In this lesson, you’ll create a reflective airplane illustration from a bird’s-eye view, focusing on capturing realistic form, reflections, and atmospheric perspective. Gary Meyer will demonstrate how to construct the airplane and environment with accurate perspective, ensuring a strong compositional foundation. You’ll then learn how to paint reflective surfaces, using sky and ground reflections to enhance depth and realism, while effectively reflecting objects into one another. By the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to integrate reflective objects seamlessly into dynamic, believable environments.

This lesson belongs to the course Classic Illustration Crash Course. In this 11-week course, master illustrator Gary Meyer guides you through the essential principles of classic illustration, focusing on perspective, light, and form to create dynamic, fully realized compositions. Designed for students looking to build believable illustrations without reliance on reference, this course emphasizes logical, procedural approaches to drawing and painting in acrylic. You’ll begin with foundational exercises in linear perspective, applying these principles to construct buildings, vehicles, and street scenes. As the course progresses, Gary will guide you through painting landscapes and natural environments with atmospheric lighting, as well as man-made environments, cars, and airplanes with reflective surfaces, all while maintaining a structured and efficient workflow. By the end of this course, you will have developed a diverse skill set to create original, professional-quality illustrations from imagination.

Throughout this course, you’ll have access to the NMA community for feedback and critiques to improve your work as you progress.