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DarthFar — In Balance with This Life -
Published: 2006-09-28 20:06:33 +0000 UTC; Views: 2391; Favourites: 28; Downloads: 64
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- This Death.100 Picture Challenge #43: Dying.
I know. You're saying, WTF? I don't see anyone dying. Just hear me out on this one, huh?
First of all, I'm going to confess something: I was crazy about World War II as a kid, especially about the air battle bits. ESPECIALLY B-17 Flying Fortresses . Much of that time was spent writing WWII air force stories, playing flight sims and building model aircraft; the remaining time was spent entertaining fantasies about being the pilot of a Flying Fortress.
The other confession is that I dig war poetry and squaddie songs (ie. those war-themed songs sung by soldiers and airmen). At the top of this list is William Butler Yeats' An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, which of course provided the inspiration for this artwork. (And probably my hero-worshipping of Bob Morgan...). (The title comes from the Yeats poem, btw.
).Anyway I wanted to do something in the style of those old WWII propaganda posters (complete with yellowed paper), but one with a certain irony to it. Yeah sure, there were all those posters telling you about how great it was to be in the army, to be serving your country, and ENLIST NOW! but behind the prettified, glamourous image of army life lurked the less-than-palatable fact that casualty rates were terrible. [In this context, about half the B-17s were lost in battle; the casualty rate for said crews was something like 25% (but, in some groups, could go as high as 87%).] So yes, you're going out to serve your nation... but there's also a fat chance you won't be coming home afterward.
(Of course, as I realised belatedly, my plans to paint it a la propaganda posters failed somewhat. This was because (1) I can't paint in anybody else's style but my own, and (2) I went detail-crazy. Seriously detail-crazy. A fat lot of good it did me after I rescaled the picture!).
Many, many thanks to Tycho for beta-ing, and for coming up with the words to accompany the picture. Oh, and in case anybody's wondering, the name of this particular B-17 is Dakota Harlot (name obscured by the guy's head). [chuckle] (It was the name of one of the minor planes in my old fics).
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Comments: 69
"...In balance with this life... this death..."
thats part of the poem by W.B. Yates. The B-17, and that poem was featured in the 1990 fil "Memphis Belle" great picture
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Yup, you got the poem! 
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It sounds like a good read. Whats the name of the book?
That movie was the first war movie i remember watching when i was REALLY young... before i was even able to understand any of it i was watching it constantly. It has to have the prettiest soundtrack ever given to a movie
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The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle: Memoir of a WWII Bomber Pilot by Robert Morgan (not Dennis Dearborn!
That was about my first war movie too, and the one that convinced me for many years that I wanted to become a bomber pilot. LOL. And I agree: George Fenton did a really good job with the soundtrack!
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GREAT WORK, HERE.I like B-17 Flying Fortress, too.
And B-29 Superfortress. I dont forget all people who
figth on board this planes, for things they loves,
and for freedom. Ah, so delicate, so powerfull, the liberty.
(I apologise for my bad English)
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Thank you very much.
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"Anyway I wanted to do something in the style of those old WWII propaganda posters "
You well accomplished this. Don't worry about the differences that you see when you hold your work up to the real thing; the important part is that many of us, myself included, see this work and immediatly think of the WWII era propaganda posters. That means you've suceeded.
Great to see another person who worships history, in any aspect.
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Thank you very much, for your words of support, and the fave.
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Beautiful, man.
The drawing, the colors, the message, EVERYTHING -- just beautiful.
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This is excellent!
I think you captured the 'feel' very well.
I'm a bit of a WWII nut, myself.
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Thanks very much, and I'm very pleased to meet a fellow WWII enthusiast!
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Excellent, gotta fav it.
Does remind me of the time i "broke" my arm by falling down the stairs, "Memphis Belle" was on TV (or at least I think thats what its called).
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Thank you very much.
And Memphis Belle was one of my favourite WWII movies while I was growing up (even though it deviated from the true story by a long shot).
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This is truly beautiful, Far. It has an air of strength and tragedy to it. And it's far better than the saccharine propaganda posters, delving into what seems to be the real life of a real man within the war.
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Thank you very much, Ocelott. 
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Love the fortress! *snuggles WWII aircrafts in general* My fav was the Messerschmitt 109 though *sigh* or the ME-262 *bats lashes*. Now you made me want to start drawing old aircrafts! LOL Love the pic, wonderful mood, great colouring. Keep it up! *steals Flying fortress*
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Thank you very much.
It would be nice to see you draw old aircraft.
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LOL Well, you can always change your mind, I'd be happy to draw an aircraft for you (as long as it isn't too modern LOL). The most modern planes I drew was the Swedish ones, J-37 Draken, then it was all old WWII planes.
Just tell me if you've changed your mind about the tourist guide, I have some ideas, but haven't gotten started since my right arm isn't cooperating atm
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Nah, I'll stick to my request.
Ouch. I hope your hand gets better soon. 
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Ty for your concern
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You know I hate that too, when you put so much detail and work into something and then you scale it down and it's nothing but a line on a brow or stich in his harness.
Recently I've been questioning how I paint, sometimes I see some amazing art on this site and upon close inspection you can see the strokes, it's messy and blurry and the edges aren't smooth and if your'e up real close it's a mess. ....But they absolutely works of art.
It's got me thinking,does anyone appreciate the amount of time I take sometimes on an eye for example....? (sorry mini-rant.lol) But then I see things like Kong and I think I prefer that route.
It does however work out in the end. All the fine detail you've put into this pays off in the end and I believe people do notice things like the little plane shadows.
It's great work from you. I like the faded/sepia look and it's very suitable of course. I like the detail on the harness and the clothes and his zipper looks great. As I said it all comes together to form a excellent piece of art.
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Well, I sure as hell appreciate the effort you put into your art - especially the hair and fur bits! I guess it all boils down to this: I think the extra time you spend is worth it, even if you won't be using it commercially (and so scale it down to a reasonable size), because, even though you can't actually see each strand/stitch/scrape in the final version, you can *feel* it there. Does that make sense? It's kinda like the airman's parachute harness - at this size I can't see all the tiny details and brushstrokes, but it still feels like canvas (or whatever cloth they make it from) instead of, I dunno, strips of plastic. I think that's what the little, unseen details do - they contribute to the general shape and texture of the art without being obtrusively there. So yeah, I think you should keep at your details.
(And ayup, I've seen the works of art you mentioned. It's very slightly disappointing, really: they look so good zoomed out - especially in big thumbnails -, but when you scrutinise them, they start to come apart a little at the seams).
And thank you very much for your comments.
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Excuse my ignorance but what is CTS? Acronyms are not my strong point. lol
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Heh, yeah, neatness. I'm obsessive about my colours staying inside lines - at least half of my painting time is actually catching stray pixels and taking them out/filling them in. (Of course, I also have a 'buffer' layer under everything to catch what pixels I don't spot...).
CTS - Carpal Tunnel Syndrome . In a nutshell, the pinched nerve condition. You've felt your fingers tingling after spending too much time typing/drawing, yes?
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Yes Iv'e felt it's effects sadly.
Once again our similarities are somewhat spooky.... how does this buffer layer work? Do you mean a layer that makes it easier to spot stray pixels? I use 3! lol. A white one, black one and either a red or blue one depending on the colours I use.
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What I do is I have a buffer layer which i fill with an easy-to spot colour. By blinking it on and off at different levels of zoom, I catch whatever pixels I've missed. Of course, because I use a pencil to sketch, it's sometimes hard to fill in a shape perfectly (you've never seen what a pencil sketch line looks like at high res, have you?
I used to get CTS from playing the piano for six-hour intervals. 
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6 Hours?! 
Well my process is similar, perhaps not as meticulous as yours.
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Well, at one point I wanted to be.
And yeah, I know what it's like to 'go against the grain'.
I think we both have a touch of OCD.
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Ironing shirts!
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Ah! WWII, we learnt about that loads in Primary and then a little at Highschool. I always though the Battle of Britain was the most interesting part, but they just made us learn about the evacuees. Bah.
I like the poster style, very cool. And the way he's looking up, all noble like.
I'm more of a WWI geek myself. Trenches, that's what I'm all about.
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Thanks! and thanks for the 
Battle of Britain.
One whole section of our senior-year history book was dedicated to WWII and the events leading up to it. A great deal of it was about the Asian front and the rise of Japan, though; they didn't even cover Normandy, if you can believe it.
My favourite WWII story is the one about Operation Mincemeat, one of the greatest military operations of all time.
[link]
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Wow! That was really interesting... and bizarre.
The name is hilarious, Operation Mincemeat... 
It was a really well written article too, very engrossing.
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Thank you very much.
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Yes, I can definately see.
Wow, wars are such interesting subjects, which is sad considering how unnecessary they are... especially WWI... boy was that a mess.
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WWI was viciously bloody, yeah... But there's also that touching story about the Christmas truce on the war front that shows peace (however fleeting) can be found in the strangest of places:
[link]
[link]
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I first head of this from Garth Brooks' song 'Belleau Wood'.
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I always thought that the sad part of that story is that after the truce they just went back to being enemies.
And the footbal matche with the Befordshire Regiment and the Germans... I've always wondered who was winning, or if it was a draw. The articles didn't say *pouts* they never say.
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