Have you ever built a model airplane before? Ever notice that the box art is always painted? Who does those paintings? One of the best is Shigeo Koike from Japan. He's created pver 200 box art paintings for Hasegawa's plastic model kits over the last 20 years, and calendars for Fuji Heavy Industries. I just recently came across his art, and it's magnificent. The attention to detail is impressive. His aircraft are extremely realistic, but it still has the flair of an artist passionate about his subject. Have a look around the Classical Aeroplanes site to see what I'm talking about. The site is in Japanese, but don't let that deter you. It's worth hunting around to see his beautiful, thoughtful artwork. The pictures below are all Japanese aircraft from the Second World War, but he covers aircraft from the very earliest days to the modern day, and from around the world. 

Koike has three collections of books released in English called "Flying Colors" that I desperately need to get. They include the Hasegawa box art, Fuji calendar paintings, as well as other prints created over his 30 year career. The third volume features one of my all-time favorite aircraft, the Fouga Magister, on the cover. Have a look.