If you
knew Joe Jones, as many of you do,
you will quickly realize what a devoted
artist he is and that creating aviation
art is truly what he was born to do. As
his mentor, world renown aviation illustrator
James Dietz, said as he shook Joe's hand
for a photo during a visit to Dietz' studio
in Seattle, "Joe, I'm passing you the
torch," Jones did not fully realize
at the time the huge commitment and responsibility
that went along with the honor. He does
now... he has gratefully excepted the challenge
and responsibility!
Aviation illustration is not just making
pretty pictures of aircraft. It's about
painstaking research and attention to the
smallest detail in the hope of telling each
story honestly, accurately and with full
respect and integrity. It's about bringing
each story to life as if you were right
there yourself to fully help share and preserving
our rich aviation heritage.
To do that it takes much more than just
a passion for airplanes and technical skills.
An artist must truly live and breath aviation
every single day. Jones realized early on,
to truly do this type of work with any sense
of justice and dignity, one must become
an aviator themselves to come close to having
the ability and experience to visually capture
the history, adventure, freedom, joy, discipline
and achievement associated with flight.
For Jones, it has quickly become the richest
life one could ever imagine.
A Denver native, pilot, and proud member
of EAA chapter 43, Joe Jones has been both
a professional illustrator and graphic artist
since 1983. In 1995, he started his own
successful design firm, Art Works Studio.
Currently featured in the Macworld Illustrator
CS2 Bible, over the last decade much of
Joe's work has been showcased in nearly
two dozen top books on Adobe Photoshop and
Adobe Illustrator as textbook examples of
some of the best digital artistry in the
business.
Since 2001, Joe's trail blazing digital
aviation design and illustration work have
landed him accounts with clients such as
Adobe Systems, Rolls Royce, Frontier, and
Indiana based Chautauqua Airlines. Jones
has also gone on to create national ad campaigns
for Adidas and has also worked with performers
such as Carlos Santana.
Over the last several years, Jones has
quickly been recognized and awarded as one
of the worlds top artists in the air show
industry today creating the annual campaign
work for clients such as Rolls-Royce and
the National Aviation Heritage Invitational.
Recently breaking all "ICAS" (International
Council of Air Shows) records in consecutively
receiving the industry's top honors for
his 2004 and 2005 campaigns for Nellis Air
Force Base and Aviation Nation. Jones is
the only aviation artist in the world to
receive five first place ICAS awards.
Committed to helping preserve our aviation
heritage and dedicated to honoring our American
veterans, Joe spends a considerable amount
of his time each year volunteering his skills
to the EAA, several air museums throughout
the country and works closely with the 8th
Air Force Historical Society and the Tuskegee
Airmen Inc. Jones also works directly with
The Greatest Generations Foundation, and
Shades Of Blue, producing award winning
graphic design and illustration work to
help promote these important groups.
Please contact Joe at
Joe@Airmail-Greetings.com or use the
form on his
Contact page. Jones says quite often, "If
you see any spark of life at all in my work,
it comes directly from the inspiration and
support of all of the incredible aviators
I have had the great fortune to spend time
with over the years."
