Profile painting tools.

[AGNT_Matt]

i use a Wacom Graphire 4 tablet (at least i think thats what it is), for outlining i use a good old mouse but for dodging and burning to give shape i use the graphire, best buy for My pc i think except for PSPx Anyway.

[anadc4]

Aircraft spotters, older ones, who have scanned and uploaded their old pictures at places such as Airliners.net. Then there are two sites that scan old airline timetables. Great place to get clear images of the sort of winged logos that are found on the 1940s and 1950s airliners that are my speciality. Less useful are the two sites specialising in old airline logos - way too small to be of use.

Also very useful are people who kindly provide me with digital material from their private collections, such as El Al historian Marvin Goldman, Ansett historian Fred Niven and the Northwest Airlines Heritage Center.

So after a digital art/photo program such as Photoshop, the next most important thing is research.

David

[Serval]

The Graphire is no longer being produced. the Bamboo is it's unofficial replacement. The Bamboo should be good enough, though Wacom says the Bamboo Fun is best for graphics. But my feeling is that there is little to no difference between them apart from the design and the fact that Bamboo Fun comes with some software like Photoshop Elements 5

[Serval]

David,

Could you point us to the sites you mention?

[jrcjr65]

I find the most trouble with using a mouse to get the right amount of dodge and burn control. The most success I have had is using a path to stroke for highlights and shadows around the wing curves. I do a little photo restoration so a tablet I think might be handy. Thanks for the feedback.

John

P.S Off topic. I think the work of the artist on this site is amazing. I can only strive to be nearly as good.

[anadc4]

Good sites for airline profiles:

www.timetableimages.com
AirTimes - A Source for Airline History (this guy sometimes often scans in old airline logos. When you find the airline you are interested in, see if there is a link to a gallery. Sometimes he will divide the timetables into decades and have the logo appropriate to that decade)
AIRLINERS.NET - Airplanes, Pictures, News, Articles, More (for photos)
best brands of the world - vector logotypes, brand, logo, logotype, logos (this has quite a few airline logo files in eps format and they are free!! However they are also largely contemporary)
Aerosite - Home (logos)
www.airlinelogos.net/ (logos)

[Serval]

Thanks!