Icelandair Glacier
The smart art team had the honour of receiving a repeat commission from Icelandair in 2017 to mark the airline’s 80th anniversary. The first commission was to add polar lights to the entirety of a Boeing 747. This time around, the model for the all-over airbrushing of the aircraft was the famous Icelandic glacier Vatnajökull. Icelanders have a special reverence for Vatnajökull. That’s why the airline wanted to share the natural wonder that is the glacier with its passengers with a one-of-a-kind aircraft. And the artists at smart art are more than happy to take on this kind of challenge. After all, custom airbrushing projects – especially very big ones – are their passion, and are always completed on schedule. The design phase itself always involves extensive planning in advance. The smart art team likes to work in a structured manner and be well prepared; it’s the only way for huge projects involving many people to proceed as planned within a very short timeframe. The team, led by Martin Dippel, once again utilised its many years of experience to create the piece. Over the course of the 14-day job, which took place in England, several layers of around 195 litres of special aircraft lacquer were sprayed onto the plane’s fuselage, following a precise template until the final image had been achieved. The surface area, which measured 590 square metres, was transformed into a genuine work of art by four airbrush artists and twenty-one assistants, working with twelve Pantone colours over 2,500 hours. “It’s certainly something to be proud of” – smart art’s opinion of its handiwork is shared by its client Icelandair. The fleet’s new flagship will soon be attracting admiration on runways and in the air. The entire project, from the very first moment up until its inaugural take-off, was followed by a film crew courtesy of the client. The result is a beautiful short film that presents Icelandair’s new, cool design in a professional light that’s perfect for marketing purposes. Just take a look and you too will marvel at this airplane, and maybe even see it on the runway on your next holiday – it’s certainly hard to miss, after all. By the way, smart art isn’t only passionate about painting aircraft – the artists enjoy any big challenge that requires them to use all their creativity. smart art hopes to hear from you soon!
If you want to experience the painting of the Icelandair plane as it happened, just watch the video. See how the artists completed this unique artwork.