Aviation Prints by Ronnie Olsthoorn

Those who appreciate the superb aviation art of Ronnie Olsthoorn might like to know that selected prints of his work are available from Aviation Graphic in Italy, including new edition prints of his beautiful Ki-61 art for Osprey. These prints would enhance the walls of any den or man cave so their gift potential is obvious and for those whose stashes have already reached finger-wagging proportions their arrival in Santa's sack will avoid having to smuggle them into the house. Beautifully presented as shown below, with remarques and highlighted emblematic details, all the prints are visually striking. I have the Ki-44 Tojo print and can vouch for the quality of paper, colour reproduction and printing - whilst the size permits an appreciation of the exquisite surface detail not visible in the smaller Osprey profiles.

Ronnie was born in the Netherlands and has been drawing aircraft for as long as he could hold a pencil. Swapping brushes and paint for a mouse and keyboard in 1996, he soon discovered that 3D illustration was the perfect mix of drawing, painting, photography and scale modelling - all things he loved doing at that point. After graduating in aeronautical engineering Ronnie moved into the computer games business and refined his self-taught 3D skills. He has been at the forefront of digital 3D aviation illustration ever since. His work has been featured in the books of many leading aviation publishers, adorns walls in the homes of WW2 veteran pilots and won awards on prestigious 3D art websites, which usually tend to avoid technical subjects. He has also worked on air crash reconstructions, which were featured in a few lawsuits in the US. Having lived and worked in the UK for the better part of a decade, Ronnie returned to the Netherlands to work as a lead artist with Holland's leading product visualisation studio for a couple of years. More recently Ronnie has made the move to freelancing again and among other things he is now producing more aviation art, 3D models for TV documentaries, and box art for games and model kits. Ronnie (Skyraider3D) is also available for private commissions. He can be contacted through his own website at http://www.aviationart.aero

It has been my great privilege to collaborate with Ronnie on the artwork for three Osprey Aircraft of the Aces Japanese subjects - Ki-44 'Tojo', Ki-27 'Nate' and Ki-61/Ki-100 'Tony' - and he is currently working on new profiles for Volume One of Osprey's Zero Aces (1940-42). I know how exacting and meticulous Ronnie is when approaching the structural integrity of the aircraft depicted and the interpretation of colour schemes from photographs and documentation. Thanks to Ronnie and his sharp eye for details several pitfalls have been avoided and one or two myths busted. Any rare errors of detail are invariably my responsibility!    

Image credits:- All © 2017 Ronnie Olsthoorn via AviationGraphic.com