John Eaves | |
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Born | April 9, 1962 |
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Illustrator and model maker |
Known for | Star Trek designs |
Notable work | USS Enterprise -E |
Website | johneaves |
John Eaves (born April 9, 1962) is a designer and illustrator best known for his work on the Star Trek franchise, starting with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier . He served as a production illustrator on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Enterprise and was involved in all four Next Generation movies, specifically being responsible for the design of the Sovereign-class Enterprise-E. He also worked on a variety of films, such as Top Gun , Terminator 2: Judgment Day , Valkyrie and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra .
The first film Eaves worked on was Top Gun , as a model maker. These included the F-14 Tomcat and Northrop F-5 models which were used for the special effects shots of the aircraft. Prior to his work on the film, he had been working as a produce clerk at Bayless Markets. [1] Eaves also worked as a model maker on a variety of other films, including Spaceballs and Terminator 2: Judgment Day . [2] He also worked on the television series SeaQuest DSV . [3] His first work on the Star Trek franchise was on Star Trek V: The Final Frontier whilst working at Greg Jein's model shop in Marina del Rey, California. [4] His first design was the wing cannon for the Klingon Bird of Prey. [5]
Eaves was introduced to Herman Zimmerman through Eaves' friend Phil Edgerly. Zimmerman was looking for someone to put together a display of Enterprise , and Eaves drew up a plan for the display. Zimmerman was impressed by the artwork, and asked Eaves to join his design team for Star Trek Generations . [6]
After the work on Generations ended, Eaves returned to his work constructing fibreglass models. When a job became available on the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine art department during season four, [2] Zimmerman invited Eaves to join the team. [6] At the time, Eaves was working on a Boeing 747 model for the film Executive Decision . [3] Eaves spent the next twelve years working on one incarnation of Star Trek or another. [6] During this time, his work included the designs of the Phoenix, the Enterprise-E and the Vulcan ship from Star Trek: First Contact . [2] The initial model of the Enterprise-E was constructed by Eaves. [7]
His design work featured in the Deep Space Nine episode "Far Beyond the Stars", during the part of the episode set in the 1950s. [3] After working on Star Trek: Insurrection , where his designs included the Son'a vessels, Zimmerman brought Eaves onto the team behind Star Trek: Enterprise as Production Illustrator. [2] Whilst working on that series, he started work on the Enterprise (NX-01), as well as the Suliban vessels. [8] His work on the final TNG film Star Trek: Nemesis included the design of the Reman starship, the Scimitar. [9]
Eaves has most recently been known to have worked on Star Trek: Discovery and the 2009 Star Trek film, and he was also involved with Perpetual Entertainment as a production consultant and illustrator on their now defunct MMOG, Star Trek Online , though many of his contributions remain intact within the version that was developed by Cryptic Studios. [5] [10] He also provided the designs of the spaceships for the science fiction themed social network MyOuterSpace. [11] He was also in charge of art direction for Star Trek: Renegades , a fan produced pilot funded through Kickstarter and made by the creators of Star Trek: Of Gods and Men . [12] He worked on several films as an illustrator following Star Trek, including Tropic Thunder , Valkyrie and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra . [13]
As of 2015, he is also a member of the board of advisers for the Hollywood Science Fiction Museum.