Braving the depths.....

[Otterkins2]

Hi Grubby. I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. I looked at your on line tutorials (at least I think it's you) and those didn't make sense either because they are missing so much "in between the lines" information. I'm so new at this right now I'm just working in Illustrator doing a highly detailed line drawing and I'm now in the final stages of this process. I'm old school and illustrating in airbrush for more than 30 years it's the only way I understand how to work. The base drawing has to be done first and it has to be accurate. After that you lay in colour using frisket or other masking agents. If there is another way to do it here using Photoshop and Illustrator I don't know of it, because like I said I'm new at this game. I'll finish the line drawing first and then try to figure out where I'm going from there. Thanks for your help though.

[Supah]

Hi Grubby. I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. I looked at your on line tutorials (at least I think it's you) and those didn't make sense either because they are missing so much "in between the lines" information. I'm so new at this right now I'm just working in Illustrator doing a highly detailed line drawing and I'm now in the final stages of this process. I'm old school and illustrating in airbrush for more than 30 years it's the only way I understand how to work. The base drawing has to be done first and it has to be accurate. After that you lay in colour using frisket or other masking agents. If there is another way to do it here using Photoshop and Illustrator I don't know of it, because like I said I'm new at this game. I'll finish the line drawing first and then try to figure out where I'm going from there. Thanks for your help though.

Hi Otterkins,

Even doing this digitally the basic line drawings are still the most important step. Those are what you base the rest of your drawing on, if those are wrong then your entire drawing is going to be wrong. What you first do is draw the lines for the panel lines on a seperate layer in photoshop. Below that one you draw your colourscheme. After that you can work on the panel lines. If you have questions while during this feel free to ask, there are different techniques for doing panel lines. A lot of the techniques of drawing digital profiles come from make textures for computer games, especially in the old days when self shading and other lighting techniques werent that well done as they are today a lot of the highlights etc. had to be in the texture. I started out doing textures for operation flashpoint which did do any shading of vehicles at all! If you have any questions about the process feel free to ask here, I don't mind helping you and I think a lot of the other guys wont mind chiming in with advice either.

[Otterkins2]

I think I'm pretty much done now. The radio mast is not complete because the fine detail required kind of gets garbled in translation between file types and I don't want to strain Serval's resources by uploading huge files. The tail wheel is not done because I lack good, clear pictures of it in order to be able to complete it properly. Basically the outline is pretty complete and as acurate as I can make it, and there are a few funny details I wasn't aware existed on a 109 until I started pouring over photos. The next step is to drag it into Photoshop and see if I can't do something with it colour wise.

I checked all of my references, but there seems to be nothing at all that alludes to the colours Blowhard is using. Are you sure you are working from an RLM colour guide? I can't find a listing anywhere for the colours mauve, pink or even chartreuse. By the way, for those of you that have not looked at the model pages, you really should check them out. Blowhard did an astonishing job of a British Mk.V tank that should have placed "Best of Show", but I wasn't judging the competition, so he'll have to settle for a place in Disney World as it's latest addition.

[Otterkins2]

Thanks Supah. I understand this which is why I spent so much time in Illustrator creating the original art. This was done by a lot of on line research and some very good reference material that Jester sent to me. I understand layers too, but I'm not quite sure how to structure it. The line drawing was done on a single layer. Dragging it into PS, I have a reasonable idea of how to mask things, but not on the order of progression. Do I put each colout on its own layer? So many questions.......

[Supah]

Hi otterkins,

I'd put each colour on its own layer yes. That way they are relatively easy to edit if you ever want to adjust the layout of the paintscheme. What I do is define all the basic parts like wings tails engines air inlets as shapes first. They make very clean selections later on, you can anti-alias them, and this way you always have the same selection. Another hint is to keep your PSD organized by using the groups you can make in your layers pallette. This is sort of like a directory on your HDD, you can put layers into these groups and name the groups. Put all your paths in one, your paintscheme in one, your highlights and your shadows. These makes the file a lot easier to work with. Work at atleast A3 size and 300 DPI otherwise you will pbb not be able to sell prints of it later on

[BLOWHARD]

VERY NICE! It looks very well worked out, lots of little bits. Can we see a section of detail in full size please?
And, about the colors I used, if you don't know already, you'll never know

[Jesters-Ink]

Looks a cracker Otter, I will double check what I have seen on the top front of the canopy, other than that it looks like the best drawing of a 109 to date.

[Otterkins2]

Here is a partial full sized view. I don't want to post the whole thing because the original file is 4000 X 1200 pixels. Anyone who wants it is welcome to it. Supah, I'm new at this game so I don't know what grouping is. The best I can figure out is to drag it into PS as a .bmp and then cut it apart into different layers.

BH, you are worse than my cat is. If you puke on my floor one more time I'll have you neutered. True to niggling perfectionism, Jester has already found flaws....but that was the whole point in posting. Pick holes in it until there are no more to find. Then we can all share in something we know we can trust.

[Supah]

Those are some fantastic looking drawings! Ever think of doing a T-33 ? :P I will try and make some pictures to explain the grouping thing with layers!

[Jesters-Ink]

Otter, I’m going to have to confiscate that drawing under the line drawings excellence act of 2008, “all drawings of a standard of excellent or above must be sent to jesters-ink for full template replication”. So please send psd to me as soon as possible.