Ships of the Line competition launched

Ever dreamed your artwork could become a part of the Star Trek universe? Well for thirteen people that could be happening soon, thanks to the Ships of the Line competition, announced at the San Diego Comic Con. CBS are looking for art for the 2016 Ships of the Line calendar -The fiftieth anniversary of Star Trek year no less! Thirteen competition winners will get their designs in the calendar, and five-hundred dollars each as well.

Designs can be entered from a variety of media; paint, pencils, ink, markers, pastels, charcoal, and computer-generated images are all acceptable. You'll have to get to work soon though, as the closing date for entries is the 2nd of September. A panel of judges will select winners based on appearance/quality of image, appropriateness to contest theme, composition/layout, and attention to detail.

I asked the man behind Ships of the Line, Doug Drexler, to tell me a little about the competition, this is what he told me:

I presume you will be one of the judges? Do you know who will be making up the rest of the panel?

I am one of the judges. An official list of judges has not been named yet, but I would assume Mike Okuda, Andy Probert, John Eaves, John Goodson, Greg Jein. Remember, not official.

And will you be looking for anything in particular?

Heart.

Do you expect this competition to deliver a different flavour to Ships of the Line?

I think it will invigorate the calendar. I have been using fans in the calendar for years now. That's not unusual. It's the competition that is new. I expect it will be exciting.

Given this is for the 2016 calendar, will the occasion of the 50th anniversary be an influence in the sort of images selected?

It hasn't been decided if there will be a theme, at least not that I know of.

The rules suggests there will be thirteen images chosen, can we take that to mean the aim is for the entire 2016 calendar to be based on the competition?

I believe so.

Will established Ships of the Line contributors be encouraged to submit? I’m sure we all have favourite artists we don’t want to miss out on.

Personally, I don't think that past participants should be included. We're looking to spread the love around a little.

Might you be able to clarify what the competition is looking for? The website and rules seem to be inconsistently requesting an original design for a starship, but also an image which utilised established ships from the series.

I'm waiting to hear more from CBS. They will confer with me, but ultimately it's their decision.

To enter, just visit the competition website, fill in your details, and upload your images. The competition is open to those of us in the US, Canada, UK, and Germany. You can enter as often as an image a day up until the closing date.

In more Ships of the Line news from Comic Con, on display on the Simon and Schuster booth was a mock-up of the new Ships of the Line book, due out later this year, giving us the first look at Doug's new cover art. Image via Doug himself:

Continue after the jump for even more, with a look at the Ships of the Line panel at the Comic Con:

A starship dream-team formed the Comic Con panel: Mike Okuda, John Eaves, Doug Drexler, John Goodson and Greg Jein, all moderated by The Official Starships Collection's Ben Robinson. The group discussed everything from Matt Jefferies' original USS Enterprise, all the way through the many spin-offs, talk of physical and digital models, right up to the ships of nuTrek.

I'm hoping someone there videoed it, so we can all enjoy. But until such a video surfaces, StarTrek.com posted a summary of proceedings, Doug Drexler has an album full of images on Facebook, and the Starships Collection's Facebook page posted these images which were shown:

Before switching to visual effects, Doug had a notable career as a make-up artist, and because of that he will be a judge on Face Off, the special-effects-make-up reality competition show. Watch out for Doug this Tuesday on Syfy in the US, and shortly after streaming on Amazon.

Finally, don't forget, the latest edition of the Ships of the Line calendar, ready for 2015, has just been published.