You will see from the image below of my one-oh-nine that the template does not really match the finished art so far. I know that phrase should have been the other way around: the artwork should match the template, but I often find templates are not as accurate as you’d imagine. I tend to use them as a guide, testing several and even cutting an pasting various sections together until I get something that looks right.

Getting an illustration to ‘look’ right is really the name of the game. This is a skill that is not to be sniffed at. You have to really understand your subject if you are to stand any chance of making it look right. In my time as a technical illustrator I have come across many occasions where I know a drawing to be 100% accurate but it just looks wrong. On occasions such as this, my old boss at the BBC was fond of telling me “to frig-it.” I was never really sure if this was rude or not, but I felt certain he wasn’t intentionally promoting self abuse in the drawing office. What I hope he meant was, do it a bit wrong so that it looks right.

So here is my one-oh-nine so far: The template is a bit wrong but the illustration looks right.

If you look carefully, you'll notice the cowling catches don't line up with the position marked on the template.

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