USS Excelsior

This has been a mammoth of a project. I started it several years ago, and worked on it on and off. No idea how many hours. The Excelsior was always one of my favorites, but while I worked on it I gained an even higher appreciation for the work put on the miniature. Just a lot of small details that we don't really get to see in the movies. A true labor of love. Anyway, my version isn't perfect, but I think I got close enough.

For the main image, recently I got a VDB pack of nebulas and while setting everything up, I had the idea of illustrating the first official mission of the USS Excelsior. It's a throwaway line at the beginning of Undiscovered Country, but having it research gaseous anomalies does make for good visuals!