I suppose it's a sign that I hang out with strange friends that questions like 'if you/your sona were a plane, what plane would you be?' seem fairly normal.
Anyway it was bugging me a bit so after some pondering I settled on the Grumman X-29, an experimental plane developed by both NASA and the US Air Force primarily as a test bed for then-new airframe configurations and technologies. Forward-swept wings enable jets to have greater maneuverability at high speeds, but come at the cost of introducing twisting forces to the fuselage that require more rigidity (which can be addressed by using fancy composite materials like carbon fibre), and not being inherently stable in the event of a stall (unlike more conventional aircraft which, if stalled, will generally be inclined to tip their nose downward and automatically fall into a stable glide). As such planes like this are rare, and tend to require a degree of clever computer control and well-trained pilots to handle them safely.
As for why the X-29 called to me: - Forward-swept wings are JUST FREAKING AWESOME OK - Being an experimental plane, it was never used in any sort of combat. No weapons, just technological exploration. As a peaceful dragon, this appeals to me. (yes I realise that it was exploring technologies mainly so they could be later used in combat fighters, but I can only ask so much) - I love that one of the involved parties in its development was NASA, so it's got the NASA 'worm' logo on the tail, which I adore. - Somehow the oddball nature of the design, and that characteristic of being 'inherently unstable' and needing a bit of help and skill to operate correctly feels appropriate for a Dorey-plane. - The canards remind me of my fluffy whiskers - And just because it bears repeating, FORWARD SWEPT WINGS ARE HAWT JEEZ JUST LOOK AT THE THING (The Sukhoi Su-47 Berkut deserves mention here also for a number of the same reasons but I think my mate Azakir probably has dibs on that one)
In the case of this picture I did trace the major lines from a photograph at the sketch stage. Sadly there's no way I could freehand this complex a technological shape and have it come out looking at all decent, and this was a case of 'I have a picture in my brain and I just want it to become real' rather than 'I must push the furthest limits of my artistic ability and force myself to grow as an artist!' In my mind both approaches are perfectly valid, so long as you're honest with yourself about which you're doing. Not every artwork has to be a boundary-pushing masterpiece, sometimes I just wanna draw a friggin' awesome plane with my colours on it.
I'm happy with the background, and those mach diamonds and vapour clouds on the wings are all me, baby.
