What I would like to see you do is study the great artists from books like The Great American Pinup (by Taschen) and real life pinups such as Bettie Page with books like A Life of a Pinup Legend or even burlesque ladies like Lili St. Cyr. Look at the way the girls stand, sit, lay down and pose. Look at their hands and facial expressions, what they show and what they don't. Learn what and how they wear their dresses, hats, gloves, purses, stockings and shoes.
As you go through them you will start to see what makes you smile and solidify what your retro pinup style is. Take that and run with it darling! We each have certain styles and talents, don't be afraid to do something just because it's been done, go for it, just make it your own. If you look at the art as categories I would say that Alberto Vargas is very long lean lines with every detail carefully executed right down to the placement of every finger. Gil Elvgren is very girl next door caught in silly escapades, I call his work situational comedy with sex appeal. Rolf Armstrong is ball gowns, bathing suits and big smiles! George Petty is always very athletic and fun with lots of ballerina slippers, big tools and telephones. You can also take guidance from those pinup ladies of yester year such as Ann Melton, Jayne Mansfield, Betty Grable, Bettie Page, Bridgette Bardot, Mara Corday, Julie Newmar, Mamie Van Doren and soooo many others! Check out the thepinupfiles.com and hollywoodpinup.com and for current day pinups donovansdarlings.com for more!
It would also be good for you to try and work with photographers and friends that really get what true Pinup is. You can pay for portfolio shoots with studios such as my 21st Century Goddess or My Old Dutch! If you are just wanting to give it a go and see what you can come up with, shooting with a photographer or friend on a TFP (time for pictures) basis might be a good first for you! However as with any thing please do your self a huge favor, set your limits and do not stray from their boundaries. Keep your limits, safety and your common sense at top priority no matter what. Remember you are a lady and should be treated as one. Oh and Contracts, contracts, contracts! Never do anything until they are signed. The general rule of thumb is if you are paid for the shoot with cash or product 'they' own the pictures and you may have no rights to use them even for your portfolio. If you are not paid and it is TFP then you should still ask for a contract to make sure you do get your rights to use the images for your portfolio.
When you are looking at doing product modeling here are a couple things to keep in mind. You might find that even the clothing companies can try to take advantage and get you to do a full day's worth of work in exchange for a girdle or corset that only costs them a small amount compared to the hours they would have to pay for a model that charged them even the base rate of £20 per hour. Make sure you don't forget your worth. ;-) You can insist on contracts in these circumstances and always read them fully to know your rights to the pictures. One other quick note about working as a product model. Unless a company offers you a large paid contract do not agree to be an exclusive model for the company. I have had a lot of young ladies tell me of companies not using them to model unless they sign a contract saying they will not work for any other company that is selling in the same market. Celebrities get big money for that kind of thing, and they get the goodie bags! Don't settle for a few cheep freebees here and there unless it helps you starting out or that is really what you want! ;-)
You may also make more progress in getting sets built up if you start playing with photography your self. Have a friend you trust and can communicate with come over and just start snapping away! I started my site with a crappy family digital camera which had 1.3 mega pixels at best,some King sized sheets as back drops, retro furniture from the thrift shop and hot lights (hot lights in Phoenix AZ? What was I thinking!!!). Remember all the classic Pinup images we all love so much are grainy and alot of the time poorly lit so you don't need the newest and biggest tools to recreate the classics! With my Photography going to Print quite often I had to upgraded to get the best results for printing. I now have a top of the line digital camera and professional flash lights. I still run on a shoe string budget however and I still have sooo much fun!!! No matter what camera or lights you use make sure to put your imagination into it! You will be a set designer, a costume coordinator, make up artist, hair stylist and model all in one if you want to! My suggestion is ask your friends to help you!!! Take it from me it's tiring doing all your self! hehehe ;-)
Last but in no way least, learn Photoshop, Lightroom or a program for photo editing. You will need to learn all the macro's, tools, saving options etc... The only way to get out of it is to have someone at your disposal to do your picture editing for you. The more you know and do on your own the more you are in control of what happens to your image. I have put myself in danger of loosing it all a few times in my career and let me tell you that is a very scary place to be. Owning your images and being in control of them is just soooo important!
Right so anyway!!!! I think I have said just a few mouth fulls here and I wouldn't blame any of you if you were asleep by now!!! Feel free to comment and ask any question and I'll do my best to help where I can!
Huggs,
KateD
;-)
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Monday, 14 June 2010
A Historical look at Pinup!
Pinup as we know it today is radically different to its humble origins which can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th century, a time when sexuality was both scrutinized and suppressed. For instance a woman showing a bare ankle was considered risqué and the word "sex" itself was not even used publicly.
As ever people find a way round even the most stringent of rules and the desire for images of an erotic nature was overcome by the birth of portraying scantily clad ladies as an art form.
As art such images were deemed acceptable by the society of the time and many of these early drawings and illustrations that are considered the roots of the pinup genre used imagery of the burlesque striptease routines as their starting point.
Additionally magazines such as 'The Police Gazette' illustrated stories of murder and mayhem by showing the leading ladies in various states of undress, which was considered to be completely legitimate by the general populous as they were considered newsworthy.
During the 1920's society began to rebel against the repression of the previous decades with the energetic dancing, partying and fashions such as flap skirts that showed more leg than ever before.
It was at this time that underground 'pulp' detective magazines appeared using drawings and paintings of bondage and nudity to illustrate their stories of murder and kidnap.
Meanwhile a new genre of nudist publications also surfaced linking sex and humor again using drawings to illustrate their stories and jokes. It was from such publications that what we think of as pinup art began to evolve during the early 1930's.
Artists such as George Petty and Alberto Vargas created calendar girls that very soon adorned the walls of garages and workshops everywhere.
Additionally Esquire magazine was initially published in this decade and very soon it was regularly carrying pinup art and illustrations from many different artists.
However it was the 1940's and World War II that really saw pinup art explode into the phenomenon we know today.
There wasn't a G.I. who didn't have a painting of his favorite movie star such as Rita Hayworth or Bettie Grable on his locker door or stuffed somewhere in his kitbag so that he could be reminded of home during the long hours spent away from his family and loved ones.
Add to that the girls so painstakingly painted on to the side of military aircraft in order to bring them luck on their numerous missions and it was easy to see that pinup art had found a footing in mainstream society.
Post WWII artists such as Elvgren emerged as failing magazines and publishers tried to woo the public with risqué imagery. By this time the original artwork from the more popular artists was becoming much sought after by certain collectors and it was finally accepted that pinup had a place in the art world which was somewhat ironic considering it's origins.
During the late 1950's and early 1960's pinup began to surface in the form of photography as well as the now traditional art. Magazines such as the famous Playboy were published blending pinup style photography with well written lifestyle articles and the response was huge.
The magazines ripped through any remaining repression gaining acceptability in most parts of society in a matter of a few years.
At this time different models and artists began to mutate pinup across and into different genres such as fetish and even bondage, the most famous of these being the partnership between Bettie Page and Irving Claws.
Although some of this imagery could be considered much darker in style than that of the early pinup artists it was still invariably done with a sense of fun, tease and innocence that typifies the pinup genre.
During the 1960's Playboy and other magazines gained a huge circulation all the while moving pinup style imagery into the psyche of mainstream America......
Unfortunately by the 1970's photography had just about taken over from art and most of the original pinup artists had retired from the genre they had so lovingly created.
With the advent of video the demand for adult material began to move towards far more lewd and graphic imagery depicting all manner of sex acts and it seemed that the playful innocence of pinup was lost forever.
However during the 1980's new artists such as Dave Stevens kept the genre going and with the arrival of the Internet in the late 1990's it soon became apparent that interest in classic pinup art and photography was still very much alive.
In the last few years there has been a real rekindling of mainstream interest in the genre with new art appearing from modern artists such as Olivia and many of the original Playboy pinup models using the Internet to sell their classic prints and images.
From this a new breed of Internet pinup models has emerged and although many of them cross over into other genres they owe at least part of their style to the classic pinup era.
Amongst them are several models who have attempted to solely recreate the classic pinup look with varying degrees of success.
All in all it seems strange that it should be something as modern as the Internet that will help ensure that classic pinup will be with us long into the 21st century.
Fortunately it seems that at least some people out there still enjoy the beauty and tease of the pinup genre over the much stronger and more explicit material that is now so freely available.
This is somewhat ironic when you consider that the latter in part way only exists due to pinup art and photography helping to make images with an erotic leaning more and more acceptable to American culture throughout the 20th century.
The main thing is that pinup lives ...
Long may it continue ...
see who is keeping Pinup alive today!
Do your part to keep Pinup alive!
Huggs,
Kate Donovan
;-)
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