Having watched your various profiling do's and dont's with great interest,I decided I ought to have a go at "Making a profile in 6 easy steps". (A real misnomer if I ever saw one!).The rseult of all that effort was more than abit miserable, so "Elmer's Return" was born as way of putting to some sort of use. Yet another result was that I would never be making yet another examp[le of Mustangs,109's,190's Kittyhawks etc! Everyone seems to be doing these during their lunch breaks, there are so many! So no sad little efforts in this direction are needed from yours truly.
So, casting around for something a shade different, I remembered reading about the Israelis knocking aircraft together somewhere or other. I also found that they'd managed to flog a few of these to the Argies to play with. Thus, I decided I had a subject that no-one would care less whether I got it right or not.
Just so anybody else who feels like having a stab at making a profile will be encouraged, I have attached the result of my second attempt.
I always say "Learn by doing". My performance in CS3 would probably give most profilers apoplexy, but I have another little adage which says "It's got to at least look as though it would fly", which applies to all my aircraft images.
That's not bad for a second attempt IMHO. Don't go around thinking you can't do profiles: it's a question of work and habit. The first time you drove a car, you probably stalled a dozen times, no? Now you barely notice you're driving.
I don't know what to think of the camo pattern of your Mirage: it looks as if it's been through a fireball. But there are some good qualities to your drawing (shaping and reflections notably). Keep working!
It looks like you are very well on your way, Rat.You are showing a thorough understanding of how to get form and shape using highlights and shadows. That wing in particular shows that wonderful Mirage shape well. Keep at it!
Graeme.
Further to my earlier post, I have listened to your exhortation to keep going and accordingly here is my third effort. Since I have not really learned much from what tutorials I have read, I decided that I should carry on 'learning by doing'. My techniques are probably not to everyone's taste, but like I said before, at least my aircraft should look as though they coudl actually fly! That has been my aim. If what has been made brings a little pleasure to someone, then I haven't totally wasted my time.
Thankyou Gamary. Yes, it is my third go at this fascinating business. I've lost count of how many layers etc were involved in the above, but, it didn't matter as long as I kept saving and naming! The aircraft was kept as a blank, so that I could change the markings,colours etc in the future. I think I learned a lot from this one.
Sensational, Ratfugel! Well done. And only your third profile? Keep an eye on this one, guys! It's nice to see you including figures. It's a good humanising element.
It's interesting to see you put it on a skyscape background. I find this actually detracts from the profile as a realistic and perspective background makes the aeroplane look like an illustration as it has no perspective. The eye expects to see some perspective in the aircraft because the background is "real".
With a freestanding profile, with no background, the eye intuitively knows at once that it is an illustration because there is no perspective or background at all. Therefore the more realistic the profile, the more the viewer is moved. It's like: "I know it's an illustration, because of the lack of perspective, but it looks so REAL!".
Maybe if you dropped the background to around 50%, or faded the edges?
Linear Mode
