ROD - BK 0 - The Tugana Encounter - Cover

Well ... it began with me writing BK 2 of ROD with no idea what the ship looked like.  I wrote 2 before writing 0 you see.  So ... I had the ship.  As the story progressed - BKs 0 aand 2 - I more or less got an idea of what I needed the ship to do and that formed an idea in my head about what it looked like.  I drew out a rough sketch, designed and figured out where it all went, the bays, weapons, nuke doors, fighter launch isle, so many more details, that all came from my head.  I design ships that seem practical to me.  My idea of what makes a practical ship comes from all the many scifis Ive seen do it both right and wrong and from what I know about real life navy ships.  So, design locked in, I scanned my sketch, sent that to the 3D artist and he began modeling it block by block.  He sent me WIPs, I sent him feedback, ect. ect. ect., until we arrived at the final render. ^^ Everything you'll see / read in ROD is designed mostly by me.  If its something thats been done before, I try to make my own take on it.  Like weapons, FTL, that sort of thing, power sources for ships, its all been done to death by every scifi ever made.  Far as I'm concerned, all one can really do is pick which idea / method of doing something you like best and then from there, find a way to make it your own.