Manual Art Reveal 2 (Stormwalker)

Posted on by scott

There was flu here at Casa Larbfeld South this weekend, so FAF is taking another holiday. SORRY. But you’ll get lashings of fan art this coming Friday.

I’ve never seen the Manual of Aeronautics art reveal voting so close! I might have to actually count the votes by hand, AND THIS WOULD BE HARD.

So let’s just say this: today we do the Stormwalker, and in a couple of weeks the Clanker uniforms (AKA Cosplay Color Guide). And I’ll keep the Sultan’s Elephant in the running for the next vote.

Okay? Okay.

Then here is . . . the Cyklop Stormwalker, revealed!

Image by Keith Thompson. Click here for the BIGNESS. You know you want to.

As you may know, the images for the Manual were first created as world-building exercises. In other words, they started life guides for my writing and Keith’s future illustrations, and only later became fodder for The Manual of Aeronautics.

I first saw this one very early on, about halfway through Leviathan. Until that moment I hadn’t realize how cramped the Stormwalker would have to be, especially with five people riding around in it. Seeing this cutaway changed the whole way those interior scenes were written, because it was so cramped. (No crossing of legs or waving of arms. Just constrained movements and facial expressions?)

But seriously, just imagine riding around in this thing for weeks on end. It would be super oppressive and make everyone cranky. I hope I got that across.

BONUS WRITING ADVICE: I recommend that all you aspiring novelists to create visual aids like this. Even if your book is set in a regular civilian house, making a floor plan can be incredibly useful. Even if your readers never see these plans, they’ll sense whether you know how your world is put together or not.

For example, seeing this cutaway made me add the bit where Volger sticks his head out and then prods Alek with his feet. So it was good not only for atmosphere, but also for a moment of comedy between the two.

Note that this isn’t the only image of the Stormwalker in the Manual. There will also be:

1) Two outside images, comparing Alek’s Hapsburg House Guard Stormwalker to the standard Austrian Army issue.

2) An interior image, showing how the controls work!

Okay, see you Friday, and probably before then. The cover of part 2 of the Uglies manga Cutters should be here soon.

72 thoughts on “Manual Art Reveal 2 (Stormwalker)”

  1. Wow, this is so amazing! I voted for the uniforms, but this is great too. I’ll have to re-read the series again when the manual comes out!

  2. Barking spiders this is trollin awsome

    What else is there to say

    Maybe how awsome it is ! Scott you need a day or some thing named after
    You

    Weeeerrrrroooooo

    Did i mention how awsome this pic is man

  3. Thats so cool! I love it. Now I just need to reread the book with this in mind to make it more epic.

  7. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! The Stormwalker AND the fact that the Cutters cover is comin’ out!!!!!!

  9. That’s awesome, though I did want to see the uniforms. 🙁 Oh, well! Patience is a virtue that Scott is apparently trying to train us in. xD

  10. Oh my freaking AWESOMNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Five unwashed bodies in a cramped stormwalker for five weeks….GAH! My brother smells bad after two DAYS without a shower! Eew!

  12. @10
    AHAHAHAHA!!!! i was totally thinking the same thing.
    didnt Dr. Barlow ride in the stormwalker with alek, deryn, clopp, and tazza all at once??? PRETTY CRAZY

  15. Huh. I really imgained it differently. Maybe I should just stare at it more, I don’t htink myy mind quite gets what it’s seeing.

  16. Wait. Where’s the access hatch from the bottom? I think Deryn or Alek climbed up a ladder near the end of the 1st book, through a hatch on the bottom. Apparently in that shot the crew was seen standing up inside of the walker.

  20. the second uglies manga is called CUTTERS???? what happened to the first, like, 3 months of shay being pretty? What’s the 3rd one going to be about? will there be 3 or 4? toooo mannnyyyyy quesstionssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    the stormwalker-thing was cool.

  21. I am sure I can name every character in there correctly. TOP: Volger is put the hatch; Klopp is just behind Alek, who is at the controls. BELOW: Bauer is polishing off the munitions, and Hoffman is the bro hiding behind the protective plate.
    Scott, who should make characters profiles. I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT VOLGER AND BAUER. SCHEISSE MAN!

  22. Wow. Just wow. I voted for the uniforms, but this is awesome! I always thought that there’d be room to breathe in a stormwalker, but apparently not. I’d get so claustrophobic in that thing…

  24. *falls off chair and onto the floor in fangirly joy* YES. This is so~ awesome!! :DD
    @Rue – I AAAAAAAAAMMM!! :DD

  26. oh, yeah, and thanks for this one! I voted for it!
    By the way, I heard that Newkirk’s first name is Eugene. Is that correct, anyone?

  27. wow… i always, like, wanted my own Stormwalker, and now that i see this one, even though it’s kinda cramped, i want it even more!

  28. i voted for the uniforms, but this is awesome! its so cramped in there now, i cant imagine it with Dr. Barlow, Deryn, and Tazza in there too.

  29. me neither, but i think this is the standard military issue, not the Hapsburg House issue, which i’ll bet is bigger

  30. Although I see it’s cramped, stormwalkers weren’t made for luxury (well maybe Alek’s family stormwalker was) but clankergurl98 made a good point. (@29) The military ones only need to be efficient, not roomy. Plus the more compact they are means they are a smaller target. Regardless… not like they can be missed but still…

    And I might be missing out on something but…. Cutters is going to be coming out? I mean, I just figured Shay’s Story was it for the entire UPSE series.

  31. On the oh-so-vague topic of Shay Story/Cutters:
    Can I vote for a Leviathan manga series, told from the point of view of any one of the amazing supporting characters?…On second thought, seeing scenes in a different style than the illustrations might ruin the affect a little. Unless Keith does the art, then it would be awesome (of course)….But that seems like a lot of work….
    How about a live-action movie with Scott as screenwriter?

  33. I voted for the uniforms but the Stormwalker is still so AWESOME! But now I gotta re-imagine all the Stormwalker scenes. XD

  36. And now we know why Newkirk is only referred to by his last name throughout the entire series.

  37. @36-Eugene is NOT a bad name! Neither is William! So don’t say that!
    why must everyone pick on poor Newkirk? 🙁

  38. Sometimes I want to say “sorry” to Newkirk. Haha, imagine. Me saying sorry to a fictional character! …but I still want to do it.

  39. @38- Someone needs to say sorry to Newkirk. I dunno. He just seems like one of those people that needs an apology.

  43. This makes me stupidly, unspeakably happy.
    It’s so cramped….<3
    A manga of Leviathan? Or movie with Scott as the writer? Barking spiders, yes! But the manga would have to be by Keith…. And what supporting character would it be about? Bovril? It should still be from Deryn and Alek's POV.

  44. @43-Maybe Newkirk’s POV or Barlows or Volgers or even Captain Hobbes! Or maybe they could do a manga about JASPERTS POV!!!!!

  45. @39-I agree. I mean, he’s not even THAT wimpy! If he was a REAL wimp, he wouldn’t have joined the barking Air Service anyway! (wait…did his mom make him? Dunno.)

  46. I’m trying to let my nails grow but it’s hard cause I have a terrible habit of nibbling them short. 🙁

  49. No. I say NO to a movie with a script written by scott westerfeld. There would be TONS of vital parts that would bw cut out. It should be a tv show. ( just as long as they dont slaughter it like the secret circle…)

  50. @49-I agree. I’m actually KINDA fine with a movie, as long as its not like the Percy Jackson movies. Which it might be. So I think a TV show is better.

  51. @50: They left out WAY too many details in the first Percy Jackson movie. Movies of books seem to be hard to do right.

  52. @51: I think the plot was just simplified too much to work. A second movie just wouldn’t work.

  53. @51+52-Yeah. I LOOOOVED the books, but hated the movie. Even if it did have Logan Lerman in it. <3 😀 I just love that guy.

  55. @51
    If Scot was the screenwriter, he could make sure that nothing (important or otherwise) gets cut out. Suzanne Collins worked on the script for the Hunger Games, which turned out about as good as the books.

  57. Now that I look at this more, this must’ve been EXTREMELY uncomfortable for Dr. Barlow and Deryn with Tazza and Alek even if Volger ad Klopp weren’t up there. Lol I have this hilarious image of all of the main Clankers plus Deryn and Dr. Barlow up on the cabin oh my godf

  59. @ 53 (and others)
    i loved those books so much, about two years ago i read them all eight times.
    yup. way too much free time!! amazing books though!

  61. Didn’t notice how Starwars AT walker the Cyclops looked like until now. In all the other images the Stormwalker seemed to be wider.

  62. @61: Did you mean the AT-ST? And this picture doesn’t have the engines and legs, which make it considerably wider.

  63. My sister and I painted sticks to make walking sticks at camp, and I left mine in her room, so I went looking for it. My sis pointed at it and said “There’s your stick.” and I said “That’s what she saaaaaaiiiiiiid!!!!” and my sister said “Wait…who?”
    EPIC FAIL 😀

  64. WTF means What The F*ck right? Im still not sure on these texting abbreviations. And IKR stands for I Know Right…right?

  65. @50: I agree! they totally killed Percy Jackson in the movie! the books are WAY better!

    @64: Thats right

  66. i think if they did do a movie, it would be kinda hard to show Deryn as a girl dressed up as a boy… because in a movie you don’t really get all of the unspoken info given in a book… but if they got everything right, a movie would be cool

  68. Yesterday I was looking at Emma Watson’s pics and she with her pixie cut completely reminded me of Deryn. She might’ve been a good act if there were a movie and if she were a bit younger 🙂

  69. Young men and soldiers, 1914
    Marching through countries they’d never seen
    Virgins with rifles, a game of charades
    All for a Children’s Crusade

  70. I cut my hair because of Deryn…. She gave me the guts to do it, before, you know, I got too old to take care of it. But my parents didn’t want me to (I had 14 inches of beautiful Hermione hair) so I had to wait until I was 15. LIke Deryn is in Leviathan…. Although since she was “barely fifteen” she could have cut it when she was fourteen…. A birthday would help…. *pointed look at you, the author, Scott* For both of them….
    So, yeah, anyway. My hair is now boy short ^^

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