Test Pilot (Patreon)

Recently completed commission for a client link who wanted a piece of his OC black leopard in 1970's to early 80's USAF flight gear posed with a Northrop T-38 Talon advanced trainer.

This piece was a bit of a challenge since it was very important I got certain details the correct and accurate.

First the client had flown this exact aircraft while test pilot work so he's intimate with the aircraft's design. However the T-38 has several very subtle but very important curves to it, and if you get them wrong the plane doesn't look right.

Second the client had a well established OC and I wanted to accurately recreate, but at the same time I tried to incorporate as many of the clients actually facial features into the character. Also I wanted to get his flight gear as accurate as possible. Fortunately the client provided me with some excellent reference material.

Third since the client had done some test pilot work when I think of test pilots I automatically think of Edwards Air Force in the Mojave Desert of California, and the Roger dry lake bed where so many famous moments of aviation history have taken place.

So I had to accurately recreate the aircraft. Then character, and finally the location. So after doing some reading. Staring at lots of photos, and watching lots of YouTube videos of X-planes landing on the lake bed I settled on a general location and color palette. One little thing I was very happy with was that I came up with a very quick method of recreating the appearance of a cracked dry lake bed.

The piece is my usually colored pencil, marker, technical pen, and gouache on vellum finish bristol board. Image size is 13"x 25".

Edit. Let's see if anyone gets the 1980s Hollywood action movie reference in the picture. Oh and it is not Top Gun.