Art Trek: Princessium and the Po*

 Yes, it's time for another Star Trek art post!

 My starship arboretum got the most votes in April's art challenge, which meant I got to choose the theme for May.  And here is that theme (as approved by Captain Janeway's Queen Arachnia on the right there):

133 years from now, Princess Kaitaama will ascend to the throne becoming First Monarch of the Sovereign Dynasty of Krios Prime.  This anti-time anniversary has inspired the theme for this month's Fan Art Challenge: Royalty!

I'd like us to explore Star Trek's links to royalty - however tenuous they may be.  People, places/palaces(?), objects, alien assimilators, starships... All of these and more feature in the Star Trek Universe.

And if you're not fussed by TNG's Princessium (symbol Di - yes, really!), DS9's Queen's Gambit, VOY's right royal knockout: Arachnia, Queen of the Spider People - all of which I'm sure Daughter of the Fifth House (etc. etc.) Lwaxana Troi, would have something to say about from her state room on board a certain Sovereign-class starship - then feel free to come up with your own Royal Trek idea.

Here are the rules for the competition:

The artwork you submit should be created during the month of the challenge

Only one final image can be submitted (although it may contain multiple views)

Your final entry should be posted in this thread (although dedicated WIP threads are appreciated)

And if you don't follow the rules: Off With Your Head! (sorry - I had to get a TAS reference in)

As always, you have until the end of the month - i.e. midnight (or thereabouts) Sunday 31st May - to come up with a Right Royal Star Trek something.

* as in Po (had to get a DSC reference in, too!)

 Despite coming up with the theme, I didn't actually have an idea for what I was going to do.  In fact, it wasn't until mid-May that inspiration finally struck after someone posted a picture of our current queen in a starfleet uniform.
 The British Royal Family do love dressing up in the fanciest of uniforms, so I did a hasty little sketch of 23rd century British Royal couple, HRH Prince Nikesh & HRH Princess Ayonparine (Andorian) decked out in their Starfleet dress uniforms. 

 I also created a little papercraft Oberth-class starship in the colours/livery of the most recent Royal Yacht Britannia, then ended up colouring in the royal couple using the same colours:

 Red for the keel, a dark navy blue hull with a gold stripe near the top, then white upper parts with that ivory/barleyish hue for the three indents on the pylon and the warp field grill/vents (to match the three masts and the funnel on the real Britannia - see right).  I hadn't planned to put much detail on it, so no windows, sensor strips or hull pennants/markings - I thought that if I used it in a final piece, it'll be as part of the background of a scene (like a poster, or bit of art, or something).

 I imagine the British monarchy and the Commonwealth Realm (if not the United Kingdom as it is now) to still exist in some form in the late 23rd century.  This is my take on the reigning monarch's Royal Yacht of the time. 

 While I was thinking about how to use this little paper and card HMY Britannia in a scene, another TrekBBS member, BorgMan, took an interest in it and, rather wonderfully, amended his Oberth-class CG model accordingly:

 I had a thought that I might turn the front of the white convex top of the secondary hull into panoramic windows. Within would be a wooden deck for hosting royal engagements and stargazing etc.  Someone pointed out that looking up from the observation deck, one would just see the underside of the primary hull, but I'd already thought about that.
 While at warp, yes, looking up from the observation/fore deck would give a lovely view of the saucer's nether regions (avert your eyes, children!).  However, once Britannia has arrived at the destination of choice (the Jovian system, the glass asteroid belt of Beta Veldonna, or the Thinking Planet of DD Tauri, for example), the actual yacht separates from the upper engineering & saucer section and begins the royal cruise, with the observation deck allowing magnificent views fit for a queen! The separated royal decks will have three retractable masts for solar/subspace sails (as well as impulse engines for when the need arises).  Here are the new cut-out pieces to make up the royal decks (and masts):

 As you can see, I added a little bridge superstructure to the dorsal bulge (although, I didn't know at the time if I was going to keep it), and the masts are split two up, one down. The main dorsal mast is raised just behind the bridge (when retracted, it reaches the aft end - the last few metres telescope in to fit), the secondary one rises where the bulge meets the flat aft deck, and the ventral mast rises (falls?) at the forward end of the red keel.
 I included those old sketches of solar/subspace sailers on the right (above) because I thought that if I had time I might "finish" one to become Bloodhound to accompany Britannia.  Obviously, that didn't happen.  "If I had time" indeed...

I found some gold tissue paper and made sails:

 I hadn't given much thought as to what goes where, but I envisage the aft observation deck to be made up of state rooms - perhaps royal boudoirs/suites on one side of the retracted mast space and a reception room and banquet hall on the other? In my mind, the bridge is quite small - just enough room for the commanding officer and two or three flight crew (helmsman, navigator, and general dogsbody) - but it does have bridge wings (that are not visible in this side-on, just-a-piece-of-cardboard view.
 While not mentioned in on-screen Star Trek, behind-the-scenes art & documents suggest a length of 120 metres, however, this is rather hotly contested.  I rather like this small size though, especially as the real Britannia is "only" 126m long.  I'm sure verything will fit in just fine...

 I came up with the image below as I couldn't think of a final design/scene...

 ... and then took it outside to try and get the sunlight to reflect on the gold bits:

An atmospheric jaunt over the English countryside

Lounging on the paysho

Back indoors for the ambassador's party

 Late afternoon on 31st May - the final day of the challenge - I still hadn't thought of a final image/scene, so I hurriedly slapped this together...

 ... but didn't like the stats on the graph paper (not least because the paper wasn't level!) so used a previous version instead:

Arachnia doesn't feel threatened by my Royal Trek art...

 And, finally, here is BorgMan's version of Britannia in a stunning space scene:

 The original image can be seen at BorgMan's DeviantArt account, here.

~o~

 Previously on Art Trek (née It's a Faaaake! Not The Art Of Star Trek):

April 2020 - Into the Arboretum
March 2020 - Brighter Future
August & September 2019 - Artwork does exist, but I haven't published it on the blog yet (I don't know if I'll ever get around to it?), so here are the links to their existence on the TrekBBS: And it was *this* big! & Under the Sea... (August 2019), and Spytember (September 2019)
July 2019 - Blue Food (and the warm up: Baby Plastic Sperm Whales...)
June 2019 - Boldly Go in Infinite Diversity
May 2019 - (the leaked final scene) X Marks The Spot, and the main attraction: Treasure Map
April 2019 - Oops-A-Daisy!
March 2019 - Disco78
January 2019 - Caught Red Handed
October 2018 - Anomalous T-Shirt
September 2018 - Two Soups
August 2018 - Wild Things (and its prequel: Seeing Double)
July 2018 - Revenge of the Baby-Sat
June 2018 - Making Money
March 2018 - Murder On The Dancefloor
February 2018 - Narwhal in a Spacesuit
December 2017 - Unfinished Business
November 2017 - Let's See Your OC!
October 2017 - Celebrate Good Times, Come On!
July 2017 - Walk Like An Egyptian
June 2017 - Foreign Relations
May 2017 - Driven to Distraction
February 2017 - Of Prophet's Tears and Verteron Nodes (plus the warm up: The Celestial Temple Cries Golden Tears)
December 2016 - "Did the plan fail, Edward?"
November 2016 - Winter Solstice
October 2016 - Twisted October: Star Trek Art Challenge

::

 For other Star Trek art, see:

Adventures in Star Trek Scribbling, and Further Adventures in Star Trek Scribbling from October 2017

 and:

Star Trek: Voyages That Never Were VI  (March 2016)
Star Trek: Voyages That Never Were V  (July 2013)
Star Trek: Voyages That Never Were IV  (March 2011)
Star Trek: Voyages That Never Were III  (March 2011)
Star Trek: Voyages That Never Were II  (February 2011)
Star Trek: Voyages That Never Were  (January 2011)