Flying off the page

The appearance of an aircraft often tells a story.

The rise of the internet and access to personal computers saw the world change and the sphere of aviation art was no exception. Its scope broadened dramatically and armed with new tools, the artists diversified their portfolios in ways that could not have once been imagined. Today their work, in all its shapes and forms, can have a truly global reach and some of that amazing art originates from within our own Australian shores.

Juanita Franzi -Aero Illustrations.

One name which may be familiar is that of Sydney-based, Juanita Franzi of Aero Illustrations. Her extensive career has spanned the technical divide of the internet and has been found in hard copy form in notable publications, such as Macarthur Job’s excellent “Air Disaster” series, a number of Stewart Wilson’s publications and CASA’s “Flight Safety Australia”. She has also worked with model kit manufacturers on both their decals and box-top artwork. Magazines both here and abroad and a lithographic series featuring RAAF aircraft all combine to highlight a substantial body of work.

And while Juanita is probably best known for her aircraft profile artwork, she also branches into “infographics”. These infographics can take the form of flight diagrams, such as those prepared to show the sequence of events leading to an accident.

Her interest in aviation and its history reaches back to her childhood and was first expressed through modelling. Then, in her teenage years, she became involved with a voluntary group that worked on the restoration of the De Havilland DH 9 ‘PD’, which is now displayed at the Australian War Memorial. Juanita also took gliding lessons, however, they ceased when she needed to relocate to Sydney in order to pursue an industrial design career.

After ten years in that field, her move to aviation illustration occurred around the time that computers becoming a practical tool, although her very first illustrations were crafted by hand. With print rapidly moving towards digitisation, her artwork needed to be scanned for lay-up in ‘desktop publishing’ software. As such, there seemed to be an extra step in the process and it was apparent to Juanita that it would be more efficient to create the actual artwork digitally in the first instance. She recognised that this was obviously the way of the future, although today she notes that, “Drawing and illustration software has come a long way since then.”

Today she works digitally using Vector Art and Photoshop programs. Her aircraft profile artworks are drawn it the traditional way, but drafted on computer, and shaded in Photoshop using a Wacom tablet. This highlights another advantage of digital as she, “Always hated cleaning the airbrush”. Still, for all the technical tools, at the heart of Juanita’s work is extensive research.

Much of the research occurs in the preparation of the base artwork, which is essentially a scale drawing. To this base, Juanita then adds colour, markings and shading. Whenever possible she refers to the original manufacturer’s manuals and dimensioned drawings. In the case of the series of Mitchell B-25J drawings she is currently working on, Juanita is also referencing actual engineering drawings. In other cases, such as the scale drawings and profiles she prepared for the Air-Britain book on the De Havilland Drover, she physically measured the actual aircraft at The Australian Aviation Museum and HARS. The latter also supplied technical information from their archives. And that’s all before she even starts researching the markings and operational use of the aircraft!

Juanita explains that, “The appearance of an aircraft often tells a story” and cites aircraft from World War Two as a particularly good example. of this because during the most critical time things changed quite quickly. Beyond the camouflage and unit markings, the level of weathering on the paint can also tell the story of the environment they were flying in and how hard the aircraft were being worked, adding, “…and ask any engineer, and they know exactly where all the oil stains and the hydraulic oils streaks appear.” For Juanita, that visual detail tells a specific story about an aircraft type, its character and the issues the maintainers faced in keeping it airborne.

Even with her wealth of experience, there are still difficulties to encounter. For Juanita, this usually is because there is insufficient information available relating to the aircraft she is researching. As for a favourite aircraft artwork that she has created? She confesses, “Usually it’s my latest work, because it’s still fresh in my mind. Not only the artwork but the story that goes with it.” On further enquiry, Juanita does favour her Ansaldo Ballila artwork which was featured on a poster to accompany a model kit. Closer to home, another favourite is the RAAF’s Gloster Meteor F8 as she explains, “It was a really significant RAAF aircraft but I don’t think it’s ever been given its dues.”

Most of Juanita’s work is within the aviation industry for publishers and the like. She has undertaken private commissions on occasions and some of those now feature in her very extensive online Aero Illustrations catalogue.

Marc Philipp Veenendaal – MPV Design

Like Juanita Franzi, Marc Philipp Veenendaal has an industrial design background, having completed a Bachelor’s Degree with First Class Honours in the subject. With an interest in art since childhood, Marc has over 16 years of professional design experience, having worked for firms in both Germany and Australia and serves as a part-time lecturer at the University of Technology.

His ‘day job’ with MPV Design consists of design and product model making, although three years he started an aviation sketching feed on Instagram as a means of meditation and a creative outlet other than design. That creative outlet has grown to the extent that Marc has more than 19,000 followers on Instagram. Stemming from that he has had pieces commissioned for businesses and individuals, asked to create logos and t-shirts and been published in magazines and other publications. His art has been transformed into stickers and even stitched into the leather seats of a private helicopter.

Marc’s style is perfectly in keeping with the modern digital age and his desire for a creative outlet. He describes his work as, “Freestyle and loose with occasional precision pieces”. At its core, the fundamentals of his illustrations and art are based on design sketching and rapid visualisation techniques that he uses daily in design concept development.

Basing much of his work on images found on Instagram and other regions of the web, some works also draw upon his own designs and inspiration. The speed with which he works is impressive, creating a piece somewhere between fifteen minutes and two hours, depending upon the complexity. Additionally, there have been commissioned artworks that have taken six hours. For the past three years Marc has endeavoured to draw one aircraft every day and given the pace at which he produces his art, it’s not difficult to see why 20,000 followers on Instagram is not far away.

In every aspect of the process, technology plays a significant role for Marc. He has found the direct to screen pen and tablet to be the greatest technological asset to his artwork. Previously using a Wacom Tablet for his illustrations, he now uses the iPad Pro with Apple Pencil. His software consists of the Procreate App, Autodesk Sketchbook Pro and Concepts App. Once produced, his digital images can be easily uploaded for viewing through social media and websites both in the size and the format required. Marc is a case-in-point of how the internet can reach a truly global audience in astounding numbers. However, the internet also provides a 24/7 shopfront allowing him to be reached by publishers, sell prints directly and undertake commissions.

Marc’s major source of frustration is in illustrating people. At a distance, he can craft a pilot in his helmet and flight gear, but as he points out, “…close up faces and postures are my nemesis.” His most frustrating piece, and one would suspect unusual, was a tattoo commission for a rescue swimmer in Sweden. Marc explained that, “On his right full arm he wanted a timeline with a helicopter rescuing someone from the water, his head and helmet, his wife and son and their dog. It was super tricky but worked out well in the end.”

From digital design to tattoos, Marc Philipp Veenendaal seems to have covered all bases. Still, from the many and varied artworks he has crafted, the FA/18 Hornet remains special. For Marc, “It’s the look of the aircraft, the stance on the tarmac, the speed and sound and performance. Having seen it live at numerous air shows, I dream of one day getting to fly as a passenger in the 2-seat Hornet!” That’s on his bucket list, but in the meantime, one can anticipate a few more Hornets in the work of MPV Design.

James from Retropilot.

James is of the new breed. As he says in relation to his Retropilot artwork, he has,“…never known a world without the internet!” That is not to say that his artistic origins are as recent as the worldwide web as he cites the “mid-20th Century ‘golden age’ of advertising” as a source of inspiration.

Particularly, the very specific artistic style that defined the era and the vintage airline advertisements that were borne of this period.

James then took the concept one step further, and thought it would be fantastic to see modern aircraft, particularly military aircraft, portrayed in the same way. His interest in the military perspective relates directly to the fact that he is a serving RAAF pilot, as does the fact that we can only disclose his first name.

Even though his passion for art dates back some time, the very first Retropilot piece is relatively recent. James created the artwork as a unique memento for those, like him, that were graduating from No. 2 Flying Training School at RAAF Base Pearce. That original work, titled “Hang In There” remains James’ favourite. As he says, “If you’ve ever flown in close formation this one will hit home!”

That design led to a hobby that quickly became a business and three years after “Hang In There”, more than 150 designs can be found on the Retropilot website. James states that his mission is to, “…create unique, customisable and office-wall-worthy artwork for my fellow aviation and travel enthusiasts.” He achieves this by drawing inspiration from those fantastic airline posters of 50’s and 60’s and executing them using modern illustration software that ensures fantastic resolution, quality and precision.

James is self-taught, beginning with graphic design in high school. As with so many digital enterprises that are emerging, the path is paved with hours of dedication in lieu of a structured course. James shares that, “The artwork you see is simply the result of a decade of trial and error with image editing software!”

Research for a new design typically involves lengthy trawling through aircraft pictures online before he finds the perfect reference image and background. From there, he often turns to the original ‘retro’ advertising to search for colour palettes that can be sampled and reproduced in the new design to give it that distinctive “retro” feel.

When he is in the creative frame-of-mind, James generally dedicates the entire day to a new project as, “I work best when I keep the creative juices flowing and finish a piece in a single day.” The process typically takes between 6 and 8 hours to complete, depending on the complexity of the airframe and helicopters tend to take the longest. James’ most challenging piece was a 6m x 2m art deco wallpaper design to go above a bar. Taking hours upon hours to create, it called for a great level of detail, but he was very pleased with the result when it was completed.

In keeping with its solely digital heritage, James only sells his work directly through www.retro-pilot.com. He is always eager to take on commissioned work as he relates that some of his best works have been those commissions from dedicated aviation enthusiasts. There is no shortage of interested parties as currently there is a couple of months wait for a commissioned piece. Further to his website, Facebook and Instagram are vital to the Retropilot business model, with social media allowing James to engage with his fellow aviation enthusiasts and keep them in the loop with updated designs and content. While the designs may be retro, the means of creation and distribution at Retropilot are definitely not.

From the Brush to the Keyboard.

Those signed prints will always be hung in hallowed halls and treasured by collectors. However, as the world has moved on, so have the means by which all forms of art are created. And aviation art is no exception.

Through the work of Juanita, Marc and James, the art form has bridged decades, from hardcover to iPad. There techniques may vary and their creations may ultimately only share a central theme, but aviation as their inspiration is shared. The beneficiaries of this technological revolution are those of us that appreciate their art. In the modern world, the images of flight are varied beyond our imagination and accessible in an instant within the palm of our hand. Whether through the brush or the keyboard, the world of aviation art is spreading its wings as never before.