Interview
August 18, 2010

The Caricatures of Ade Kelly
The Man Behind the EAW and WWI Veterans Illustration Series

by Doug "guod" Atkinson

SimHQ is fortunate to have some very talented writers, photographers and artists as its readers. Recently I spoke to longtime SimHQ member Ade "Flying Tiger" Kelly, a professional illustrator who recently produced a series of over 85 caricatures featuring members of the European Air War (EAW) community in vintage WWII aircraft, he guessed most of the time which aircraft type would suit their personalities, nationalities and preferences, as he has only ever met one of them (jazz banjo player and programming wizard Tony West aka Mr Jelly) personally.

Doug: Hello Ade. Thanks for taking the time to talk to us about your fabulous work.

Ade: Always happy to discuss my love for illustration and airplanes.

Doug: First, lets get some background on you. Who is Ade?

Ade: I'm an Aussie and live in Geelong, Victoria, and have been doing illustrations of all kinds, firstly as a hobby then professionally for over 30 years. I went back to college in 2000 as a mature aged student to complete a 4 year Multimedia diploma. I'm a father and a grandfather now pushing 62+, a Vietnam veteran, having spent many hours in helicopters and various other aircraft during 1970-71 as a cas-evac medic, a musician and a music tutor — almost full time these days, playing guitars in my wife's band. Go here for a peek.

Doug: How did the series come about?

Ade: For the past 3 years I've been a part of the team working on an EAW WWI modding scenario titled The Western Front. To accomplish the research necessary to develop the mod, I have become quite familiar with many WWI era aircraft after wading through the plethora of detailed aircraft images available on the web. It seemed like a natural progression to create an illustrated series of caricatures depicting WWI aircraft and call it, "WW1 Veterans".

Doug: What media were the illustrations created in and how large are the original images?

Ade: All of the illustrations are increased in resolution, caricaturised and constructed in PhotoShop, InDesign and ImageReady with each one sizing-up to around 4.5MB prior to optimization for the web.

Doug: Do you mind saying how long this wonderful project took to complete?

Ade: Each illustration takes between 3-4 hours to complete, then maybe another hour to fine tune, so the EAW members project panned out to just over 3 months. I envisage the WWI Veterans series will be around the same time frame.

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Doug: How has the series been received?

Ade: The outcome of the EAW members project was rewarding with many old members reposting for the first time in years and having a chuckle about their illustration, other members are using them for their signatures or desk top screens.

With WWI flight sims now gaining more-and-more popularity, I'm hoping the WWI Veterans series may in a small way attract folks with a WWI aircraft interest, allow them to have a good laugh, maybe even collect them and preserve the old timers in a different way. I've exaggerated the illustrations a little less than I could have, to help maintain some dignity for these aviation pioneer fighters. :)

Doug: Where can we see them? Is the entire series posted anywhere?

Ade: Mike "Sandbagger" Norris kindly gave them a home on his EAW - Tally Ho! web site in the The Rogues Gallery. Mike has generously offered to host the WWI Veterans series there, where members can view the thumbnails and download the full size 1024 x 768 illustrations as they're released. A big thank you Mike!

Doug: Before we close, thanks again for taking the time to do the series, and to contribute to the community!

Ade: Another big thank you to yourself and SimHQ for the interest and support with this project. SimHQ's commitment to the worldwide air simulation community is outstanding.

Chocks away!

Doug: One last question. What's next?

Ade: Ah! Let's see.... maybe this? :)

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View the complete set of EAW Caricatures here.

View the WWI Veterans Series here.

Visit Mike "Sandbagger" Norris' EAW - Tally Ho! web site here.

Visit the SimHQ EAW Forum here.

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