Z. Hogan Studio: Design - Leonard's Rocket Launcher

What we need before we start drawing

Descriptions and info from text.
Set CLEAR GOAL POSTS - decide some things as an art director before starting work as a designer.
Brainstorming, research and reference images.

1. References from Jingo

He reached down into the large
canvas bag by his feet and pulled out a long tube, which he handed to
Nobby.
'I do apologize about this,' he said, producing a smaller tube and handing it
to Colon. 'I had to do things in such a hurry, there really was no time to
finish it off properly, and frankly the materials are not very good–'
Colon looked at his tube. It was pointed at one end.
'This is a firework rocket,' he said. 'Look, it's s got "A riot of coloured balls
and stars" on it...'
'Yes, I do so apologize,' said the man, lifting a complex little arrangement
of wood and metal out of the bag. 'May I have the tube back, corporal?' He
took it and screwed the arrangement on to one end. 'Thank you... yes, I'm
afraid that without my lathe and, indeed, my forge, I really have had to make
do with what I could find lying around... Could I have the rocket back,
please? Thank you.'
'They don't go properly without a stick,' said Nobby.
'Oh, in fact they do,' said the man. 'Just not very accurately.'
He raised the tube to shoulder height and peered into a small wire grid.
'That seems about right,' he said.
'And they don't go along,' said Nobby. 'They just go up.
'A common misconception,' said Leonard of Quirm, turning to face them.
Colon could see the tip of the rocket in the depths of the tube, and had a
sudden image of stars and balls.
'Now, apparently you two have to step into this alley here and come with
me,' said Leonard. 'I'm very sorry about this, but his lordship has explained
to me at great length how the needs of society as a whole may have to
overrule the rights of a particular individual. Oh, and I've just remembered.
You have to put your hands up.'

The voice behind them said, 'Oh, dear, this won't do at all, will it... ? I can't
deny it, you were quite right, the accuracy would be quite unacceptable at
any reasonable range. Could you bear to stop a moment, please?'
They turned. Leonard was already dismantling the tube.
'If you could just hang on to this bit, corporal... and, sergeant, if you would
be so good as to hold this piece steady... some sort of fins should do it, Im
sure I had a suitable piece of wood somewhere
Leonard began to pat his pockets.
The watchmen realized that the man holding them up had paused to
redesign his weapon and had given it to them to hold while he looked for a
screwdriver. This was a thing that did not often happen.
Nobby silently took the rocket from Colon and pushed it into the tube.
'What's this bit here, mister?' he said.
Leonard glanced up briefly in between patting his pockets.
'Oh, that is the trigger,' he said. 'Which, as you can see, rubs against the
flint and–'
'Good.'
There was a short burst of flame and rather more black smoke.
'Oh, dear,' said Leonard.
The watchmen turned, like men dreading what they were about to see. The
rocket had shot the length of the alley and through the window of a house.
'Ah... putting "This Way Up" on the projectile would be an important
safety point to bear in mind for the new design.' said Leonard. 'Now,
where's that notebook... ?'
'I think we'd better leave,' said Colon, moving backwards. 'Very fast.'
Inside the house there was an explosion of stars and balls to delight young
and old but not the troll who had just opened the door.

Extracted info:

Two tubes - the launcher and the rocket
Launcher tube - material unknown
Rocket tube - pre-made, shop bought rocket, "A riot of coloured balls and stars"
Inaccurate - no fins or stick to stabalise flight
Complex arrangement of wood and metal screwed to one end = trigger device
Trigger - rubs against flint which fires rocket
Rocket may be put in upside-down necessitating a future addition of 'this way up'
Rocket = not accurate, no fins or stick
Small wire grid = aiming sight

2. Pre-determining some goal posts:
What can we decide on as pre-set rules for the design before we start? Let us play the role of art-director. We want to create some solid walls to work within due to the small amount of time we have.

Trying to create something that looks

inaccurate
hand made without a sense of polish
cobbled together from 'what I could find lying around'
metal and wood construction, brass or copper sheets, rough cut wood
Functional, no unnecessary decoration or apparent deliberate aesthetic considerations
rocket - cheap looking, faded and colourful, old english lettering, very long fuse that gets locked into trigger (to make plausible the fact that it can fire the rocket when put in backwards)

Creating a more complex paragraph description using some of the self-decided aspects above:

Leonard has been instructed by Lord Vetinari to leave the boathouse and the Going-Under-The-Water-Safely-Device to find Colon and Nobbs. Leonard must get them return to the boathouse by any means necessary. Vetinari instructs Leonard to hold-them-up using a weapon. Leonard then sets about quickly putting together a rocket launcher from whatever material he can find lying around.

3. Brainstorming, research and reference images

a. Brainstorm:

Creating a sense of low accuracy

remove physical design features that give accuracy - fins, aerodynamic shape, stick
shorter, stumpier shape - less accurate
breaking up the straight streamlined shape with other forms

Creating a sense of home made, un-polished weapon

home made fireworks, potato guns, etc
simplistic construction - few parts, few joins, etc - quick and simple
or more complex construction - made out of a lot of small bits of scrap
indications of material's previous uses - stickers, stamps, signs, paint, things affixed to, etc, or recognisable shapes from other objects

what would be near a boathouse that could have parts scavenged from?
boat parts, rigging, port-hole rings, iron bands masts
fishing lines, reels, nets, fish hooks,
the river would pick up any trash from anywhere in Ankh Morpork
so tin cans, brass instruments, shop signs, cart wheels, chimneys, metal pipes/plumbing (period accurate?)

b. Technical research:

Looked at a range of pages to get ideas for reference images, including the following links:

c. Reference images:

View collected reference images on Pinterest here: link
Images selected varied reasons. Sometimes for direct reference, other times to try to help generate ideas.

form reference of the real-world objects this fictional object alludes to (bazookas, RPGs etc)
historical examples of projectile weapons and their functioning (handgonne, etc)
real-world home-made potato-guns (high power handheld cannons)
general visual design reference of real-world firework rockets of varying shapes and levels of intricacy
visual design reference of home-made firework rockets - blunt-nosed and very inaccurate-looking
examples from Fallout 3 (video game) of imaginative weapon designs featuring amalgamation of other utility objects
visual reference of examples of firework packaging - that low-quality print look