Many years ago before the dawn of the new millennium I thought the world is going to be a much better place to live in with the advancement of technology. With all the new knowledge I was hoping that people could solve many problems in a more civilized manner. But sadly human conscience was left behind back in the 70’s. Technology became the integral part of the machinery of destructions. It helps to make efficient killing machines. Machines that can kill thousands in a second regardless of non-combatant, women and children. After a day work the killers can enjoy their fast foods and video games. Life and death became just a number in a score.
The war machines are glorified as technical supremacy that need to be placed on the altar. It is broadcasted all over the news media like new Christmas toys. This is how they sell democracy to the world. Anybody who do not agree with their ideology will be eliminated. It has to be done to maintain stability. The stability is not about freedom of the country or people but about money. Money that they can earn easily and lots of it without obstacles into their own pockets and just crumbs to the foolish common men . It is the hypocrisy of democracy.
The brilliant minds behind the killing machines thought they have made great achievements. All the years they spend in college finally paid off. Isn’t that look great on TV? Who could missed the Humvee on the news? Equipped with all the latest technology and cost around US$65,000 each and the armored one cost around US$140,000 each. They are more than 250,000 units in the US military. Crunch that out on the calculator. The number is so sinful that it has to be devil’s own. It could have solved the unemployment, medical, housing, poverty, education and the environment problems. But the people are more contented with misguided patriotism.
In Palestine 3000 A.D. I designed a Humvee-like vehicle which I code named it “The Bastard’s Rover’ named after the three ‘devils’ that rode in it. Many may foresee that in the 3rd millennium that most land vehicles will not look like anything like today’s. It may not even run on wheels anymore. But as most of my designs for Palestine 3000 A.D. it is metaphoric.
So how to fit a Humvee into that era? In design I called it bending the spoon without touching it. It is not the spoon that is bend but the mind. If you stop the mind from thinking straight then it will bend any way you like. Sometime it will go to the extreme that it loose reality. That was what happened last year. The Humvee lost it basic identity and became more like a spaceship. Perhaps back then I have not developed a style for Palestine 3000 A.D. After the style has been established I know I need to abundant the initial design and return back to the drawing board and came out with this new thumbnail.
The details were added in Manga Studio. It just took away the pain of buying special templates from the art supplies shop. The custom rulers in Manga Studio really help in drawing an accurate sketch over the original thumbnail. The design has to breakaway in some areas while maintaining the basic framework of the thumbnail. It has to bend more towards a non-aero-dynamic vehicle and more towards heavy metal as most structures in Palestine 3000 A.D.
The final output was imported into Rhino 3D as a background image to be traced over. I am more comfortable with Rhino 3D after more than 10 years working with it. The irony is during the early days with Rhino I was designing metal structures for a friend company. Then I ended up working for a metal factory down in Millington, Tennessee. That was real heavy metal in a real world. It still got a hold on me in the virtual world. I still can feel the machines. It breathe in the design.
Now the vehicle really fits the script. It is something not to be rationalize about. The mind has to remain bend. In that state you will believe that it is heavy. You will believe that there is danger. You will believe that the individuals that ride in it can cause major destruction. I named them ‘The Three Bastards’. You may named them the devils. If the devil came on horseback the world still called them the devil. If the devils ride in a super advanced vehicle they are still the devils. Why the world still glorified them as heroes?
