Behind "Nukin' Nevada"
by Hank Caruso
The story behind the art: This Aerocature™ started out looking very
different. Notice that in my original sketch (below), I drew the entire aircraft running away from the
mushroom cloud. You'll also notice that I've left myself notes about how I wanted to change the
position of the aircraft. But as I started to transfer the sketch to pencil outlines, I realized
that I'd be spending a lot of time drawing details and features that had nothing to do with the
story I wanted to tell. And art (to me, at least) is all about storytelling.
That's when I scrapped the original idea and decided to focus on only the cockpit of the aircraft,
because that's where all of the expression was. I left in two engines to help identify the
aircraft type, but the rest of the aircraft was expendable (in my drawing, that is). The end
result is a much more focused look at the aircraft's reaction as well as a more dramatic visual
composition.
The moral of the story: Sometimes showing everything makes the story LESS impressive, not more.
--Hank Caruso
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