Anime productions produce a lot of concept art. Not all of it gets used in the final production. Some of it gets discarded early on, never to be added to the series canon, while some of it does but never appears on screen. Even those who get on camera don't necessarily get the focus of attention; some are background shots, lucky to be seen for more than a second or so at a time, and some become the darlings of the production.
It's in secondary products, such as RPGs and art books, that a lot of these ill-used or discarded art pieces finally get their due time in the sun. Well, formerly that was the case. The Internet Changed Everything, and this is one of those cases. Fansites allowed for concept art to get disseminated widely, and last night I spent some time visiting one that's been around a while: Gears Online.
The reason is, of course, related to Star Knight. Space Is Big, and that means that there ought to be noticeable differences among the cultures of Galactic Christendom. Visual differences make for good shorthand when talking in terms of art; as I am a visual thinker, I see the image first and then put it into words as best I can. Hence, I love looking at concept art, and in looking down the road for Star Knight I've got lots of differences to display. That's why I look at things like this page on unused Genesis Climber MOSPEADA designs to feed my imagination.
Here, have a sample.
And if that's not enough concept art, then head over to MAQH, which is where Brian Niemeier and I took our mecha profile format from. I look forward to a day when I put together a book all about the mecha, starships, and other conceptual artworks behind Star Knight.
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