Tank Concept

The idea behind this project was very much involved with the lesson that we had on the same day. As this was to do with perspective, I had to use what we learnt, to create a tank design, that would not only have incorporated what we had learnt at drawing something from a different angle, but go back to the shaded cube that we did and use the ideas that we had learnt there, which would be on the final design.

I was quite excited but at the same time I was actually quite worried. My reasons for this was that I feel that my Photoshop skills aren’t at a high enough standard at the moment, which is actually really frustrating me. The thing that gets me is that I’m improving in the drawing aspect but it’s when it comes to converting it onto the computer that I really do struggle at. I suppose by doing this task and just generally practising on Photoshop would help, its just getting there first.

The "Big Willie" tank.

A big inspiration in designing a tank for me was the big willie. It was first built by the British in 1915 to combat German soldiers in World War 1. It was the first working prototype of a tank that was fully completed and had a devastating effect on all of those who faced it. Only a couple of dozen were ever made and today it still stands as one of the major engineering feats of the 20th century.

What I like about these tanks is they set the standard of what a tank is, what it means. It even hit off a slang term because of its full body and guns. When you call someone a tank, you associate them being strong and able to hold their own weight, much like that of a Big Willie. Now if you were to use this, by today standards, you will be destroyed in a matter of seconds, but at the time, it was a monster, that's why I appreciate what beauty it is.

My tank mood board.

I first started off this project by creating a mood board of all my favourite tanks, as you can see, I have such a wide variety of them, I could only fit a few on a page to emphasis the size of these beasts. Their also quite a few tanks that have inspired me from video games. these include the wraith tanks that appear on the Halo series and the tank that appears on the Mass Effect series.

Mind Map of countries.

Here I decided to research tanks by country origins. By basing it on a country, this means that If I did decide country/army (Soviet/Red army), I can look at the key features that they had, their signatures on each of the tanks and try to incorporate it into my own. I mainly looked at the main countries who forced their own image on the tank world.

For the British, I have included a challenger, one of my favourite tanks. At the start of World War 2 the British had terrible tanks that were no match for the superior German tanks, but at the end of the war, by taking ideas off of the Germans, they had some of the best tanks in the world. The appearance that usually comes along with a British tank is that it has lots of flat surfaces on it, something that helps it when it is shot.

I also looked at the United States way in tanks. The picture that I have shown features a Sherman tank. This is a first of its kind as it was a first of its kind, all though having an average battle record; it was the first to be mass produced. The tank was made on the major production lines in America, such as Ford. In the war the Americans had 50,000 of these tanks made, where as the Germans only had roughly 1,300 Tiger tanks.

Type of thanks mind map.

The next thing that I started to do was look at all the different types of tanks that either existed or have been stuck in the thoughts of many different people. Over the years from the first prototype tanks powered on coal, to the flame-thrower tank, many ideas have been conceived of what this hulking mass could do, This is why I tried to find out many different types of tanks as possible, so I could get to grips with what already exists and try to find a whole in the market, something that was original.

Over the several tanks that I looked up, their were several that really did interest me. One was the Bren Carrier. The reason being this was that my Grandfather used to drive tanks in the army, but his favourite was the Bren Carrier. He used to tell me how quick he zoomed around the African deserts in these armoured vehicles. He said to me that they were essentially like go carts with a great big gun stuck on the front. These tanks were mainly built as infantry tanks and would do no damage against a real tank. 

Another one that I was actually quite interested in was the Artillery section of tanks. Its always been something that I have been interested in when it comes to tanks. Early version of artillery can be , traced back all the way to ancient China and has been used throughout history. So what happens when you put one of these monsters onto an armoured vehicles? More recent versions of these tanks are the British AS-90. The most distinguishing feature of these tanks  are the long barrels that they have. This is so they can sit back at the edge of a battle and hit any target that they want to. If I were to continue on from this variation, I would stick with the long barrel, to give the tank a realism factor.

Rough Designs 1.

I moved on the assignment by sketching my own rough designs of what the tank I'm going to finish with is going to look like. I also wanted to use the two point perspective plan that we had been learning in the lesson. This was a lot harder than it sounds, but I still tried to make sure that they were 3-D for the viewer.

I started off with with a futuristic looking tank using one point perspective. This was something that I wasn't happy with myself, as it looked too fake and the angle was wrong, I had instantly realised that this design had no potential what so ever, so I was happy to instantly denounce the image. I tried adding some shading to try to repair the design, but this only made things worst. The image that I wanted to create with this picture was as if you were looking down the barrel of the tank, ready to be destroyed. 

The next image that I tried to draw was quite interesting. The concept was there, but still my skill in perspective seemed to let me down, yet again. The idea that I had was this almost sniper tank that would climb walls or buildings. When an enemy enters a town of city, they can use they several hundred wheels and grips to sit at the top of sky scrapers and fire at will. I think that if I were to do the picture again, I would add a smaller barrel, so has more range and penetration.

Rough Designs 2.

I had one more design left, this, to me, was an original tank design that hadn't really had much focus on at all. I decided to design a sports tank, This was going to be for all the rich generals who decided that being in a filthy, dirty tank, was too good for them. I tried to make the design as slick and as elegant as possible, as if they wanted to ride in only the best. One thing that happened with this drawing is that the perspective lines came out pretty well and gave a fairly good 3-D design to the tank. I instantly had a winner in what tank I would take into Photoshop and spruce up.

My final design.

I was extremely happy with my end result that I got. I had never really been good at shading, but I am thinking now that everything that I have done is starting to sink in. Sure, I think that the perspective could use a lot of work towards it, but its practising things like this that will help improve it.

I used red as not only is it the colour of blood, its also the colour of passion, something that the drivers of the tanks would have for their field. I have gone so far as to create 3 others, just to model what they would look like in different colours.

A 50's Dodge advert. A huge inspiration.

The thing that I tried to do was base the design and layout to that of a 50's car advert, claiming great things that these tanks could do and how all the competition are rubbish. I also wanted to copy the bright colours that would be used on one of these adverts. If you click on the mini advert that I had created for it, you can see the key areas that I have been incorporated into my drawings.

The Challenger. My favourite tank.

I really have enjoyed this task, as learning off of my granddad, who had a tank drivers licence, had really got it stuck in my head. It was nostalgic in a way, to visit back on all these old memories. One tank that we both had a passion for were the challenger tanks.

I felt that my drawings though could have gone a lot better and that's something that I need to pick up on, perhaps over the holidays, so that I am at a good enough level for this course. Besides the negative, I had fun and I hope something like this comes up soon.