To many of those who grew up in the 80s and 90s, you've probably heard of Airwolf—the iconic theme song that boils your blood, the 80s TV show that introduced a supersonic-capable attack helicopter that shoots Hellfire missiles and can defeat F-5 fighter jets.
Even if you're Gen Z, born decades after the show was cancelled, somehow YouTube will find a way to recommend you that face-melting helicopter: you push a button, it instantly stirs up the turbo, and brings the jet to supersonic speed.
Ok. Enough of that horseshit. I'm just writing it down with the wrong helicopter to lure you in. If you're into this kind of aviation stuff, you'll know my drawing is absolutely nothing like Airwolf. I'm drawing Blue Thunder, the original attack helicopter from the movie.
I was blessed as a kid in the early 80s, an era showered with aviation-related movies and TV shows. For me, one of the most iconic TV shows was actually Blue Thunder. The abnormal design of the canopy, the Gatling gun mounted so unnaturally, the super-long-range spy microphone located on the turboshaft engine...
You see, Blue Thunder looks way more rugged. Due to the modifications, the frontal part of the aircraft is so heavy that it flies abnormally most of the time, with the nose dipping 🤣 as if an angry beast is preparing to jump forward to catch its next victim. Oh, and one more thing: I am absolutely fond of the fan-in-tail rotor compared to the traditional exposed tail rotor.
The other day, I saw 
I have always wanted to try making my own illustration of Blue Thunder. I know I tried several times when I was a kid, but I don't remember ever having a successful drawing. It's very hard to proportion the canopy, let alone add an unusually shaped gun pod in front, and all my work ended up in the bin before completion.
So, I made this a small challenge for myself. I already have enough Airwolf in my memory collection; it's time to give the original and first TV attack helicopter a go. I'm pretty sure I'm going to screw up again, but I promised myself I'm just going to push forward even if I fail. I just want to see how far I've improved compared to over 40 years ago.
Unlike a fighter jet, a helicopter has many external movable components. Laying down the outline of the entire aircraft together with the movable parts is required; otherwise, you'll end up with missing parts.
Once the outline is completed, you must work on the canopy. For Blue Thunder, because the canopy was restructured to look more "angry," the shapes and angles are all redesigned to be extremely unusual.
Due to the unusual angles retrofitted to the aircraft, I couldn't figure out how the light source would affect the shape and shades, so naturally, I looked to Google for assistance.
I know my problem: once again, the cockpit was a little too short, while I had way too much space between the infrared side pods. I guess I'll just call it a day and be happy that the helicopter still looks a little bit angry. Now that I think of it, I should have used a blue pen.