How Illustrations are Made...

A forum for the proverbial airport bum who just wants to talk about anything and everything related to flying. Introduce yourself here !!

Post Reply
RV7A
Class E
Posts: 85
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 5:49 am
Location: Westland, MI
Contact:

How Illustrations are Made...

Post by RV7A »

If anyone is interested, I thought I'd post some photos to show how these illustrations are made. I'm making an F-16 is for a customer so I thought I'd show some steps along the way.

All drawings start out with a line drawing. I make my own line drawings by painstakeingly tracing a suitable photo. This line drawing below required almost 8 hours to complete...

Image

After the lines are drawn and the rivets added, the base color is added next. In this case, there are three shades of grey that are added. I always finish the landing gear and the canopy next because they are easy and relatively quick to do. All that is complete here...

Image

After the base colors are added, the real fun begins. This is where the airplane starts to look 'real' and is my favorite part.

Image

In the photo above, I'm starting from the front and working back. There's still a lot of shading and highlighting to do yet, but you can see the front end starting to look like a three dimensional airplane.

After the shading is complete, I will add the paint scheme and details like graphics. At this point in the process, I'm about 10 or 11 hours into this project with still lots to do!

RV7A
Class E
Posts: 85
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 5:49 am
Location: Westland, MI
Contact:

Post by RV7A »

Here's a little more progess. Some more highlights and shading have been added, a shadow, and some weathering. A few graphics have been added too. I still have to complete the nose gear door and the turkey feathers (and a few other things...)

Image

RV7A
Class E
Posts: 85
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 5:49 am
Location: Westland, MI
Contact:

Post by RV7A »

Oops, I realized I never posted the finished airplane here! Here it is. I actually have more F-16 paint schemes, a couple of F-15's, and more on my Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerodraw/

Image

Spike
Chief Rivet Banger
Posts: 4013
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 8:40 pm
Location: Baltimore, MD
Contact:

Post by Spike »

Wow that is nice.
http://www.rivetbangers.com - Now integrating web and mail!
Current Build: 2 years into a beautiful little girl

RV7A
Class E
Posts: 85
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 5:49 am
Location: Westland, MI
Contact:

Post by RV7A »

I just finished a Tucano T-1 and really liked the scheme. So, it may be a possible scheme for my RV-7A!

Image

Image

RV7A
Class E
Posts: 85
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 5:49 am
Location: Westland, MI
Contact:

One for the RV-12 fans...

Post by RV7A »

Here's my latest RV drawing-the RV-12

Image

Post Reply