Jack Fellows (aviation artist)

Jack Fellows is an aviation artist (not exclusively on aviation subjects, though) that has described many American WW2 Pacific operations in his oil paintings.

He manages to use color in outstanding effect in his Pacific landscapes:

A book was published showing many of Jack's paintings based on WW2's Pacific theater of war:

Russell Smith (aviation artist)

Russell Smith is an aviation artist specializing in World War I aviation subjects.

I remember finding his website by chance a few months ago, looking for advice on how to depict aircraft in proper perspective (the link is this). His oil paintings are superb in how he uses light/shadow, values and edges to create a "window into another time and place" (as he puts it).

These two paintings are probably my favorite:

Russell is a member of the American Society of Aviation Artists.

Robert Taylor (aviation artist)

Robert Taylor, as it seems, is one of the greatest living aviation artists.
His oil paintings bring an unusual freshness of nature subjects mixed with military aircraft (mostly from WW2).

Robert had the privilege of working directly with some of the most important WW2 pilots, such as Douglas Bader (RAF) or Adolf Galland (Luftwaffe).

I have one of his books:


(I think it was bought second-hand but in excellent condition and very cheap), but there are several of them, quite expensive if new and bearing astonishing reproductions of his paintings.

Mark Postlethwaite (aviation artist)

Mark Postlethwaite is another aviation artist from UK - working exclusively with acrylics - who I've learned to appreciate.
Two books were written depicting most of his work in the last 20 years:

Besides the biggest works on canvas/linen, lots of interesting cover art works were done by Mark for several series of books from Osprey Publishing, a company specialized in military history.

Some examples:


Mark is a member of UK's Guild of Aviation Artists.

Traditional Oil Painting

This book is a gold mine:

Virgil Elliott is acknowledged as a Living Master by the Art Renewal Center, defining him as "an expert on historic oil painting techniques and oil painting materials of the past and present."

About preferences

As a beginner artist, I'm struggling to find a path to artistic expression. I've already tried several painting media: acrylics, watercolor, pastel and oil.

Of these, pastel and oil seem to be my favorites.

I've found several art supplies stores in Porto, but by far my preference goes to Moldursant - not only because of its huge supplies on art items, but also because of the most helpful and knowledgeable staff.

You can't learn everything with books :).

Roy Cross (aviation and marine artist)

In 2012, after 25+ years, I took a new interest on modeling aircraft and bought a few Airfix 1/72 kits.
I remember having a huge interest in the cover art as a kid, but only now I could find out more about these artists. One of these is Roy Cross.

Roy Cross is best known as the artist behind the cover art designs for Airfix in the 1960s. Two books were published about his work as aviation illustrator:

Interestingly enough, another Roy (Roy Huxley) was the artist behind many of the early cover art designs of Airfix's then rival Matchbox. The two artists are members of the Guild of Aviation Artists in UK.
The next book is a superb cronology of Matchbox's kit designs: