Qlev Pods: The Designer's Dream

From word to image without using AI

These past weeks I had regular discussions with a close friend of mine about alternate means of transportation. He is a Lead Car Designer and avid reader. We like to speculate what the future might look like and drink coffee while we do.

He has read the first few chapters of my novel and I asked him if he would be interested in doing some sketches for the quantum levitation pods in my story.

One character, Felice Vongestalt, drives a very sleek pod, fast, aggressive, daring, like herself. There are many pods out there, this one is hers.

No modern car design constraints? Do what you want? Design the future of transportation? The dream. He was unchained! He did a lot of fantastic sketches for various pods and we settled on this one for Felice.

The S-zer0

He graciously let me share one of the first rough sketches, see above.

Today, I received realistic renders that make me want to get one NOW. I will be posting a full report with sketches, progression and final renders soon.

These past weeks, we talked about world-building, tech, character, motivation, application, utility, practicality and so forth with one goal: Create a believable vehicle of the future, one that fits the character. Nothing an AI would understand…

We also talked about the role of AI in his line of work. So much so, that I thought it would be great to record this as a podcast: A Conversation between Writer and Designer on Creation and Meaning.

This hasn’t happened… yet. I think it should. Do you?

NB: I will be away this weekend, maybe recording a podcast and I will take this opportunity to switch my cadence to Wednesdays, going forward.