Concept art: The attack on Ark Royal

 Since the latest plot outline detailed the destruction of Ark Royal, I figured I'd collect some sketches and such that I've done of the scene. This pivotal event is one of the oldest scenes I've had in mind for this story, so it's had a lot of different treatments.

Here's an early look at Ark Royal from about a year ago. The design of the vehicle has evolved over time, but the gist is still intact: this is a large ground-effect aircraft, envisioned as a flying cargo ship. There are still four engines at the leading edge and two on the tail, although they've mostly ditched the impression of being jet turbines. They might be something like a turboprop/propfan; the Roselight universe is only recently redeveloping lost jet turbine tech, and since Ark Royal is an older model, it relies mainly on props for power.

Here's some more sketches trying to approximate the form of the vehicle. The main body is taken up by an enormous cargo bay, which would (in Ark Royal's case) be filled with bulk cargo through a split bay door on the dorsal face.

This is one of the first drawings of Noira I made! She's depicted in her cargo overalls and some work boots, sitting on an external balcony attached to the vehicle. Ark Royal wasn't well fleshed-out at this point, so the vehicle behind her is notional.

Here we have some early images of the raider aircraft. Their key features are a pair of shoulder-mounted turbofan type engines, with wings that sweep forward to save space when landed. Notice a bulkier, more angular version of Ark Royal above, with a sketch of the raiders attacking the ship in the upper-right corner.

The raider aircraft have since evolved into this concept, along with the type name of Interdictor. The folding wings and shoulder engines are retained; they now have some floats to allow them to operate as seaplanes.

This is an ominous concept for one of the interior passages of Ark Royal that Noira is attempting to navigate during the attack. These halls would be punctuated by big, heavy, nautical doors.

This is another older sketch, an impression of Noira encountering an unfamiliar face. Things would not be actively burning around her at this point, but...vibes...

This one is much more recent. Noira has just been dragged off the ladder to the burning crew quarters, after badly burning her arms and hands in a vain attempt to reach her belongings.

If you were wondering how lifeboats work on a flying ship, so was I 😅 This is the concept I've been working on, a parachute-arrested enclosed lifeboat that might even be something of a lifting body to try and minimize impact with the surface. Although the chute pulls them clear from the ship, the lifeboat retains a significant forward speed as it plows nose-first into the water. The rail deployment and impact would probably be comparable to freefall lifeboats in use today.

Here we have a more detailed drawing of the lifeboat. There's some steampunk influence in the brass detailing and those round portholes. My idea with these is that they'd be equipped to sustain themselves for potentially up to several weeks, with a simple steam or internal combustion engine for moderate propulsion.

And to close this one off, a pretty simple but hopefully effective rendering of Ark Royal's end.