This cover was for “Kobayashi Maru”, written by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangles. Part of the Enterprise series of novels continuing the voyages of the NX.
Here are a few of my favorite covers for Margaret Clark, Marco Palmieri, and Alan Dingman at Pocket Books.
(Above) I’ve had a lot of fun with the popular TOS era series Vanguard. Pocket books, along with an amazing team of writers, have kept all eras of Trek vibrant and boldly going. This cover was for Star Trek: Vanguard – Open Secrets by Dayton Ward
(Above) The cover for the first Star Trek: Vanguard novel Harbinger by David Mack. The TOS era is undoubtedly my favorite, and it’s always huge fun to visit.
(Above) Star Trek: Vanguard – Summon The Thunder by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore. Scales got cheated at the last minute, but still a very fun cover with the much loved Daedalus Class ship.
(above) Star Trek: Vanguard – Reap the Whirlwind by David Mack. Hey, Masao! Was this ship design yours? Fill us in on it.
(Above) I just love this one. I tinkered together a Stargazer, and borrowed one of scenic artist Allan Kobayashi’s beautiful starmaps.
(Above) For the novelization of the Enterprise episode The Expanse by Paul Ruditis
The cover of the Ship’s of the Line book. Undoubtedly one of my all time favorites, and an homage to aerospace illustrator Robert McCall.
My intention was that these were gigantic murals in the lobby of the main building at Starfleet in San Francisco.
Those Ships of the Line shots are magnificent! Great work Doug!
Hey, cool, you fixed the cover to Summon the Thunder! It always bothered me that the Daedalus was blocking the lens flare in the background image in a way that would’ve been quite impossible it were a real lens flare.
Great pics, and I second Jim´s comment, just great pis of the fleets? Any larger would be nice, and just what is the ship to the far left of the bottom shot?
Is that one of the E-J concepts over on the left of the bottom image?
Funny, S.F. and I must be on the same wavelength. After enlarging the S.O.L. bottom pic, I noticed that sexy mystery ship myself…shed some light Doug?
The cover of the Vanguard novel with the D7 and the tiny Federation ship is great. I’ve GOT to start reading those. (By the way, is it actually called “Reap the world wind”, or is it “Reap the whirlwind”, like the common phrase?)
I am also curious what kind of TOS era ship it is that is docked on the left-hand side of the Starbase on the cover of “Harbinger”.
In any case, awesome work Doug, even before I knew those were your work, I thought the Vanguard series covers were some of the best I’ve seen in a long time.
Some beautiful work here, Doug. I’m always fond of images featuring fleets.
Oh now that is sweet!! Thanks
Beautiful body of work, Doug. Very inspiring to an illustrator like me. The newest “Vanguard” cover is especially cool.
Doug,
Beautiful pics man. Wish i had a knack for that! Have you ever given a stab @ doing the XCV-330
USS Enterprise? As i recall hardly anything exists for that!
Howdy richpfohl, I’ve neve built the Jefferies ringship in LW. I think we may have it in the 2011 SOTL.
It’s great that even though there isn’t a new Trek series on the air anymore, the universe is still expanding with new life, new civilisations… and new spacecraft.
Doug’s covers are awesome, but I’m particularly biased toward the Vanguard series. The cover Doug created for OPEN SECRETS is beautiful!
Man, I absolutely love book covers. IMO, it’s some of the best art out there because anyone who makes one has to try to make something visually appealing to people that will make them want to pick up the book and read it. Those are beautiful.
One of those, the ‘Star Trek: Vanguard – Reap the World Wind’ cover, sorta jumped out for me. It’s not stylistically identical to either (or even that close, really) but I get a sense of both Barrie Clark’s WWII aviation art and Chris Foss’ SF illustration and cover art being at work in the mix.
Awesome artwork Doug! I remember spending hours looking at all the ships in the SOTL book cover image…very cool rendering and scale comparison guide!
Very cool covers, they always catch my eyes at the book store.
Is that a Conestoga-type vessel docked to Vanguard on the Harbinger Cover (just like on the Ships of the line cover close to the Dadealus class)? Can you please please do a blog entry about that design as well? I’ve licked blood, I tells ya!
Anf the starmap on the cover of Enigma looks like the map seen in Travis old quarters aboard the ECS Horizon. I guess both were designed by Alan Kobayashi? Here’s a screenshot of the map from “Horizon”:
http://s95.photobucket.com/albums/l142/gaghyogi49/April%202009%202/TravisstarmapHorizon.jpg
Hi Jörg – I’ll see what I have on the Conestoga, and yes there is one parked at Vanguard! Correct once again! The maps were both done by Allan!
OK. I would pay serious money to get a file sent to me that was large enough that I could have a mural printed of those Federation Starships…
Hell, I would pay serious money to get all those files, and the Calander files so that I could make posters out of them…
(/me forsees an email in my inbox, and a big fat check heading to some guy named Drexler in California…)
Some very nice covers there.
I must admit it been over ten years since I read a Trek Novel.
Speaking of Trek novels, just yesterday I was going through some old stuff that I had to move and my apartment is overflowing with Trek novels. I was trying to get them all into one of those plastic storage containers (normal size, 65 qt?) and I couldn’t get them all in! I’m complaining but I bet others here have far more than I!
Sweet images Doug, thanks a bunch!
Lee, Jim, the ship on the far left of the bottom shot looks like the Aurora maybe? (the wing ship which formed the bottom half of the E-J prototype Congo, which itself looks to be top right on the top shot I believe).
The covers are fabulous, thanks for posting them! I’m so grateful to Pocket Books and the authors for continuing the stories of the series, I can’t wait for my next ‘fix’ every few of months.
I’m an avid reader of the Enterprise ‘relaunch’ novels (I highly recommend them to anyone interested in seeing what might happen next after the TV series – Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin are a great team). The first Titan novels were their work too, and Christopher Bennett’s done a great job taking that series on too – can’t wait to see what as Riker and co. encounter next as they head further out into the depths of the galaxy again. The most fun of all the book series IMHO is New Frontier – Peter David’s created a gem of a saga there – if you haven’t given it a try you’re missing out on an absolute treat!
I agree with the folks above, the covers in all the series the last few years have been awesome, and have just taken the genre to the next level. BTW what ever happened to the Stargazer novel series? Does anyone know if Michael Jan Friedman’s planning to make any more?
MaxDefiant I’m under pressure from my better half to jettison my novels (and nearly all mine are from the last decade – I passed on my older ones to a relative a few years back under pressure again!). I just can’t bring myself to get rid of them though, even if I never get round to re-reading them.
Doug, is there any possibility of you posting (or emailing through) higher res versions of the two Ships of the Line book images, please? I’ve been wanting to use those pics for desktop wallpaper ever since the book came out, but the book itself is a bit big to scan well!
Many thanks if so, no problem if not!
Hi Mark – I’ll have to ask Pocket if that’s ok by them.
Mark, I think you are correct… that may be the wing ship. I’d need to go back into the file to be sure.
Talk about eye candy! Great staging in all these covers! They really grab at you and capture your attention!
I love that you “tinkered together a Stargazer!” If only we could all “tinker” so great!
I love the Pocket Book Trek books. There never seems to be enough time an funding to enjoy them all. Great stories, writers, and artists!
Looking forward to seeing your visions of the USS Bombay(destroyed by Tholians in VAN: Harbinger or not), Cervantes Quinn’s SS Rocinante, and that Orion privateer/yacht as well…all in due course, I hope.
And maybe in some future calendar, the showdown between UFP and Klingon forces at Vanguard Station from Open Secrets before the Organians made their intentions clear…?
I agree – book covers are so much fun! Love the Masao designed station and the Sagittarius!
I always enjoyed Keith Birdsong’s photo realistic drawings the Trek novels used in the 90’s.
Keith is a great guy, and made me a present of one of his covers. It’s on the wall of my office.
Awesome graphics, especially the one with the Daedalus Class made me initially wish that this ship would have made it to the screen. With those illuminated viewports, the whole ship suddenly felt much more alive and active than the pictures I’ve seen of it before.
Cheers
Thorsten
Great covers all, but my far and away favorite has got to be Reap the Whirlwind. From Maso’s nifty ship design to the way the background highlights the ships.
I think if you look up “bad day” in the Starfleet disctionary, you’ll see that picture.
Mysterion, I swear, Margaret says it’s World Wind! My own total for that one was “Screwed”, by the way.
One of you writer guys should put together a short Vanguard primer. I’ll run it here on the drex files.
The Archer-class Sagittarius was a rescale and redesign of my Paris-class ship (http://www.starfleet-museum.org/paris.htm ), first brought to 3D life by the great Thomas P (render here: http://www.starfleet-museum.org/paris-taskforce1.jpg ).
Marco wanted a Bird of Prey/submarine feeling for this ship. Since the ship was smaller and landable, I put a nav deflector housing with a landing pad below the primary hull and added some retractable landing gear to the back of the dish. I have the sneaking suspicion, however, that the ship would tip back on its ass if it tried to land. (Luckily, In the book it spends a lot of time wallowing in mud like a nacelled pig.) It’s also got a garage with a ramp in the bottom of the saucer. To indicate the small scale, I put a full-size docking hatch on the side (The other side might have a life boat). The decks are so short that I had to create a larger-diameter tunnel to the docking hatch (sort of like on the Millennium Falcon).
I wonder if the Vanguard and Sagittarius will ever make it into one of those Ships of the Line calendars
Masao, It’s a good idea!
Doug, there actually is a sort of “Vanguard primer” at the front of OPEN SECRETS. It’s tailored for the purposes of that book, but it might serve well enough here. I’ll ask Margaret if it’s okay to post it here.
Doug – will take your (and Margaret’s word on the whole “worldwind” vs. “whirlwind” thing, but the copy on my bookshelf does say “whirlwind”. I swear!
Mysterion, That’s good enough for me! I’ll change it right now!
Doug,
Ugh, my god these are gorgeous.
If there’s any way these could be re-composed into wallpaper dimensions, I’m sure you’d make A LOT of people around here plenty happy!
Any chance of that? Or does Pocket have to give the OK?
Joe
i had the opportunity to visit the pocket book booth at the past three new york comic-con,
they had awesome enlargements of the ship of the line covers,and a lot of other book covers,
i think pocket book really needs to start a artwork devision to start selling the art quality
prints, i know the guys at the booth got tired of telling people that you couldn’t buy the booth display
if you ever want to meet any of the authors of the star trek books i advise you go next year.they have an amazing
guest list of their most popular writers
I must second Mark Gill’s request for a hi-res (mega-big) version of the SOTL book cover. The book is a favorite of mine and sometimes I find myself just staring at the cover for minutes on end. I’ve always wanted a hi-res version for use as wallpaper on my monitor.
Love the “Summon The Thunder” cover. Really nice to see something more than just lights behind those windows. And the two EVA guys with the tug. Haha.
And the new Vanguard cover isgreat. You just have to put a “47″ there. Hahaha.
^ The two EVA guys were modeled after Kevin and me.
I’m the better-looking one.
Stunning work! Is that all done in Lightwave, or do you also model in Maya?
Hi Liquidcross! Yes, it is Lightwave. I’ve never used Maya. Trek and BSG are both Lightwave.
I’ve never noticed the workbee on the cover of Summon the Thunder until now!
World wind? I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make any sense. The Biblical passage is “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” King James Version, Hosea 8:7.
Hi Christopher! yes… the entry has been adjusted to reflect that. Hey… it’s a science fiction novel… could be a “world wind”…
Beautiful, every one of them. I must admit, I liked the old painted covers by Keith Birdsong better, but these are a very, very close second.
Always nice to see the Daedalus, and that one of the lil’ Starfleet ship dwarfed by the Klingon ship makes me want to dive into the Vanguard series right there.
Just a couple of questions: The close-up of the upper dome of the Starbase has an interesting texture on it; it looks very much like a photo of an office building’s windows at night. Do you find you have to modify reference photos to create textures a lot, or can you get away sometimes with just putting the photo right on the model?
Also, where do you get those gorgeous nebula backgrounds? Are they backgrounds from one of the episodes or created specifically for these covers?
CarlG – All thw indows on the upper dome are the World Trade Center windows at night. I alway keep them burning bright whenever I can.
Someone else has been wanting the low down of the BG, and I have been irresponsible and not gotten the answer yet. I will.
Hey Doug!
These are fantastic! I love the Vanguard Covers especially, but about the background nebula image…. ;o)
Ha! I know you’re a busy guy. If you ever stumble across the original image, or even the name of the feature in the Hubble shot, don’t be afraid to give a shout out!
But seriously thanks so much for sharing all this wonderful geek candy.
This blog rocks!
Foravalon! It was you! Sorry! Sorry! Coming up, I swear.
In the first picture, I see you got the sensor dome lights on. Can’t keep you down can they?
Barrie
Dude, AWESOME stuff, dude! Very rich and lush, I like it! It would make me buy the book(s) offa the shelf, eh.
Star Trek: Vanguard – Reap the Whirlwind reminds me of two things: 1.) Your own Too Close For Comfort SOTL 03.08, and Tomorrow Is Yesterday (which you know I love) with the blue sky in the background.
Outstanding stuff, dude. You never fail to impress me.
Thanks for sharin’, eh.
LLP.
deg
Blush
Those are what we call; the moist-makers!
My favorite covers!
(am very jealous)
Just finished reading Vanguard: Harbinger, great stuff! Some intriguing plotlines developing. Daft thing is I picked it up in a bookshop shortly after it came out several years back, but didn’t buy it at the time. The recent TOS redux vibe on Drex Files encouraged me to take another look – glad I did!
Already ordered Summon The Thunder for the summer hols…