Concept art: Vehicle design sketches, advice needed

CesarAndradeArt

Hello everyone! I know most of the forums are focused on illustration and children's books, however, I am following the advice in the podcast, and getting feedback from as many sources as possible, and this community seems awesome and knowledgeable

Anyway, let's cut to the chase; I'm working on a vehicle design portfolio project. Right now I'm trying to chose a design to start pushing towards a final, with orthographic as well as perspective sheets and a full materials "beauty shot" (2D).

This is the keywords my generator threw: 1980s, lightweight, monorail, spear

The background of the vehicle I invented from those keywords is a secret soviet nuclear monorail, inspired by real life nuclear launcher trains and Russian armored trains (Barguzin project and Baikal armored train).

These are some of my references: https://www.pinterest.com.mx/csarandrade/monorail-project/

As far as art direction goes, I want it to fit within a Franchise like Metal Gear Solid, which is fairly realistic, but not necessarily One Pixel Brush (concept studio) hyperrealism. Something like Michal Kus' work (https://www.artstation.com/michalkus), who is a great inspiration.

I'm at the thumbnailing stage, just trying to choose a design to start fleshing out more.

Which designs do you guys feel are the most successful in being cool and keeping within the parameters of the brief? What elements do you like the most?

I'm really looking forward to everyone's feedback, and if anyone needs a crit on something, feel free to message me, or tell me how can I be of assistance.

Sketch sheet_1.jpg Sketch sheet_2.jpg Sketch sheet_3.jpg

JerrySketchyArt

Welcome! This is up my alley. I'm a game dev rather than a children's book author. This is a great community and many of the classes are useful even if that's not your gig.

My preferences:

Q seems like the best at combining the sleek and sturdy you'd want for a bullet train missile launcher. I'd keep the solid base like you use in B, J, and M.
T feels the most like a "classic" Russian missile truck to me.
Digging the dual launcher on I
If you're leaning towards tanky, the side car ones K and L are really cool. They seem slow and bulky for the lightweight prompt though.

Any one of these could probably be rendered to look really cool! Good job. Looking forward to seeing it advance.

Heather Boyd

This is a late night quicky -will return tomorrow for another look over -especially with your references and keywords etc. But here's what I have got (not coming from any experience in the industry):

I like the following
H and I -perspective and 3/4 angle view H-Is also very sleek with the curves
K and L -additional detailing is nice but I also like how the vehicle lines up roughly with the height of the rail -if you understand me and the shapes/forms reminds me of like an excavation vehicle (not sure you were going for that) -but I like it a lot
P -It's odd but in a good way -it's unexpected -fresh interpretation
S-Love the angles created
T-Over arch or how the front end protrudes over the bottom portion

That's what I have for you so far.

Ashton H

Hello there Cesar! Such amazing sketching skills. I'm impressed.
I haven't got much knowledge yet, that being said I would definitely go with P.
Why? I just love seeing sleekness and bulkiness combined together. It reminds me of a Lamborghini combined with a tank/spaceship.

Love the missile on the left.

Great love and respect!

CesarAndradeArt

@Heather-Boyd thank you so much for your feedback, it was really useful, i particularly like K and L too, and used some other feedback to produce an additional design combining elements from everyone's suggestions. Today I'm doing a detailed line-art of it as well as the orthographics, and I'm happy with the direction this is going, thanks for commenting, I really appreciate it!

CesarAndradeArt

@Ashton-H I also personally love that design! however, I had to go with another combination of elements, since most feedback pointed to another direction, however, the form language already gives me ideas for other vehicles, thanks a lot for your feedback!

CesarAndradeArt

@JerrySketchyArt Excellent comments, and I ended up cooking another design based on this comment and some other feedback from other concept dudes that include some elements of those designs. I will be sure to post my progress, and hopefully have all the line-arts ready to paint by the end of this week. Thanks a lot for stopping by!