a Soup to Nuts WW1 Aviation Painting

Taz · 24 August 2006, 07:32 AM

Leader- Listen to Russ. Those pen and inks are definitely worth framing. I love the one with Nungesser's N.25. He was stubborn and flew one of them (he loved the SN 1895 for some reason, but lots of photos of 5324) well into 1918 when he had easy access to Spad XIIIs by that time. The 200 hp Clerget 11E eleven cylinder engine must have made the N.25 something of a hot rod, although reportedly the engine had teething problems and did not go into mass production. I understand he also had a Spad XII cannon fighter, one of only a few.

Taz
Terry Phillips

AAC Cadet Leader · 24 August 2006, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barker

Dear, work on the compo....

Basic shapes, use of contrasting shapes, point of focus.

( I sure hope someone uses the word: juxtaposition..)

Ha! That musta been a late 70's art word. My high school art teacher and two of my art profs wore out that word, but I haven't heard it since @ 1979.

What if I make the mid-foreground a little darker? I want to place our ace up close and personal, with two of his aeroplanes in the background, as if he is engaged in conversation with the viewer, telling us about some of his many mishaps and air battles. The focus will be on his face, his uniform, medals and aeroplanes. Some details on the close lower left forground and on the hangars will be added to keep the viewer's eye moving around the canvas.

AAC Cadet Leader · 24 August 2006, 09:12 AM

AAC Cadet Leader · 24 August 2006, 09:16 AM

BTW, I apologize for these images coming out so wide. I don't know why they're doing that, because I'm sizing them at 33% and even after that resizing them smaller, but they keep coming out huge.

Oh well.
Hope it's not costing Scott a fortune - I'll go ask.

Russell Smith · 24 August 2006, 09:22 AM

AAC, if I may offer my humble opinion, I think you've got competing subjects. looking at the comps, I'm not sure if the pilot is supposed to be the focus or if the SPAD is supposed to be the focus. This especially holds true in the wider comp.

Take a look at some of Jim Dietz's images of pilots standing in front of their aircraft. he does an outstanding job of presenting the pilot together with his machine, yet at the same time hee always keeps the pilot as the primary subject and the aircraft an unintrusive secondary subject.

Russ

AAC Cadet Leader · 24 August 2006, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russell Smith

AAC, if I may offer my humble opinion, I think you've got competing subjects. looking at the comps, I'm not sure if the pilot is supposed to be the focus or if the SPAD is supposed to be the focus. This especially holds true in the wider comp.

Take a look at some of Jim Dietz's images of pilots standing in front of their aircraft. he does an outstanding job of presenting the pilot together with his machine, yet at the same time hee always keeps the pilot as the primary subject and the aircraft an unintrusive secondary subject.

Russ

Russ, your opinion ought not be humble, man! You're one of a small handful of artists alive who have found a way to make a living at WW1 Aviation Art. Me, I'm just a beginner in this realm. I treasure your advice Russ! Thank you for it.

I see what you mean about possible competing subject matters. When I go to put paint to canvases I'll keep that in mind and tone down the values on the aeroplanes relative to Nungesser's face and medals.

Taz, Thanks for what you said! Really, my ink drawings were just first roughs to get me to examine the details in the photos and to practice learning where to place for them when I go to paint. But if you think they're worth putting a frame on, I'll be happy to make some more and clean up the mistakes.

Russell Smith · 24 August 2006, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AAC Cadet Leader

Russ, your opinion ought not be humble, man! You're one of a small handful of artists alive who have found a way to make a living at WW1 Aviation Art. Me, I'm just a beginner in this realm. I treasure your advice Russ! Thank you for it.

Thank YOU, AAC.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AAC Cadet Leader

I see what you mean about possible competing subject matters. When I go to put paint to canvases I'll keep that in mind and tone down the values on the aeroplanes relative to Nungesser's face and medals.

Good choice. Of the two, the vertical composition works better. The verticality (is that a word?) emphasizes the pilot more whereas the horizontality (???) of the other seems the emphasize the SPAD. I would also tell you to be bold - don't be afraid to put Nungesser in front of the SPAD. After all, he is the subject. You don't necessarily have to put him dead center, but perhaps have his body overlap part of the machine. Visually putting him in front of the machine will automatically assign him a higher level of importance.

Russ

AAC Cadet Leader · 24 August 2006, 10:01 AM

Thanks Russ! Good advice. Might just do that!

AAC Cadet Leader · 24 August 2006, 10:30 AM

Russ, like this? I do like the idea of making him larger, but it'll eliminate his fabulous boots

and the very distinctive tail of the Spad - unless I scale down the Spad even smaller, but don't really want to do that.

Russell Smith · 24 August 2006, 10:42 AM

YES! Thats much better. i think this composition is much stronger in that it makes Nungesser the primary subject, but one still gets the sense that he talking about his aircraft. Good job!

I know what you mean about not wanting to sacrifice some of the little "touches", but sometimes we have to do so in favor of the larger idea we're trying to convey with a piece. Sometimes a small sacrifice means a stronger composition. Sad but true

Russ