Featured Project: World War 1 Era Nieuport 17: Page II

Well here we are with the Nie.17 as of June 14th. Painting and the model itself are really taking a toll on my production computer, but with patience, the computer comes through to produce the images worthy for print.

The front cowling in particular took several hours just to get the look of used, bare metal which makes the overall character of the plane pop out.

Here we see a top view render of the fighter. One of my hopes is that this model will be used for technical illustrations.

Side view of the Nieuport 17. The particular plane number and personal artwork are fictitious. However, renderings of real Nie. 17s will be featured soon.

Front view of the fighter.

Texture mapping on the engine has begun as well. Although the entire Le Rhone engine model will not appear in the final renderings of the Nie. 17, an "optimized" version will appear in the final comp to keep the poly count down, it is considered a stand-alone model and can be used for technical illustrations.

Here is a test "beauty-shot" of a possible composition in the near future. Imagine a burning Albatross D.III burning in the sky just above and to the right of the Nie. 17. This May be the basis of the first of a series of images on WWI military aviation.

Here is a second test "beauty-shot" of an Nie. 17 a work in progress background.

Another test render. I felt the earlier attempts were "too colorful" and this being a war zone, i decided to add some sadness to the scene. I did this by decreasing hues and color saturations, and darkened the ground quite a bit. I also added a lot of gray overcast clouds to add to the terrible state of the war in general. I also raised the skyline/horizon a bit.

Here's a re render of the plane to come closer to matching the lighting and mood of the background. It's an attempt at getting all elements, the background and foreground, to merge together seamlessly to produce a single image.

Another test render. I'm trying this background to see if i like this better. Basically, i'm going for a more lower altitude, European rural country-side look and feel. A lot of color-correction, compositing, and painting had to be done as it was started from a modern day photograph. Even had to paint out telephone and electrical lines and towers in order create a landscape that suggests 1917.

Work has recommenced on the Nie.17. The modeling is essentially complete however, the skin to which the 17 sported was coated through a process called "doping" which gave the canvas skin a quite shiny, metallic look to it, and that is the goal, is to get that historic look.

Here's the art piece "Nieuport 17 In Flight." which is at present a stand alone piece. Once the completion of my Albatros D.III is complete, the two will be combined in a series of art pieces covering several real aerial engagements as well as some scenes that will obviously be "fictitious." This piece actually will be entered in The Georgia National Fair Art Contest this year. I'm not necessarily in t it to win it, although that would be nice. I'm in it to start getting my name and brand exposure started.

Here's the same art piece "Nieuport 17 In Flight." with a more tradition looking "rendering." It took several hours of adjustments, leveling and applications to get this desired look as some like their aviation art to look more "traditional." It's an experiment to see if i can get a more "painterly" look to certain renderings and compositions so i can offer them as this in future artistic projects and compositions.

Jan-2012. Here's an updated compostion featuring WWI ace Charle Guynemmer in an N17 he piloted. Many more compostiions featuring this WWI icon of aviation to come.

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