Warbird Information Exchange

I recently did a drawing of a Corsair, but when it came time to do the pencil work, I made it turn out like something a 6th grader would produce. I live in the DC area, but I'd like to know if there's some training I can get, or a course I can attend to really improve my aviation art? I want to get better and would like to produce work that I'm happy with.

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"According to the map, we've only gone 4 inches."

Talk to this man. http://wademeyersart.tripod.com

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Keep Em' Flying,
Christopher Soltis
Dedicated to the preservation and education of The Sikorsky Memorial Airport

CASC Blog Page: http://ctair-space.blogspot.com/
Warbird Wear: https://www.redbubble.com/people/warbirdwear/shop

Chicks Dig Warbirds.......right?

I can't answer for another artist, but generally speaking professional artists aren't art teachers.
I'd suggest going to local art classes, anything that focuses on still lifes and not people (although being able to draw people comes in handy for obvious reasons as well). Many community colleges have art classes.
My greatest suggestion would be to become as familiar with your subject as you can. I've found that people who know how something works do a better job at depicting it in 2D...

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

Practice, practice practice.

Get in the habit of keeping a sketch pad and some pencils in your vehicle, and draw things whenever you get a few minutes.
Light and dark don't care if you are looking at an airplane, a nude model, or a dumpster. In fact, drawing a dumpster from life would probably be the most enlightening<G>

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Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

Like said above, draw, draw, draw. ANYTHING that gives you the slightest interest. I used to just look around and pick something, just about every time I stopped moving.
The best tool when you work with a specific subject, aircraft, cars, trains, etc. (and I have drawn and painted them all) is research. Build a library of books and photos to reference. A nice piece of work can be ruined by a misplaced panel line or antenna. The real enthusiasts will definitely notice.
I work a lot from my own photos and take hundreds every year. On that note, NEVER attempt to illustrate from someone else's photo without express permission if you intend to sell your work. Bad JuJu.
Above all, enjoy yourself. Frustration is part of it all and a learning tool. Never be totally happy with the final product and you will strive to be better each time.

Appreciate the replies. I used to be decent at it, nothing I could sell, but i was somewhat happy with my work. Then 5 years ago when I started my flying jobs, I walked away. Now that I'm on reserve for my airline, and have long overnights I bought a sketch book and graphite pencils and other tools to give me something to do. I am going to Oshkosh so I think I'll manage to get some practice in there. The biggest problem is trying to express color and shading with pencils, and not smudge everything together.

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"According to the map, we've only gone 4 inches."

I'd recommend this book:

http://www.amazon.com/The-aviation-art- ... 055334062X

In addition to dozens of lovely paintings, Ferris gives you some valuable tips on perspective and suchlike as relates to drawing airplanes.

There was also an old TAB book called How to Draw Airplanes (or something very much like that). I have a copy but it's not for sale or trade. You might be able to find a copy on Amazon or ABEBooks or through Google.

ETA: Here it is:

http://books.google.com/books/about/How ... eoAAAACAAJ