# "Deelen Wolves" (JG 1) pencil study ...



## chicoartist (Mar 30, 2007)

Hi guys,

Here's the latest from the Art Shack ...

I really like the interplay between ground shadows and aircraft shapes with strong lighting - the 190 lends itself to this effect quite well.

This is the pencil study for my upcoming 18 x 24 oil, "Deelen Wolves". It's mid-September 1943, and Oblt. Georg Schott, Staffelkapitan of 1./JG 1 and a veteran of the Legion Condor, is leading his wingman Uffz. Rudolf Hubl as they marshal for takeoff at their base at Deelen, Holland. Two ground crewmen wave while one takes a picture . . .

This will be one of the companion pieces to my upcoming 20 x 40 "Most Dangerous Game", which will show these very same 190s diving to attack 8th AF B-17s on withdrawl from an attack on the docks of Emden on 27 September. Oblt. Schott, a 16-20 victory ace (depending on your preferred source), flying his Fw 190 A-6 "White 11" (seen here) was downed by return fire from the Forts on this attack over the German Bight and bailed out. His body, still in his dinghy, washed up on shore on the island of Sylt three weeks later.


"Deelen Wolves" (study)
Pencil on Vellum
17 x 22.5 inches


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## Gnomey (Mar 30, 2007)

Looks very nice Wade, I look forward to seeing the finished oil painting.


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## Erich (Mar 30, 2007)

Wade if I may suggest :

take the ground crew and move them farther off to the left, they are way too close to the wingman as he is getting ready to take-off, he'd be kicking a lot of debris on those 3. maybe take them out altogether

E


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Mar 30, 2007)

Looks good though.


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## chicoartist (Mar 30, 2007)

Erich said:


> . . . Maybe take them out altogether



Are you suggesting that art should be encumbered by reality?  

Seriously, the two 190s will be on grass/dirt, with one of Deelen's concrete taxiways behind (the line is barely visible above the three mechanics) ... the intent is that they are taxiing out right after leaving their parking spots - thus the mechanics close by - not about to give 'er the gun for takeoff.

Thx,

Wade


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## Aggie08 (Mar 30, 2007)

I like it! Very nice. Keep us posted.


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## Single-Handed-Sailor (Mar 31, 2007)

I've been a fan of your work for some time now Wade, and although I'm more of a USAAF fella it's nice to see you turning to a Luftwaffe subject.

Nice study, and the composition is fine. Looking forward to an oil study and/or the final piece.


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## Erich (Mar 31, 2007)

Wade, I'll wait for the completion of the painting itself before commenting further. your pencil study of the Fw 190A-6's is impressive enough


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## tpikdave (Apr 3, 2007)

Wade,

I grew up in a family of artists and you would have fit right in. Nice work. The FW190 was probably the most elegantly shaped fighter in WW2 and deadly too. It makes a great subject. I can't imagine a fighter with better lines.


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## chicoartist (Apr 4, 2007)

tpikdave said:


> . . . The FW190 was probably the most elegantly shaped fighter in WW2 and deadly too. It makes a great subject. I can't imagine a fighter with better lines.



Thanks ... and yes, there's just something about that plane. Beautiful, and looks "cool" in the air or on the ground. Dang Germans were pretty good at camouflage (drab paint jobs), so as an artist I have a preference for the "bright" cowls of I./JG 1s A-models. 8) 

Wade


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## evangilder (Apr 5, 2007)

Another great piece of work, Wade!


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## tpikdave (Apr 6, 2007)

A lot of people forget too, how small an aircraft the 190 and Me 109 were compared to say a P47. The canopy of the FW is a work of art in itself. Without even being a "bubble type", it offered as much visibility as a bubble. The narrow waist of the fuselage right before the tail imparts a certain graceful sweep to the fairly small vertical stabilizer. The wide stance of the landing gear and the smooth almost "inline" look of the cowl and cowl deck gun ports give it a very sinister look. It has always been and always will be my favorite fighter of WW2. 

I have the FW 190 book by Robert Grinsell, illistrated by none other than Rikyu Watanabe. The illustrations are the best I have ever seen. 

I guess I am a bit obsessed of the Wurger.


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## chicoartist (Apr 6, 2007)

tpikdave said:


> A lot of people forget too, how small an aircraft the 190 and Me 109 were compared to say a P47 . . .



Right you are! After I had completed my final aircraft and figure drawings, I put everything together "to scale". I really had to trust my Descriptive Geometry planning and layouts since the standing figures looked too big no matter which way I looked at them! Shooting them with a camera for the photo at the top of this thread, and then looking at the image reversed, etc, convinced me that I had it right. 

I'm working on another 190 painting, Most Dangerous Game. Follow the progress of that piece (in detail) here.

Cheers!
Wade


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## Thorlifter (Apr 12, 2007)

tpikdave said:


> A lot of people forget too, how small an aircraft the 190 and Me 109 were compared to say a P47.



I think all aircraft were small compared to the P-47 

Oh, Great art work, by the way!!!!


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## Bernhart (Apr 12, 2007)

Love your work, not sure what happened to this post? Would love to see you do some Italian stuff, they had some beautiful birds and there is hardly any paintings with any


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## Milos Sijacki (Apr 19, 2007)

Really nice drawings there, can't wait to see the painting


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## Maharg (Apr 20, 2007)

Beautiful art M8, Though the pilot in 11 looks a bit casual, I would think his hands would be holding controls rather than the way you have pictured them.


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## chicoartist (Apr 20, 2007)

Maharg said:


> . . . the pilot in 11 looks a bit casual, I would think his hands would be holding controls rather than the way you have pictured them.



Good observation, and normally you're correct of course, but at Duxford I observed a pilot in a P-51 doing almost the same thing (using both his hands/arms to "lift" his body for a better view - _if only for a second_) . . . I filed that bit of "reality" away for future use, and it's now that I am "capturing" that moment, but in a 190. 

A stretch with the 190? Maybe, but to say it _never_ happened in an Fw is the real stretch. Reality, though a cornerstone in aviation art, is a rule, not a law.

Wade


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## chicoartist (May 2, 2007)

An update of sorts ...

This is the pencil study for "Most Dangerous Game", the "aerial" version of "Deelen Wolves", if you will. The final canvas will be a 20 x 40 oil.

_Most Dangerous Game_ (study)
11 x 22 inches
Pencil on 90# Canson paper






Cheers!
Wade


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## Wildcat (May 2, 2007)

Awesome Wade!


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## Gnomey (May 2, 2007)

Excellent as usual Wade!


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## Lucky13 (May 2, 2007)

Fantastic artwork Wade....


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## tpikdave (May 2, 2007)

Wade, 

Could you be so kind as to tell me the basic steps of your technique. After you do the pencil sketch do you computer render it for airbrushing? I am curious to know but feel free to guard any secrets..


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## chicoartist (May 2, 2007)

Really no secret. I spend a long time drawing a detailed outline of the scene and then go to the local Kinko's copy center and copy one at full size of the final canvas, and one smaller for the pencil study. 

For each image transfer, I rub the back of the outline drawing with 2B pencil for the "transfer" of the image to the paper or canvas, and then for the pencil study above I just 'draw' in the tones with different grades of pencil for lights and darks, and then 'paint' the scene in color on the final canvas. 

I don't airbrush - great for T-shirts and super-slick illustration (though that's mainly been replaced by digital airbrushing), and models of course, but nothing looks better on a collectors wall than the impasto look of good old fashioned oil paint. As they say, it was the medium of the great masters - good 'nuff for me!

Wade


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## tpikdave (May 2, 2007)

Thank you, that all makes good sense. You use Kinkos to size proportionally and work from that. Pretty snazzy. 

At one time in my life I was a sign painter. I worked for a company called Heywood Sign inc. out of LA (even though I worked in Nevada) They were a very large billboard company. They made their signs by projecting a photographic image onto a standard 12'x40' billboard unit inside their "studio" made up of 2' panels bolted together into one 12x40 sign. Before the image was projected, the 2' panels were covered with sign paper (like butcher paper). Then the image was projected and and the image lines were "pounced using a pounce wheel and a pounce of blue chalk powder. Later, the different colors were written in when the paper was removed revealing the chalk lines. Then it was basically paint by number. 

My brother was and is to this day the only person I have ever known that could layout and paint a 12'x40' billboard right at the location with the panels still bolted together. His work looked as good or better than Heywood's, I know because I used to work with him. He had a ten year contract with Seagram's and Black Velvet. Remember that beautiful woman in black velvet inviting you to drink as you drove along the interstate ? We did her.


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## chicoartist (Jun 7, 2007)

Hey guys,

A couple of update pictures on "Most Dangerous Game".












Wade


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## Catch22 (Jun 14, 2007)

Looking very good man! Can't wait to see the final products!


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## chicoartist (Oct 1, 2007)

Finished this one about a month ago - had to let it dry a bit before scanning. This is one I can't wait to varnish because those Luft colors always look so great with a coat of varnish:

"Deelen Wolves"
(companion painting to "Most Dangerous Game")
18 x 24 oil on panel






Wade


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## Konigstiger205 (Oct 1, 2007)

Great work Wade...I took a peek on the site and you have talent...keep up the good work!


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## drgondog (Oct 1, 2007)

tpikdave said:


> Thank you, that all makes good sense. You use Kinkos to size proportionally and work from that. Pretty snazzy.
> 
> At one time in my life I was a sign painter. I worked for a company called Heywood Sign inc. out of LA (even though I worked in Nevada) They were a very large billboard company. They made their signs by projecting a photographic image onto a standard 12'x40' billboard unit inside their "studio" made up of 2' panels bolted together into one 12x40 sign. Before the image was projected, the 2' panels were covered with sign paper (like butcher paper). Then the image was projected and and the image lines were "pounced using a pounce wheel and a pounce of blue chalk powder. Later, the different colors were written in when the paper was removed revealing the chalk lines. Then it was basically paint by number.
> 
> My brother was and is to this day the only person I have ever known that could layout and paint a 12'x40' billboard right at the location with the panels still bolted together. His work looked as good or better than Heywood's, I know because I used to work with him. He had a ten year contract with Seagram's and Black Velvet. Remember that beautiful woman in black velvet inviting you to drink as you drove along the interstate ? We did her.



Keith Ferris did something similar to manage his full scale B-17 at the Smithsonian..He did the original 3 d Orthogonal projection on Canvass, broke it into square, photographed it - put the base coat on the Smithsonian wall, broke it up into 1 foot squares, then projected his painting onto the wall with a slide projector - making sure the projector was perpendicular to the wall.

He painted the outline step by step, moving the projector vertically and horizontally until he was finished with the B-17. I believe he did the 109 in the contrail freehand but not sure of that.

Wade - great work - when are going to send me your mailing address for the CD?


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## chicoartist (Oct 1, 2007)

Thanks, guys! Much appreciated. 8) 

Bill, you must not have gotten my reply a few days ago to your PM. My addy is:

Wade Meyers
5418 Colony Way
Hoover, AL 35226

Thx!

Wade


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## Gnomey (Oct 3, 2007)

Excellent Wade, it has come out really well in colour (without varnish). I'm sure it will look even better with.


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## drgondog (Oct 7, 2007)

chicoartist said:


> Thanks, guys! Much appreciated. 8)
> 
> Bill, you must not have gotten my reply a few days ago to your PM. My addy is:
> 
> ...



wade - u r right - i didn't get it. pics should be on the way tomorrow. Put me in contact with the guy that is converting microfilm to CD?

regards,

bill


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## chicoartist (Oct 14, 2007)

Bill ... got the package yesterday - thanks! 8) 

I don't know where the Microfilm-to-CD project is, that is, in terms of completion - or if it ever will be, but if I hear more, you'll be the first to know.

Cheers, and thanks again! 
Wade


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## drgondog (Oct 15, 2007)

chicoartist said:


> Bill ... got the package yesterday - thanks! 8)
> 
> I don't know where the Microfilm-to-CD project is, that is, in terms of completion - or if it ever will be, but if I hear more, you'll be the first to know.
> 
> ...


 I tried to copy a lot of the ones on the CD that I hve NOT posted to add the variety. Thx on the update of the microfilm project.


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