A quick study of this commission - I did it with an Apple Pencil on my iPad
The photo on the lower left is the only known photo of this particular airplane. Note the name - "The Dot T" - Dot is the pilot's wife - she's 96 years old. Her husband (the pilot of the airplane) died years ago. However, the person who commissioned me was so impressed with Dot that he wanted to do something to honor her life...and her husband’s WWII service.
I draw the profile with a pencil, then with my mouse. I used to use a Wacom pen but I'm a lot handier with the mouse—using the lasso tool in Photoshop to create the outline. Then, I "cut out" detail parts and will draw them in later. Oh. The "Dot T" script/nose art was scanned and dropped in. But I ended up using the italic brush to smooth out what I’d done in pencil.
This is...about... 25% done. The trick was to figure out how the metal would "weather" (combat aircraft don't 'patina'). The lines that define the panels are just there as placeholders to help me judge perspective and placement. Note the lavender in the lower-left - I discovered that it's the best highlight color I could use for showing highlights on aluminum.
A lot is going on here...I figure about 60% done at this point. It's also getting time to work on the panel lines.
I added the cockpit basic shapes - the details will be added later.
This is progress on a P-51C fighter plane from WWII. I was given the commission to honor the pilot's wife (the inspiration for the nose-art) as well as the pilot's hometown community.
