Here's a couple of my recent flats. The Art Deco Lady was painted using the old masters' technique of grays for the shading. The two WWI flats were inspired by the movie "Flyboys." Comments and criticisms welcome.

Excellent work Pat. I have been reading about the "Old Master" style of using gray for shading.

Just watched the "Flyboys" move. Good inspiration

The Art Deco lady is beautiful, what kind of technique is the one of using gray for shadows ?

Nice to see that flats still are being painted these days.

I like the Fokker DR.I alot.
Especially the shadow of the wing and the "ribbing"(?).

Cheers

Cool idea, Pat! I like them. One question - isn't that Nungesser's emblem on the Nieuport? Was he in the Escadrille?

Naive questions because I don't follow WWI aviation history.

All the best,
Dan

Thanks for your kind words, guys.

Luca: I have been interested the the techniques of the old masters for a while and have several books on the subject. I recommend "How to Paint Like the Old Masters" by Joseph Sheppard (ISBN 0-8230-2671-X). It gives you SBS examples from 8 of the great masters, and you can follow along on your own work if you like. Of course, we're talking oils here, but maybe an acrylic painter would find this book useful too.
I used a combination of the Titian and Rubens techniques on the lady because my usual burnt sienna shading was not consistent with the "peaches and cream" complexion I was trying to achieve, Basically, you use shades of dark gray in all the shaded flesh areas. This is also a technique used by Alex Castro (the airbrush painter).

Dan: Yes, Nungesser was in the Escadrille. The flat came with Nungesser's "coeur noir" in raised relief, and I had visions of a disaster if I tried to remove it (originally, I planned to paint the famous Escadrille Indian Head), so I went with the coeur identity. The plane is a Nieuport 22, while Nungesser's was a Nieuport 17, (please don't ask me what is the difference! ) so I figured I had some "artistic license" to go with the "silver" finish insead of the camo. WWI is a relatively recent interest for me, so I may be a little shaky on some of the finer details.

Pat, beautiful work, my compliments.

Cheers
Roc.

Good work Pat!
christos

Nice work Pat!!!

pretty neat

Pat, Nice work. I especially like the look of the figures with the aircraft.~Gary

Nice work Pat,
i've tried painting like the old masters on a round figure,but i didn't succeed.
Your's is extremely well done.
'
Marc

Thanks to all. I've been painting flats exclusively for the last two years, and I find them a great way to develop my technique. Now I'm easing back into rounds a bit.

It's really nice to see flats here, beeing solely a flat painter myself, I do hav the same figures and planes lined up for a future project, and the good thing is THEY ARE FLAT, and dosent take as much space, as if they were 3D(
My compliments
Kjeld Buchholtz

Thanks, Kjeld. This Heinrichsen series has some other very nice planes I'd like to try. I think the 3/4 view of the Fokker shows it off especially well. And the best part ...... no assembly required!!!!

Lovely work there Pat. The lady is well finished indeed. And those aircraft are NOT anywhere near as easy as they look either, but you made a good job of them.
I look forward to seeing more stuff mate!