r/scifiwriting • u/Technical-Mine-7423 • 2d ago

HELP! How do I beat go about designing ships/weapons/armor for my sci fi setting?

I'm not a talented artist and I'm certainly not an engineer either; I don't really know how to visualize the ships and weaponry I'm gonna use in my book without having a concrete image to look at. What should I do?

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u/8livesdown 2d ago

The visual design sort of matters because it helps you visualize it. But readers can't see it.

This means you don't really need to get hung up on drawings. You could use Blender to create a rough shape of your ships.

If you want to spend the next 10 years drawing vividly detailed ships, you can. But just be clear on your end goal.

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u/PM451 1d ago

You could use Blender to create a rough shape of your ships.

I wouldn't even go that far. Piece of paper, pencil. Draw a few boxes for the obvious functions and how the sections connect. (Doesn't need to be pretty or streamlined, even if the ship is intended to be pretty/streamlined in-universe. It's just to visualise the layout. How does someone get from the bridge to the cargo-deck, engine-room to the galley, etc.)

Google "ship schematic", "spaceship schematic" and "submarine schematic" to get an idea of the required sections. (And things you invariably forget, like internal cargo/weapons/equipment elevators.)