After I brought up the idea of creating this comic to Cannon in July of 2009, I began to share with him the ideas I’d had as to the arrangement of the ship and the otherwise overall look of the universe. After a series of lengthy late-night discussions, we had covered the groundwork, and began imagining the ship, which is truly a character in her own right.
My initial drawing showed the ship looking more like a modern catamaran with a slight flavor of the classic sailing ships. While there are still touches of my initial efforts, I must avow that the current Vanguard fits the spirit of the universe much better, as if plucked from my mind.
The more we discussed the universe I had envisaged for Space Voyage 2245, the more Cannon and I felt that the Steampunk flavor that Marc Pasquin had imbued with his initial suggestions for costumes and hand weapons deserved to be explored more fully. Because of that, Cannon began re-imagining things. Filigree began sprouting everywhere, followed by French Curves, and brass fittings. Suffice to say, the richness and flavor of the universe made itself abundantly known and Cannon and I quickly saw a couple different versions of the Vanguard.
The fruits of this imagining showed up in a preliminary version of the Vanguard, followed by these most recent drawings where we can see Vanguard as she will very nearly appear in the strip. I could point out the various facets of Vanguard‘s superstructure, but I think I’ll save that for another day…