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| Grable's famous pin-up. |
Other pin-ups were artwork, often depicting idealized versions of what some thought a particularly beautiful or attractive woman should look like. Provocative images, particularly used in advertising, trod a thin line between sex and commerce; drawing on figures like Marilyn Monroe who created a sensation when featured centerfold in a 1953 Playboy.
Additionally, there are several contemporary artists such as John Kacere - The subject of his Photorealistic paintings were exclusively the mid section of the female body. Although in the early 1980s he did branch away from this theme and included the entire body of a female in lingerie, only to then return to his original mid-section of the female body in 1988.
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Playboy magazine December 1972 cover featuring the last illustration work of Haddon Sundblom |
The most famous being Gil Elvgren, who worked at Sundblom's Stevens-Gross advertising agency along with such notable artisans as Al Buell, Harry Ekman, Bill Medcalf and Joyce Ballantyne. Their technique of using thick layers of paint to achieve a warmth and glow was dubbed 'the mayonnaise school'.
Until the Monroe/Playboy sensation, it was mostly Esquire who provided opportunities for a generation of pin-up artists; although they had presented photographic pinups previously, these had never contained overt nudity. Then in 1970 Penthouse introduced the world to pubic hair.
pretty soon the introduction of explicit men's magazines made the saucy depictions of 'the mayonnaise school' seem quaint and old-fashioned, as further advances in Photographic technology brought quicker easier means of satisfying the pressures of monthly deadlines.
Among the thousands of talented artists working hard to bring good art to the masses, many are still making time to pay homage to the natural beauty of the female form with some truly stunning art.
And thanks to zazzles cutting edge print technology many of these beauties are now available on a wider range of products than ever before. You can now own beautiful pin up's on anything from Key-chains, to Bumper stickers, to Keds sneakers, or go all out: to show off the true splendour of these works with zazzle Posters; made with premium UV-resistant archival ink, and available on seven different media, from basic poster paper to canvas.
My own original art is all handdrawn in pencil & because I love the effect of the contrast I generally only colour the clothing on my Sexy Ladies as well as offering the raw sketches themselves on products.
However Zazzle is a marketplace of astounding capacity and with a quick search you can find a fantastic selection of anything you're looking for. This results in quite the collection of "Pin-Up" art created in many different ways. Below is an example from a store that is a personal favourite of mine.
Sexy Black Lingerie Pin-up Girl Art by Al Rio by AlRioArt
If you enjoyed this post & would like to see Sexy Art from a larger selection some of my favourite sexy zazzle you'll find these & more on My Website
Alternatively if you're interested in learning more about Pin Up girls & nudity in art you can visit my squidoo lens Pin-Ups Through History Adults only I'm afraid so you'll have to login or sign up (it's free!)
: Grandmother of the horror genre. Written at the tender age of 18 as part of a friendly competition between herself, Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley to write a "ghost story" during a rainy weekend in the country. Unfortunately her story which is based on what it means to be truly human, with the Monster being literate, reading 
and sympathizing with Milton's heroic Satan figure, becoming eloquent, kind, and well-mannered, has been reduced in film after film to a shambolic monstrosity. Still, its impact cannot be denied, as evidenced by refernces in Eando Bender's I Robot short story (not to be confused with the Asimov anthology of the same name, or the Will Smith blockbuster), in which the humanoid robot reads Frankenstein (mirroring The Monster's reading of Paradise Lost) during his own existential search for meaning and humanity. The story has such staying power that modern horror writer Dean Koontz has even penned a quadrilogy of "sequels" set in modern times in which Victor Frankenstein is alive and well, as is his famous creation. Shelley has left such an impact on the modern psyche that to this day many educated people continue to refer to The Monster as simply "Frankenstein."
: This book put vampires on the map, and they've been here to stay ever since. Like Shelley's Frankenstein, Stoker used the technique of multiple narratorive perspectives to craft a masterpiece. In a preview of how popular and enduring the story would be, the first film adaptation, Nosferatu, was produced during the lifetime of Stoker's widow, and was such a blatant rip-off that it prompted a court case which was eventually resolved in Stoker's favour. Though Stoker's Count Dracula is a far cry from the sexy vampires of today (we forget the long nails and hairy palms), Stoker's work was seminal in establishing vampire writing as a horror genre unto itself. Without Dracula, it is arguable that we would have no Lestat, no Angel, no Blade, no Lost Boys, and no Edward (though that last would not have been much of a loss.)
, which was made into the film of the same name, in my opinion far and away Hutson's best work is his 
. It features the classic horror trope of a small town with an old, dark secret, yet what Hutson does with this meme is incredibly and irrevecably his own. Hutson's work is not for the squeamish, Hutson deals in so-called "body horror," involving parasitism and mutilation. It may be that I read this book at an impressionable age, which makes it stand out in my mind as such a masterpiece. However, what impresses me most is that it not only deals with classic horror themes, but it's also a well thought out novel in its own right. Many horror stories use plot as merely a vehicle for unsettling or disturbing scenes (something Hutson himself is not above as evidenced in Slugs), but Nemesis is a brilliant novel which transcends the conventions of horror, a genre which is all too often written off as mere pulp.
, 
, 
). Herbert's work evidences a soaring scope, much in line with stories such as Dawn of the Dead or 28 Days Later, in which a small band of people are caught up in world-changing events. 
, The Books of Blood (
and 
), 
, (adapted to film as Nightbreed), Weaveworld, 
, and of course, 
, which Barker himself adapted and directed in the classic Hellraiser film. Barker describes his own work as "dark fantasy," though horror elements are front and center in most of his writings. Barker deftly constructs entire other worlds alongside our own, and deals with questions of sexuality and the supernatural in a compelling yet disturbing fashion. No less than Stephen King said, "I have seen the future of horror, his name is Clive Barker." He is also a skilled visual artist, as I mentioned in a previous post. Other of Barker's works adapted to the silver screen include Lord of Illusions, Midnight Meat Train, Dread, The Forbidden (released as Candyman), and "Clive Barker's Books of Blood."
