View Full Version : Against The Odds
digiartist
10-22-2006, 7:30 PM
This is my latest work depicting my favourite aircraft, the Fw190d. It shows Dora's of Jg2 dogfighting with P47s of the ninth airforce during the closing months of the war. Against superior numbers 'Black 10' scores a victory against one of the Thuds. However with more P47s arriving on the scene any celebration will need to be put on hold.
Hope you like it :)
krazycolin
10-22-2006, 8:14 PM
nice... very nice....
krazycolin
10-22-2006, 8:15 PM
i think i'm going to lose my place on the header cause of this... grrrr....
Absolutely brilliant image Gareth!!! Superb work. As always:) And this smoke... again:)
kiwi123
10-22-2006, 8:52 PM
Absolutely stunning mate ! Fantastic work !
bzhyoyo
10-22-2006, 10:05 PM
I sense a healthy competition between kiwi and digiartist for the best dogfight render. :lol:
Great work !
Mirko
10-22-2006, 10:35 PM
Like always, fantastic job! One splendid image of action.
:salute:
Awesome work! Love the sense of action to it.
The fire and smoke on the P47 is very convincing. Attention to detail is awe inspiring. :D
Love it.
kiwi123
10-23-2006, 8:33 AM
Congrats on the header !
digiartist
10-23-2006, 9:24 AM
Thank you Wiek for the header and thanks guys for the positive comments...I'm going to be venturing away from Luftwaffe in my current project so I couldn't resist another dora render :p
Gareth, I have a question about the background (there are no questions about planes - they are superb)? Is it composed image or one photo? I'm very into the mattepaining, that's my question from, and Your backgrounds are always amazing (especially in Your Doras take off scene):)
digiartist
10-23-2006, 10:02 AM
Peter, I very rarely use a photo 'as is' in my backgrounds, nearly all of them are composited from a number of photos. The dora take off scene was put together from at least 6 different photos. Seperate ones for the grassy strip, sky, trees and the horizon. This one was less complicated and was going to feature an untouched photo but I found the countryside below looked very poor in it's higher res format. So I ended piecing together the landscape from two different photos and spent a lot of time working in to it to get the look I wanted.
peter
10-23-2006, 10:06 AM
Therefore You're great matte painter Gareth:) Really great.
peter
10-23-2006, 10:16 AM
Gareth, is it possible for You to put once again on this forum Your images from the times before the GREAT server CRASH:( For example the Doras take-off scene)??
Skyraider3D
10-23-2006, 10:51 AM
Holy mother of Doras! That's an awesome piece, mate! Your work really has that feel to it that some of the great aviation painters achieve! Absolutely stunning! Five stars and a header well deserved!
I really like the top-right action btw. Not too sure about the cut-off P-47 below, but it's not distracting either.
Is this based on an actual event?
kevjon
10-23-2006, 11:24 AM
Just terrific.....Well done !
A great piece of aviation art.
Love the widescreen format of the image, it works really well for aviation work.
digiartist
10-23-2006, 11:50 AM
cheers Kevin, glad you like it.
Ronnie, no its not based on an actual event, I couldnt find enough info on Jg2's activities during the closing months of the war. They were involved in a lot of ground attack missions and I've found details in JaPos dora book of a number of jg2 machines lost to ninth airforce P47s during that timescale so at least I knew they were involved with dogfights with Thuds at that point.
Peter, please find attached my 'Gallands Doras' image.
Spinner
10-23-2006, 12:11 PM
You really have developed a great combination of vision and technique.
I agree with Ronnie, you're starting to match the standard of the best traditional medium aviation artists.
Skyraider3D
10-23-2006, 12:48 PM
I agree with Ronnie, you're starting to match the standard of the best traditional medium aviation artists.Just to be sure, I think he already matches that quality! ;)
Regarding the historical accuracy - defintily close enough I'd say. I went down a similar road with my Daddy's Girl image. Couldn't confirm a date for the scene I depicted, but I know the units involved saw combat together so it's a very plausible scenario.
Oh wow - another desktop wallpaper! (With your permission of course!? Please?)
Superb Gareth!
Stunning work Gareth,
lower wing paint scheme is very nice, I can feel it late war luftwaffe aircraft.
aircraft were based on recycled airframe and wing,these are partialy repaint.
digiartist
10-23-2006, 4:08 PM
thanks guys,
Luke - feel free to you use it as your desktop:)
Danoku
10-23-2006, 5:55 PM
matches and exceeds a lot of the traditional media pieces out there and on par with a lot of the best. As wonderful as the aircraft modelling and rendering is, I think the matte painting in the background is what really put my jaw on the floor,what a great sense of light and place, oh and did I mention the awsome composition? Your work along with the other stars of the site are a real inspiration, thank you. Fires me up to get back to my P-12.
I suppose, that it is boring you to read still the same words: FANTASTIC!!!
But hard to write something else...:)
I always loved that take off scene, but this one outclasses it, this new render really has a lot of volume in it. Hat off for you :)
-nils-
Buelliful
10-24-2006, 1:01 AM
Excellent work Gareth! I DO like your smoke trails. There seems to be just the
correct level of blue in the content to indicate oil burning. :eek:
You know I think your stuff is fantastic so I'll save your blushes by saying more.
Maybe next time we can see an Allied victory? :lol:
Al.
coffeebot
10-24-2006, 4:40 AM
Gareth, that's a beauty of an image. There's a lot going on it. I'm afraid I've propped this up as my desktop wallpaper as well. Thanks!
digiartist
10-24-2006, 10:23 AM
Danoku, thank you for your kind words, I take a lot of enjoyment in composing the backgrounds.
Marek, as always your support is appreciated!
Nils, its strange, as when I looked out the take off scene for Peter I was surprised how different its style is to this one.
Al, cheers buddy, rest assured the next render will have NO aircraft with black crosses:p
Coffeebot, glad you like it:)
Skyraider3D
10-24-2006, 10:39 AM
its strange, as when I looked out the take off scene for Peter I was surprised how different its style is to this one.To be honest, I noticed that too. I must say I like your latest piece a lot more. Much gentler colours. Top stuff all round though! :cool:
Al, cheers buddy, rest assured the next render will have NO aircraft with black crossesGotto see that to believe it! :p
giant551
10-24-2006, 11:53 AM
Always enjoy your work:) with each one i have a new favorite. Top work:)
Hi, Great work on the Dora.
I picked up a 1/24th Trumpter Fw-190D for $40 last weekend and the Japo publishing book on the Fw-190D.
Anyway I was wondering what software did you use for modeling and how much time do you think you spent on modeling and texturing?
Thanks,
Mike
digiartist
10-25-2006, 11:33 AM
Thanks Mike,
Hard to say how long I spent on it as I actually built it about five years ago and since then I've revised bits and bobs on it. In particular the textures and material setup have had a major make over.
As for the software, I use 3ds Max 7 for my modelling and Photoshop for the texturing.
By the way the JaPo book is an excellent source of reference for the Dora
kevjon
10-25-2006, 11:40 AM
Mike
I think you'll find it generally takes about 50-100 hours of work to model and texture a 3D plane but it depends on how much detail you go to in both the model and the textures. If you do full wheel well and cockpit detail it will take longer than 100 hours.
Skyraider3D
10-25-2006, 7:07 PM
My Mustang took 125 hours, from start to first final render. It's not the most detailed model in the world though and at the time I did the first render, some of the textures weren't finished yet (top of wing for example).
Hi, 75 to 150 hours seems about average.
It took me about 80 hours for my A6m2 Zero.
I can build an airplane faster than that but details and accuracy goes down quite a bit.
I'll post an image of the A6m2 when I get my computer at home running properly.
thanks,
Mike
franken_johan
10-28-2006, 4:55 PM
Another masterpiece!
Although I don't like the cut-off plane in the left bottom corner... Ah finally I've found something I don't like in one of your renders ;)
digiartist
10-30-2006, 8:50 AM
Although I don't like the cut-off plane in the left bottom corner... Ah finally I've found something I don't like in one of your renders
heh, heh...can't please everyone all the time:) ...I think cutting off planes is one of those things that some people like and others dont. I like it because it anchors the bottom of the composition and also gives it less of a forced into the confines of the render look. I totally appreciate that others dont like chopping off wings and tails though :p
flyguy72
11-10-2006, 1:35 AM
matches and exceeds a lot of the traditional media pieces out there and on par with a lot of the best. As wonderful as the aircraft modelling and rendering is, I think the matte painting in the background is what really put my jaw on the floor,what a great sense of light and place, oh and did I mention the awsome composition? Your work along with the other stars of the site are a real inspiration, thank you. Fires me up to get back to my P-12.
that's all what i want to say! nothing else from me. It's amazing!:eek:
digiartist
11-10-2006, 8:26 AM
Thanks for the kind comments flyguy72
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