Accurate drawings

[Ugo Crisponi]

Well . . .I'm in the shitz cuz I've only ever made 1 profile set from line drawings and they are not finished yet . . . .using the Me262 from our very own Otter.
I've always used masses and masses of photographs, (right . . .bin the lot and start again)

No such thing as a perfect drawing, no such thing as a perfect profile, but there are a few guys on here who's styles I really like and would pay for if I wasn't doing my own shitz.

[BLOWHARD]

There is a little truth to just about everything people have said here.
But certainly those who don't plan on making their own drawings need to know what is available, how accurate it is, and must have a good supply of reference.
To suggest taking whatever drawing you find and using it without research is an over simplification.
There are SO many poor quality drawings out there and so many that are simplified. To do this right, and I believe this is one place where compromises shouldn't be made for arts sake, one must research the subject, get to know the shapes, contours and details, and gather all material available before even starting.
How you arrive at the "accurate" drawing is another thing. Whether you draw your own or trust other artists drawings, you must at least have some way of checking their accuracy.
The end of it is this; if you set out to create a representation of a historical object, be it a plane or a tank or whatever, there is no substitute for research.
No matter how good of an artist you are, no skill can make up for inaccuracy. How much accuracy is again the individual's decision.

[Ugo Crisponi]

I agree with Blowhard. Research is the mother of the accuracy. Personally I have never drawn retracing an existing linedrawing. Just making a few layers with the real subject and see how many mistakes are there.

My previous message was regarding the "pushing to the limit" of a linedrawing, not the normal profiles we create and show here, based mostly on a good reference.

Ugo

[Revolver]

... but there are a few guys on here who's styles I really like and would pay for if I wasn't doing my own shitz.

Ich kann nur schwer hoffen das ich hier nicht gemeint bin.

Regards, R.

[JMSmith]

gentlemen,

could we please pull over to the side of the road, this thread seems to have taken a wrong turning, hands up all those using a satnav

my original post was for the guys with limited references, no matter how you arrive at the finished profile it should LOOK right, i am not talking micrometer accuracy, that is for us idiot line drawing people to try to achieve( and it just ain't going to happen)
on all of the drawings that i have commented on about shape, it as been a (don't look right) feeling i get, this is followed by much studying of all my reference material until i find what it is.
on three occasions i have thought this and i have proved myself wrong, i don't post until i am sure, the three were by Baron, thankfully he knows his subject better than me

when a profile is done for a book or magazine then it should be as near as possible correct, this is what people pay for, if it is for fun then if it pleases you that is all that matters.

to post here takes a couple of minutes, your post will get you what you want usually the best there is out there, we only use a line drawing as a guide then we throw it away, but the profile will look right.

ok, now start the thread agian without using the satnav

[Jesters-Ink]

Don’t worry about it John, most if not all of us understand your point and its quite a valid one too. To add a bit more fuel to the fire, I made a P-51B mustang profile some time ago. It was a rush job and I didn’t do too much research into the outer shape and it was also drawn at a much lower dpi 172 as against 300+.
Sad thing is, its more of a believable shape and metal affect (to me) than any of my efforts on the P-51D I started over a year ago. Sometimes I think its best to go with your gut feelings and enjoy the process rather than to spend most of your time digging for reference and getting totally frustrated. Be damned those who tell you its wrong, they are all wrong, its just a question of how far. Did you enjoy the process and are you happy with the results? that’s the key for me.

[Ugo Crisponi]

I appreciate John's attention to details and think his help is very useful to find out our little mistakes and help us to correct them when is possible.

There are so many different model of aircraft worldwide made, and it's virtually impossible to have exact blueprints of all of them. But there are some that EVERYBODY knows and make at least once: P-51, F-4U, Phantoms, F-16, etcc... I would love to have the best reference available and the most accurate linedrawing of them. Anybody can help?
Would be an idea to post some of these drawings and open a discussion on them, each would contribute with ideas and finally we will have shared the BEST AVAILABLE LINEDRAWING that each of us can use?

Let's start a post with P-51 lines?.....

[Revolver]

Hello together

Therefore of my side I can be available grasp them more by more far airplanes; Bf109/110, FW190, Ju-88, He-111 & Greif I have for BF109 and FW190 kompletes documentation in original, that unfortunately only with what I can help them at times. In the asking PM pls.

regards, R.

[Jesters-Ink]

Your English is about as good as my German Revelver, what you are saying is "you can offer help on the Bf109 and FW190"? If you are then I am open to your offer.

As far as Ugo's idea, I say go one better, why not produce a full template together, free for all simmers to use?
Take a vote on who does what . . . . does not matter if some get left out seeing as they will still have access to the finished file . . . what do you all say????

[AGNT_Matt]

his english is better than mine anyways accuracy is the key to it all we cannot possibly get 100% accurate as theres little details that we'll never be able to spot, also bear in mind half the time these photographes that don't think of us profile artists take oblique photos, while handy for seeing the contours not for the outline, my hat goes off to those who do take photos from the angles we need lets name a prime example, Grubby them F-104 pics more helpful than the blind leading the blind. there is always that never completed thing with profiling, you think you've finished, you check back and thered a mass of details you'd missed, same applies to line drawings. right its about time i got back to my latest after a PC crash resulting in loss of major projects. Backup Backup Backup is what i learnt