Small. Fast. Aggressive. I wanted to create a spacecraft that was all of those things. But where do you even start on a project like that? What would a quick, single-person ship look like? Does it have a lot of organic curves? Or maybe sleek lines? Big wings? No wings? The possiblities are endless, and the best way to start is to get as many possiblities out there as you can.

Immediately I jumped into Photoshop and took off at lightspeed, creating as many different silhouettes of spaceships as I could. By the time I had filled several pages (not all of which are shown here), I was able to look back and pick out six ideas that I liked (as seen in the gray box). Great, we're narrowing some ideas down!

Side views are great, but you get a much better idea of the shape of the ship when you look at it from an angle. After drafting a quick perspective grid, I began approximating a 3D view of the Spitfire.

The above sketch felt pretty spot-on, but I still checked it against a perspective grid to ensure accuracy. Once all the lines were correct, I created a more polished drawing.

Phew! So much nicer to have those lines cleaned up! At this point, I had completed the ship's body, adding on a pair of tailfins to enhance the silhouette. With the perspective corrected, all the hard work of the drawing is done. Now all that's left is detail and a fresh coat of paint!

And that's all there is too it! After a bit of detailing and a few more perspective corrections, the Spitfire's ready to fly! Quick, fast, aggressive, she's everything I set out to design!