When I was a kid, I used to build plastic model airplanes constantly. I haven't built any model planes in about 25 years but I get the same satisfaction by building 'digital' planes! A lot of Air Force bases sell these illustrations and I've always wanted to learn how to make them. The problem is that the computer programs are so difficult to use! I was really lucky that a guy named Pat Cherry taught me how to make these using PaintShop Pro. Pat draws some really really nice caricature airplanes.

I thought I would share some of my art with you all and also show you how they are made. I'll use the F-16 as a sample since it's my favorite airplane.

The first step is to either take a good quality photo, or perhaps find one on the internet to use. The photo is just used to trace the profile. Here's the traced profile of an F-16 just about ready to touch down. This 'tracing' part took 8 hours on this drawing.



After the profile is traced and the panel lines and rivets are drawn, then I add the basic colors to the jet. In this case, it's just two tones of grey. As you can see, the airplane is still very much a 2D drawing.



Now that the base colors are added, the really fun part starts. That part is adding the very subtle highlights and shading that give the airplane a 3D look...



After the highlights and shading are done, I'll start on some of the details like the canopy, wheels/tires, lights, etc...



Next more fine detail is added. Here I have added some landing gear color, hoses, and colored the 'turky feathers' or rear exhaust nozzle.



Now at this point I can add any paint scheme I want. This one here is A/C 494 from the Michigan Air National Guard. This is the unit where I worked in the Egress Shop so I'm making some prints for my friends there.



Then once the airplane is complete, I try to make a nice background to include squadron patches or any other info. Here's what the finished illustration looks like...



Here's a couple other airplane I've made. These are all a lot of fun to make and I enjoy searching online for photos of cool paint schemes to add to the planes.






Hope you all enjoy them. You can see all of the plane including a lot of kitplanes at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aerodraw

Tip: if you view the flickr photos, if you right click on the photo you can view larger sizes!