Northrop YF-17 Cobra; 10x25 digital painting

[Ol' Scrapiron]

 

 

This project was inspired by seeing the rare plane displayed at the USS Alabama Memorial's air museum last fall. The airframe itself was a bit simpler without a bunch of stenciling to recreate, but I really loved exploring the turkey feathers exhaust. I had taken a few walkaround photos from the other side, but this angle was from the reference pics I shot while on the boarding platform for the submarine that is displayed nearby. A bit far to capture the details, but I was able to work out what I needed using the closer shots at ground level.

 

The digital painting was done at 500ppi 16-bit color to fit a 10x25-inch frame when a giclee is printed (soon)

 

Here are a few cropped areas that show the level of detail a little better as it really has to be seen up close to be appreciated.

 

my favorite challenge on this project was capturing the feel of the turkey feather exhaust

 

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I also recently completed a 12x18 digital painting of a F-8K Crusader that I photographed on that same trip. Flying from Tacoma to Tampa, I tried to make the most out of my cross-country adventure. That plane was covered with stenciling and some fun compound curves to depict. I'll save that for later.

 

[Trojan Thunder]

That turned out really nice. Congrats! 🏆