Borg Cube
Ever since I saw this particular variation of the Thinkmill logo, a cube-shaped ship travelling through space came to mind.
I’ve always wanted to base a drawing on Thinkmill, and this logo was the key! The spaceship idea manifested inside my head.
Months passed, gathering ideas in my head for what else could be drawn beside the spaceship. What came to mind were the tools we use day-to-day.
The Thinkmill spaceship dominates the middle of the picture. A fleet of support ships nearby.
What follows is a breakdown of everything in the picture, piece by piece!
- Thinkmill
- Gelato Refill
- Node.js
- GraphQL
- React
- Keystone
- Design
- Explorer
- Gelato Servery
- Satellite
- Moon Base
- Other
1. Thinkmill
The largest ship of the fleet
Front Top Deck — From here commands are given to the crew and the rest of the armada by the captain and senior members. A wide variety of informational displays show ship status, planets in range, map coordinates and so on.
Back Top Deck — Engine columns, one of which is currently experiencing issues. Stasis tubes positioned behind, where crew members float in a deep sleep, receiving nutrients via a variety of tubes.
A gelato dispenser sits serving coconut and dark chocolate gelato — a staple of the crew.
A door leads into the gelato manufacturing room, taking in ingredients from tubes connected to the roof from a supply ship.
The ship departure date from Earth is above the sliding back door, currently displaying 24th June 2019. The date the drawing was completed.
Current versions of Keystone, GraphQL and React display on information panels on the back wall as well as other stats.
Bottom Deck — The lower deck of the ship, used for transport and storage — a one-man scout ship is departing, a Node harvesting ship lies dormant.
Roof — A variety of antennas and radio communication equipment. A hatch for repair drones. Intake points for milk, cream and sugar lead to the gelato manufacturing plant.
An array of solar panels power the ship and store energy in large battery arrays.
2. Gelato Refill
Crew members have nightmares about the tentacle-like tubes
The Thomas Walker Gelato refill ship supplies the ingredients for gelato manufacturing on the main ship.
While refilling, the ship hovers close by, extending its three floating tentacles and pumping milk, cream and sugar into the main ship.
The ship can move both in space and a planet’s atmosphere, allowing it to refill with supplies.
This ship is also featured in my other drawings and is a recurring feature.
3. Node.js
The crew have started observing strange side effects from handling pieces of Node
Throughout the galaxy are crater-filled Node asteroids. This is the main source of fuel aside from React.
Harvesters dispatched from the main ship have a crew of miners inside. Their job: dislodging chunks of Node material from the craters using specialised jackhammers.
While the crew are outside, suits and helmets protect the crew from the harshness of space, providing oxygen and life support systems.
Once the Node material is collected, it’s taken back to the harvester and finally hauled back to the main ship for processing.
The Node asteroids are the shape and pattern of the Node.js logo
4. GraphQL
Space is limited, the crew often don’t last more than a few days
Another hexagon-shaped ship called the GraphQL is a ship computer system used to define, process and output data based on parameters.
Linked to the main ship and used for most of the calculation and data storage work to help traverse space.
The GraphQL ship resembles the shape of the GraphQL logo
5. React
Crew members enjoy swimming through the React material — the material eventually floats back into its original position
React, like Node.js, is a critical part of the equation of ship refuelling.
Floating in space often shaped like an atom symbol, these resource particles are most abundant and plentiful in the middle of the ring.
Pockets of them are also found orbiting planets in a ring shape.
A vacuum ship nearby extends a tube, sucking all the React particles into the ship’s storage and then back to the main ship for processing.
The atom shape resembles the shape of the React logo
6. Keystone
Here we see a ship disappearing into the portal for destination [ ‘ | + * && / : !! == ‘ ; — ] ? ! { . ‘ “ — who knows what they’ll find!
Discovered on a recent trip light-years away: the Keystone object.
An ancient artefact of unknown origin and time, it is a critical tool that allows Thinkmill to explore the universe.
A circular gate-like device marked with punctuation stones, that allow the crew to form a set of coordinates.
Once a sequence is locked and the destination exists, a portal opens to travel at faster-than-light speeds to unknown lands.
More and more punctuation symbols are being found as time goes on, increasing the many different places the crew can travel to.
A major downside to the device is that it is only big enough to fit transport ships. So it is only used scouting purposes.
When the entire armada needs to travel, it can often take months to reach the destination.
The Keystone name comes from the four keystone objects with the letter K lodged into them.
keystone | ˈkiːstəʊn | noun
a central stone at the summit of an arch, locking the whole together.
• the central principle or part of a policy, system, etc., on which all else depends: cooperation remains the keystone of the government’s security policy.
The four keystones on the circular object resemble the K in the Keystone logo
7. Design
Pushing around these anchors points is hard work, they keep floating away
Thinkmill’s design efforts are lead by the crew working together, using a series of anchor points and paths in space.
Here we can see the crew creating a large Thinkmill logo.
Once anchor points are set, the object gets analysed, minified, and used on various ships akin to a 3D printer.
8. Explorer
A stark piece of design paving the way for the future of the Thinkmill fleet
Made possible by Keystone’s technological findings, Node.js and React fuel deposits, and the design teams expertise, the Explorer is a brand new class of ship, designed to explore the universe at much faster speeds than before.
The Explorer is T-shaped as homage to the Thinkmill name.
Command resides at the top of the ship behind a giant class facade, traditional telescopes and paper maps have been digitised for navigation.
9. Gelato Servery
Eating 3 cups or more induces a euphoric effect
Besides serving gelato on the main ship, Thinkmill also has a dedicated gelato servery ship.
Usually manned by Thomas Walker himself, the zero gravity gelato cups float inside the gelato cup-shaped ship.
Crew members who are out and about stop at the servery whenever they feel like taking a break during the working day.
10. Satellite
10,000 down / 10,000 up
Long-range communications are the job for the satellite ship, square in shape with two solar panel arrays and a powerful satellite dish.
Along with an array of monitoring equipment — this ship provides a lifeline back home when light-years away in space.
11. Moon Base
Reminiscing of Total Recall
Still under construction, the Thinkmill Moon Base has become a launchpad to other planets in the system and an important supply hub.
Mining machines have excavated two craters thus far: one an access hatch, and another an exhaust system.
12. Other
Watch out for those moving traffic lights in 3D space
An array of other objects have their place around the Thinkmill fleet. Nearby Saturn provides an alternative source of React material. Transport ships cruise around with mobile traffic light systems. Comets are a regular sight, and another moon resides in the distance.
That about wraps it up for the drawing. I had a lot of fun creating it. It’s my biggest drawing yet with another one in the works.
