mudrat

Gregg, It's an A-4B, the photo my customer sent me, had an A-4F in it. Pete, More F-8 stuff to come from me. I've been planning an F-8E painting for awhile now. Regards, Stephen

This was commission I did for a guy that flew all 3 of these birds. He sent me a b/w photo of this basic formation of an EKA-3B, A-4F & F-8E and asked me to paint the same concept but to depict his birds only. Not a lot of drama here. Happy New Year to all, Stephen

Don, I'm aware of the fuselage taper in cross section, aft. The vertical angle difference between the U.S. AIR FORCE and the Nat'l Insignia are significant given the close proximity to each other, though it should not be. The National Insignia comes off as flat, not conforming to the to the fuse contour angle perspective. Still, the illustration does look nice. Stephen

Don, Looks nice, but... Nat'l Insignia on fuse is not on the same plane as U.S.AIR FORCE markings and fuse panel lines. Note vertical edges of the insignia rectangles & imaginary line thru vertical center of star and compare with adjacent markings and panel lines (door). Should be an easy fix. Great illustration, none the less. Regards, Stephen

Small world. I was just sent a photo of the 2nd print that was hung in the O club. Thank you for the compliment. (Really difficult to decline free beer.) Regards, Stephen

Gray, Thanks. Its kind of a dull image without any surface reflections. It is difficult to see any rivets on this small image, but those too, broke up the monotny a bit. Your stuff, here, is as gorgeous as ever :) Regards, Stephen

Thanks all! The rotors were freehand airbrushed (the rotor(s) tip had a mask applied) in PS. I was sent Longhorn 02 walkaround photos from Lt Mark Aid (attached to NAS Fallon). The Profile illustration was a retirement gift for Cdr Doug Russell, XO of NAS Fallon, NV commissioned by his wife. Regards, Stephen

Pardon this aggregious historical marking faux pas. I just illustrate how the actual bird is painted. Regards, Stephen

The bird. I had to illustrate the rotors in motion in order to maximize the profile size on the printed sheet. The detail crop Regards, Stephen

Thank you, all. Life is getting in the way of this stuff, here, at the moment. I hope to get back to doing more of it (Artwork) ASAP. Regards, Stephen

Regards, Stephen

When doing life drawing, try to teach yourself how to measure accurately with your eye. You've seen stereotypes of artists using their thumb or brush handle held up to view against what they are looking at, right? They are using the brush handle or thumb as a type of ruler, to establish a kind of scale. For example; lets say a fuselage that we are viewing, is 1/3 as thick at the nose (its a radial engined bird viewed at a 3/4 frontal aspect, like your Camel) as it is long, excluding the rudder. You've measured this with your eye, and now you can put this down on paper this way, 1 unit thi

Geedubelyer, Now comes the hard criticism...If you work on the fundamentals of proportion and perspective in your layout, you've pretty much got everything else down pat. Don't stop with just this, start on another one, dude. I wish you well. Stephen

I used to watch P2Vs drone over the house while lumbering on final into NAS Jax, I can't ever imagine them being too quiet, low over the Ho Chi Minh trail at night, despite the noise suppression devices. Still, they had to have been impressive sight to behold, from a purely asthetic point of view. Stephen

Details added and corrections made. Much still to be done. Here's a crop. Regards, Stephen

There will be additional humanoids added to the 20mm gun galery, and one up on deck. Not quite there yet Regards, Stephen

Moeggo, Are you looking to commission a profile illustration or are you looking for a freebie? Regards, Stephen

Opinions sought from WWI modeling intelegencia; whose decals of German 4 color lozenge (both upper and lower colors) are most accurate in terms of color reproduction fidelity, as far as you know? Eagle Strike Americal/Gryphon Pegasus/Blue Max TIA for you opinions and time. Regards, Stephen

Now, why can't the USAF continue using great color schemes like this? Seriously, this is looking nice, Don. It begs one to want to see more. Stephen

Finally Done! Now all I have to do is get it printed (may have to wait for some $$ to magically appear). Hey, check out the website. Lots of stuff added. Regards, Stephen

I may come to you when I need something done...I hope that is okay.. Thank you, HOLMES. HOLMES, Thankyou, and yes thats what I'm here for, you can call me anytime. Regards, Stephen

Resulting derivative artwork now available for those trendy Tarsier/Starfighter note cards ;) I'll leave you guys be for awhile. I'm sure you all are suffering from F-4J image saturation by now. Regards, Stephen

The Wingman is now no longer just along for the ride. I'll post some detail crops when I get done weathering the Skipper's bird. The Wingman with teeth Thank you guys for your support. :) Stephen

Don, You're going to have a lot of fun wth this. The sky is the limit (literally) on the reflections you can paint in this. Oilcan the heck out of this. Stephen

I have to squeeze in work on it where and when I can. I'm going to have to rework the clouds behind where this is going to be placed as it is a little busy where it is at present. Here let me post it...okay, there it is, look up;) Stephen