First, I know the grain of salt phrase, I was paraphrasing to make the point that I often set the standards for my own artwork too high and I shouldn’t necessary judge your work by those same standards.
Second, don’t presume that you can lecture me about the nature of Form vs. Function with regards to starships. You say you strive for militaristic function and deadly form rather than modern art. That’s all well and good but the art does not reflect that intent. There’s nothing in this that says to me “This is a war machine.” It’s a solid uninteresting block and it lacks any of the design features of modern fighting vehicles. (For example, angled sides, this not only increased the chance to deflect solid impacts, but also increases the effectiveness of armour, because there is more armour to get through coming in at an angle than there is hitting it straight on.)
Please, if you want to make your ships look like practical pieces of military hardware, take your inspiration from
real military hardware. Modern tanks, Warships and fighter craft look the way they do because of lessens learned both from theoretical testing and lessons learned on the battlefield.
I’m trying to be constructive here, so don’t make excuses like saying you want it to look that way. Nobody WANTS their ideas to look like uninteresting rectangular blocks of metal. And since this is Science Fiction, do not forsake Form for Function. Use your damn imagination and do something new and exiting, innovate and carve out your own place in a way that makes people stop and say “oh wow”
Creating for Sci-Fi is a balance between form and function, you can have a war machine that looks both fantastic and scary as well as practical.
You can have both.