Vehicle Concept - The Tugboat Fair Hope

When you're an artist, it doesn't take long to figure out that there's a fine line between what we are trying to portray and what the mind of the viewer is willing to accept as real. Take this little gem, a multipurpose tug boat named Fair Hope. When we first look at it, our minds automatically accept it because it looks familiar. Anyone who's ever seen a tug boat will immediately recognize its many decks, its crane, and its iconic old tire bumpers. Everything seems normal, in spite of the suspicious looking jet nozzles in the back. Of course, this tug is an airship, but that fact is not immediately obvious to most. Why? Because the ship itself looks enough like its real life counterpart to make the jets and stabilizing fins seem like they belong there. This is the art of making the improbable seem ordinary.

I've been doing some painting on the side and I really like this idea of, as my partner put it, "space boats". I've already turned out one painting entitled 42. It shows a pair of tug boats tending a barge docked outside a steel mill. I have a preliminary photo of the black and white underpainting, and overall, I guess it will do, but I'm not particularly happy with the arrangement of the craft in the painting. It just seems contrived. Comments? Maybe I'll feel differently after the color is applied.

I think that I may leave this one as an "experiment", as they say, and try my luck with Fair Hope. I'm hoping that a less cluttered background will help make the painting feel less stiff. So far, at least, the tug boat design is much better with Fair Hope. I guess we'll see...

#vehicledesign #conceptart #steampunk #drawing #sketchbook #oilpainting #fantasy #art