Introduction

Today I thought I’d share about my journey in mastering aircraft exteriors showcasing a few projects created throughout my career as a private jet designer. Since 2010, almost fifteen years ago, I’ve created countless designs for clients all over the world, from prominent individuals & couples, Forbes 500 CEOs, corporations to family leaders from the East to the West, North to South. Throughout the years, my design style and artistic skills have evolved with experience, and I hope you enjoy this post showing a small part of my design evolution in Private Aviation.

My very first Aircraft paint scheme

The year was 2010 when I started my design internship at Embraer Executive Jets in my hometown in Brazil. I was 21, didn’t know much about aviation, other than having flown them to my mother’s homeland in Paramaribo, Suriname a few times, much less about private jets. And yet, as an Architecture & Urban Planning student, I was able to land this unique opportunity in the industry, partly due to my English skills (which I thank my mother for teaching early on), and a combination of God’s greater workings.

This was the first Embraer Phenom 300 based in Puerto Rico. Since I was just fresh at work, I wasn’t directly in touch with the client, and created proposals based on brief and feedback I would get through Eduardo Bessa, the engineer in charge of the account at the time. I had no preconceived conditionings regarding aircraft designs, and was given the freedom to create from imagination. Challenged by the blank slate, this was when I first started studying the aircraft’s shapes, curves, aerodynamics, trying to make cohesion out of its form.

The Design Process

After many many proposals, the client requested a mix of the parts he liked best. He was very specific in the middle stripe that goes up to the vertical stabilizer with smaller strokes. The front and back designs were my creations. Considering that I wasn’t directly in touch with the client to make my own wholistic suggestions, this turned out as a memorable paint scheme not only for the customer and myself but also for many who’ve seen this bird around the Embraer headquarters and abroad.

The Result: A Unique Aircraft

About a year later after delivery, Bessa showed me that this paint scheme was ranked one of the most beautiful designs on Airliners.net, which was a great surprise especially as my very first paint scheme. This unique jet has been called “Avião do Batman” (Batman’s aircraft) rolling in and out of the paint shop and facilities at the Embraer hangers, as well as “McLaren’s Phenom” throughout the years after delivery.

Classic: Calligraphic Elegance

Here the client was looking for something more classic with two stripes in black and silver. I’ve been into calligraphy since young (also from my parents’ influence), and something I’ve learned from calligraphy is creating elegance by contrasting thin lines with thicker lines as the angle of a curve changes, as well as subtly thinning out a line as it finishes (so there are never abrupt “wonky” lines that feel unfinished or finished without thought).

Nice purposeful curves bring balance to the jet. Observe thatt while the silver stripe creates the structure, it is the black thinner stripe that comes strong from the top of the tail, runs under the silver stripe, then breaks with a suntuous calligraphic curve before it counterbalances above the silver stripe again as they connect at the tip. Perfectly aerodynamic. A statement piece that is bold yet subtle, sophisticated while simple at the same time. Perfect balance.

A Design Signature is born

At this point you may be able to already recognise a design signature, a way of thinking and drawing that comes from an individual artistic expression. It is interesting looking back in hindsight and seeing how these creations connect, from the initial designs all the way to the more advanced ones with Lie Alonso Dynasty (more on that later).

The paint scheme I’m sharing next was for a Brazilian client who liked British Airways’ design on the tail, so that was the initial inspiration. From there I created what I felt would best flow on the fuselage using black and gold paint colours. Again with the same care for each stroke from calligraphic influence, resulting in another simple and elegant design.

Conclusion of Part 1: Mastering Aircraft Exteriors

This concludes part 1 of my journey mastering aircraft exteriors with the beginning of my career as a private jet designer. I have much more to share. Stay tuned for an unusual fleet of blue nose aircraft representing a very well known technology multinational; an aircraft exterior design that has become a contemporary icon in private aviation; and of course I will share more about our Exoticism & the Ancient Future designs that represent the New Golden Era envisioned by Lie Alonso Dynasty.