustrations.

To do so, I'll revert back to the wireframe that we started all of this with and literally, "stretch" the parts over the wireframe.

So you see, there is a method to this madness!

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This is what my palette looks like so far, objects, fills and colors that are used repeatedly are kept on this palette, things are added as needed.

Rather than wasting time assigning properties repeatedly, I can quickly sample anything on the palette, a huge time saver.


You can see a few of these applications as I am now doing all of the rivet detailing on the superstructure, an example being below the water tight door.

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After all of that time in black and white, followed by shades of grey, I'm more than happy to finally see a little color!..

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I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for joining me on my journey...