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Sorry for that, I use these marks to enhance the point, not because I'm distressed. :-). Well, you know, the one reason I posted this image here is exactly because I know I will get such kind of feedback. I know you guys are passionate with this, as I am with my art. And I know the depiction is wrong if you see it literally. But since no one said this image is faulty from the artistic side of view and you actually all liked it, I'm a happy man! Historically inaccurate but artistically pleasing. I can live with this. :-)

No, no my friend, no distress here, I don't get this personal at all. I really enjoy this discussion indeed and surely it's not about the title. I can of course change the title to everything. I don't know if that will do the trick though as I posted this same image with the exact description to a dozen other sites too. For me is a matter of principle. Like I said, should I go and "update" my artwork for every newly acquired knowledge or not. For me, this is a finished piece of artwork. Will try my best next time, as always, as I did for this piece too. But it's really boring to me to come up with new revisions of my artwork, I prefer doing some new artwork and hope for good results! No hard feelings, really not, for me it's more important that you liked the image!

So you actually claim that an artist has the obligation to "update" all of his artwork , according to every newly acquired knowledge and that for a lifetime? Well my friend, that is the most boring thing I ever heard about art. If I really had to do this, I'd better stop showing my work at all!! Just imagine making a "Red Baron" movie and then having to revision the film every three to six months because of this and that. And just imagine how many times you should see the "almost" same movie just because is "more accurate" than before! That's not creative, it's just ......... military!!! I'm sorry but I can't do this, I really can't!

I stated right at my first post that I have no idea how it looked like, I think that's more than enough! I'm sure when Da Vinci painted the "Last Supper" used his knowledge of the time and dressed the guests as he thought best representative of the epoch he wanted to depict. So now we now he was pretty wrong at everything, should we then go on and change the title to "Friends at dinner" because of historical inaccuracies? Come on guys.....

I understand what you say but why should I go and do such a change? Because someone out there without any hint of imagination and artistic education takes for granted what he sees? So if I go and depict Alexander the Great in a Sherman tank is that a proof? Or what if I write " I don't like iPhones- Julius Caesar" will you believe it? And if you do believe it, is it my fault? Art needs freedom, not boundaries....

I'm pretty sure that Mr. Miller is a brilliant researcher and posses great knowledge about WWI Aviation. I really respect and admire such people. But here it's all about an artwork. As I already said, I'm a wannabe artist, I just got inspired and made an image, a depiction of LvR 30th victory. I haven't made a photo of it! I'm pretty sure that no matter what I had done it would probably be wrong in some way (wrong heading, sun position, altitude, cloud coverage etc.) and I'm pretty sure that even if I could ask LvR personally today, he would not be able to answer everything. And it doesn't matter because that's not Art. Art is all about feelings, not accuracy. Surely there are a million mistakes in "Guernica" but can you think someone talking about these in front of an art piece? Or maybe do you know any historically accurate painting or sculpture of the Crusifiction? They are ALL wrong but that's not the point. The point is catching the feeling of it and transmit it to the viewer. Yes, I know, it requires a minimum of abstract thinking but it's not that hard. I'm not a Picasso of course, making such images is my hobby and it's fun to me. Reading tons of books about specific details of a certain event isn't! I now know my mistake and I accept it. Next time I probably make a question here in this Forum and hopefully someone of you fantastic guys will guide me to the right way!

You're maybe not an artist but you're surely funny!! LOL. :-)

That's an amazing paint job indeed, tedious but well detailed! I think it's a bit oversaturated, the colors seem too strong comparing with the original and a bit of "dirt" would be a nice touch too. BTW, where are that museum photos from?

Thanks for the kind comments guys, glad you liked it! As for the historical mistakes, well, I always claimed to be a wannabe artist, not a wannabe teacher, so I don't really care much about it. And as I state in my original post, I have no idea how it looked like nor it was my intention to show accurately anything "real". I just got inspired by that report and created this. I could of course correct it but it's so much work and since this is still my hobby and not a paid commission, I can't see why I should.

The BG comes from cgtextures site (skies section) but it's shot over the sea so I had to add some "ground" which came from another aerial shot from my collection. That means the background it's a composite!

Looks like LvR never shot down a Camel in a Fokker Dr.1!!! Well, maybe he´s looking at someone else´s victory!! Anyway, it really doesn´t bother me much, like I said, never wanted to show the actual event, just got inspired by this report.

:-) I knew I got it wrong somewhere!! Let´s say it´s just "artistic license"!! Many thanks guys, glad you liked it!!

Hi again guys! Just another quick test rendering here, this time LvR giving chase to a Camel and as you can see quite successfully. 3D model from Pavel Zoch, textures by myself and the background comes from rOEN911 and it´s painted. Not really happy with the result, the materials must be tweaked a lot but I´m quite a beginner at this, so I hope to get better results in the future. But don´t wait, tell me what you think about it now! ;-)

Thanks guys for all the constructive critique and helpful tips, I tweak the textures and materials as I write and another version of "Lothar" is on the way. Making a Reflection map is a great idea indeed, though it´s not really the Reflection channel that gives me problems, it´s the Specular one. Somehow I seem not to manage to show it "wet" enough but right now I got an idea and probably I´ll do it, it´s just a matter of time (and experience!).

It's a rendering of a Fokker Dr.1 3D model. The 3D model itself is created by P.Zoch. I used this model with textures I made and rendered this image using Cinema 4D, a 3D program. Further compositing with the background and the Camel was done in Photoshop. The Camel itself is a screenshot from RoF. So the important part, at least for me, is the Fokker here. My doubts concern the materials used on this model and their various aspects as specularity, reflections etc. Like I said, I'm quite new to 3D and even more newbie at this program, this is just my third rendering with C4D.

Hi everybody! Just finished a rendering of Werner Voss in front of his Fokker Dr.1 based on the well known photo. I´m still trying to learn and use my 3D program properly, so everything is just a test. But I know you guys really like WWI Aviation as much as I do so I thought it´s a good idea to share this image here. Rendered in C4D, model from P. Zoch, textures from me, post-processed in Photoshop. Please let me know what you think about it....

Thanks for the thumbs up guys, quite motivating indeed! Thanks JFM for the "rivet counting", you´re pretty right of course, the 3D model is a Dr.1, I know, I know, I could have leave the skids out, IF I had noticed it!! :-) You guys are awesome! I will give this one more go at some point, with your suggestions in mind. At the moment, I´m working on a Lothar von Richthofen aerial scene, will post the image here soon.

Cheers guys, thanks fro the comments and the observations! I agree, the materials and textures need some tweaking indeed, this is just my second rendering with my new 3D program, I keep struggling to learn the basics. I wiil do a better rendering in the future I hope, when I´ll get everything into my head, something that in my age is quite difficult!! :-) I wanted to recreate the lighting of the photo as close as I could but the figurine was lighted totally wrong and was added in photoshop after rendering. Tried to make it look as lighted from behind his back somewhere. Once more, thanks for the comments and the constructive critique, this really helps me a lot!! :-)

Thanks guys, glad you liked it! You´re quite in your comments, Werner came from a figurine photo in this composition, was considerably lower quality image but I wanted Werner to be present at all costs!! :-) The actual model is the Fokker and of course I plan to do some more renderings on this one, some new textures too, even more complicated compositions.

Got it yesterday on Steam and it's really great! Not only as a game is wonderful but it brings also memories up, for anyone who's old enough to have played with toy soldiers. It was something like this I imagined happening on our carpet between my plastic, brown and grey armies, me eight years old. And from time to time, an over dimensioned piece of equipment would join in, only to be taken out with the joined efforts of my favorite side, bringing a fantastic victory. I'm too old to lay on the carpet again and even if I did, my dog would just eat everything but surely, this is the best next thing! Highly recommended! P.S. don't forget to try and use the sniper tower, it's so much fun!!

Hi guys! I'm into skinning a 3D model of an Avro Lancaster lately but I don't know how the Squadron markings should change from aircraft to aircraft. What I want to do is show five or six aircraft flying in formation but have no idea what their markings should look like. No need for accurate historic representation, I need just a plausible variation, a rule of thumb, anybody knows anything about this matter? Many thanks in advance for any feedback!

Yes indeed, some great info here, thanks a lot guys, really appreciated!

Thanks guys, great replies and some great help here, you guys are wonderful!! Now, some short research and on to painting!!! Thanks guys, great replies and some great help here, you guys are wonderful!! Now, some short research and on to painting!!!

Never managed to get the point of all this, Cobra or not Cobra, air war is highly electronic by now and can´t imagine how those circus moves can help you when someone fires missiles at you and you can´t even see him. Maybe it´s a way to make it a bit more complicated for the missiles, I don´t know.

I feel lucky enough that the Germans back then kept themselves busy designing paradise birds and revenge weapons instead of seeing the truth and just produce a powerful motor and a sturdy fighter like the Mustang or the Thunderbolt. Lucky that the Germans were getting easily excited with the faintest possibility of success, making them hunting holy grails. Things could be quite bad today if they could concentrate to the things that were really of importance!