"Death of the Red Castle." Topic

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This is my latest work, which was painted for TMP supporting member Smokeyroan. It is an acrylic on canvas. Most areas are matt but I touched some of the fire with gloss varnish after applying matt to the whole work. The touch of gloss varnish seems to lift the fire into a higher level of visual urgency.

Sorry….I forgot to mention that the ship is the Japanese carrier Akagi. The name translates to Red Castle.

Very nice. Too bad it came after the 75th Anniversary Ceremony of the Battle of Midway that we held at the Naval War College last May.

Think POSITIVE.
It will be around for the 75th Anniverary as you are obviously referring to the 65th anniverary.
Well…..unless you were all drunk as skunks….I hope you were all celebrating the 65th or you're gunna have a heck of a hangover by the time the 75th does arrive!

SO, I needed to know how to count to get a degree at the NWC? Its still a nice painting.

I like a lot.

x42

Very nice painting, especially the angle -- looking down from the pilot's view.

A nice job but as an amature artist myself might I make a mention? The proportions and postioning of the boat are a bit off and the water bursts are odd. The planes however, look good. When I first clicked the link I thought it was a teen's drawing from a class or such. Then I read the post. This is all my opinion of course, I do however really like the colors used.

By the way, I only say this because of the commissioned nature of the post (was painted for.. my latest..etc..). Forgive me if this is only for fun and not for profit (as this is what I thought it was for, profit). Oh and there's nothing wrong with profit.

The bomb splash angles you mention have now been corrected. The dimensions of the ship are correct, having been carefully measured.

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Angles corrected and a few changes made.

An excellent improvement, nicely done! I felt bad about my critique but you really surprised me with your professional response. Well done.

"you really surprised me with your professional response."

A paying customer is entitled to a professional attitude from the artist. So I take every commission very seriously.
Especially the amount of research I do to ensure every possible detail is correct.
Note I did not put the Japanese hinamaru on the deck. That's because research, while not conculusive, led me to believe it was painted out after the battle of the Coral Sea. The Japanese concluded it was being used as an aiming point.

Great picture of one my favorite moments in military history.

"Great picture of one my favorite moments in military history."

So we know you were never a Japanese Admiral then!

"Great picture of one my favourite moments in military history."

Yes, some people actually do win the lottery.

Anyway, if you're ready for some critique I'll add the following:

The planes look to be way of target (are they supposed to be?) and the angle of the closest bomb doesn't fit with the closest plane (is it supposed to have dropped the bomb in question?), or any other plane in its formation for that matter.
The planes themselves don't look entirely "right" too, the closest one looks somewhat deformed and the one farther away looks much to fat for an SBD (seen from above it should have a rather slender fuselage). I also miss some characterising details, like the perforation of the dive brakes that should be much more prominent on the closest Dauntless, and the tail gunner on the one farther away.
Distance and trajectories of both planes indicate they aren't from the same formation btw (and friendly formations would never cross each others path in the way shown).

Akagi herself looks to wide, her forward elevator to narrow, she shouldn't taper from forward her bridge to aft of her aft elevator, the starboard aft deck edge line is wrong (the 'kink' should be further back), her aft ramp should curve down, and her planes look to small.
Akagi had a slightly ‘humpbacked' appearance; her flight deck angled somewhat down both forward and aft. This model gives a fairly accurate impression I think link

This is, of course, all my personal opinion, and the degree in which all of this really matters depends much on the level of realism the painting is supposed to reflect.
Most of it would certainly escape the eye of the average onlooker anyway, and paintings are, after all, artist impressions ;o)

What I really do like about the painting is the inferno.
You seldom see flames that look alive, very well done!

Greetings, Frans.

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I have upgraded the painting of Akagi to some extent.

There are now some new paintings in the Art Work folder.
I very seldom do Fantasy paintings, but the two there were for my wife. 'Fury in the Atlantic' is much more my preference and shows HMS Fury with a convoy in 1942.

Now that's a Dauntless ;o)
Why did you come back on your decision regarding the Hinamaru btw?

Nice "Art Work folder", love the "Fear God And Dreadnought" piece.

Greetings, Frans.

Because someone forwarded me some information that attacking pilots and a grainy combat film, show that she did die with a Hinamaru on the foredeck.
It may have been after a combination of Coral Sea, and Midway, that it was decided these were providing an aiming point.

I've been lead to believe they were all removed before Midway, you're never to old to learn I guess ;o)

Do you have reproductions of your paintings available btw?

Greetings, Frans.