Cold War Harrier.
When I first drew this piece up for a 'burn', I posted it on social media and straight away a previous customer of mine contacted me to purchase it!! I hadn't even started so now the pressure was on not to make a mistake in this complex piece. The customer is a plane enthusiast and I burnt a Vulcan Bomber for him previously, but this time his wife contacted me for a Christmas present, we decided between us that I would post progress photos on my instagram account that he could see but every time I declared it was meant for my brother...cunning plan that worked as he had commented that he was jealous of my brother receiving it. And so the work began.
This 'burn depicted a Harrier Jumpjet, during the cold war period, landing on a German Autobahn (motorway) this was iconic of the Harrier where it could land almost anywhere. It was a tricky one to work on as the reference photo was some years old and it had a lot of different depths of field to work on, some in detail and some out of focus almost, giving the whole piece a scenic image front to back. I decided to start on the jet itself first, this was the main focus area.
I then worked on the central reservation barriers, letting you know it was a motorway (autobahn) and not a runway!
Then I moved onto the tree line behind, not detailing the trees too much so they stayed looking in the distance and didn't compete for detail with the Harrier. This immediately gave it a lot of depth to the scene. The large tree to the side of the carriageway was next and this had to be more detailed but not to detract from the jet, just enough that it sits behind. Finally I added a small amount of white paint to highlight just a few areas on the Harrier, road markings and signage which all added to the depth of the scene and made things 'pop'. And the surprise worked a treat and was very much welcomed on christmas morning.
