What does the ideal woman look like?
Feminine – Glamorous – Pretty – Smiling – Sexy… we must have at least 7 billion possible combinations.
Since the 1940s, the Pin-Up Girl has offered a representation of the ideal woman. The Pin-Up style was so successful that it became an element of our popular culture. Photos and drawings have forged this timeless style. Real gender specialists share with us their vision of the ideal woman. And we love it.
If you want to learn more about 35 of these talented illustrators and their work: Read on!
What is a PIN UP Girl?
A Pin Up girl is a real or fictional model represented in an attractive manner. It owes its name to the use of representations, since in the 1940s they were pinned to the walls by American soldiers. During World War II, pin-up drawings played a role in maintaining troop morale, with artists producing works specifically for soldiers. Since the mid- 20th century, Pin Ups have been found in calendars, on desks or popular magazines.
In popular culture, Pin Ups are regularly sexy but above all glamorous . Many actresses and models are associated with this image as well as fictional characters like Betty Boop or Jessica Rabbit.
The illustration of the Pin-Up: From photo to drawing
Pin Ups images have their origins in photography. Indeed, at the beginning of the 19th century, burlesque theater reached its peak and producers used the images of actresses on business cards or flyers to promote their shows.
Betty Grabe , an American actress from the beginning of the 20th century, is considered the first famous Pin Up star since her photos and drawings were pinned to the lockers of American soldiers during the Second World War.
The painter Alberto Vargas published his drawings of Pin Up: the Varga girls, in 1932 in a men's magazine. The success was such that nearly 9 million copies of the magazines were requested by American soldiers between 1942 and 1946. A large number of his drawings were used to decorate planes. Nose Art was born: the Pin Up airplane drawing .
More agile than photography, drawing and painting allow authors to produce even more fantasized images of women. Pin Ups drawing becomes a style in its own right. These artists used different techniques, from watercolor to oil, to create vibrant and alluring images.
35 Genius Pin Up Designers.
Pin-up artists have left a lasting legacy in art and culture, influencing future generations of artists and fashion designers with their unique and recognizable style.
As you will discover, each artist presented has their own style. No question for me to classify them by merit, I'll let you make up your own mind. I have my favorite but I'll let you tell me who your favorite artist is in the comments!
Find my selection of 35 Pin Up illustrators, both contemporary and vintage .
#1 Alberto Vargas: The Varga Girls or the other name for Pin Ups
Joaquin Alberto Vargas y Chávez, born in Peru in 1896 and died in 1982. He is often considered one of the most famous pin-up artists of all time.
Vargas produced 180 paintings for the famous Esquire Magazine from 1940 to 1946. He published drawings of “Varga Girls” as well as calendars. He reached the peak of his career when Playboy Magazine began publishing his works in 1959.
#2 Alain Aslan: The French Touch
Aslan, or Alain Gourdon, born in 1930 and died in 2014, is a French painter, illustrator and sculptor. After starting by drawing in children's books, or the covers of the French edition of the Tintin journal, he illustrated posters for the Folies Bergère , the Crazy Horse , the Casino de Paris, the Olympia.
Aslan will experience great success from 1963 to 1981 by producing the famous pin-ups for Lui magazine. In 1968, he sculpted Brigitte Bardot as Marianne . He was appointed Commander of Arts and Letters in 2003.
#3 Baron Von Lind: Pins Up and Stars
Jerry Von Lind was born in 1937 in the United States. A great friend of the famous illustrator Gilette Elvgren, who would become his mentor, they published calendars together. His illustrations are recognizable by the broad smiles of the Pin Ups and his signature “Baron”.
Baron Von Lind is also recognized for his portraits, including that of Ronald Regan exhibited at the White House.
He put his talent at the service of Paramount to make portraits of Hollywood stars like Sophia Loren, Peter O'Toole, Clint Eastwood, Elizabeth Taylor...
Today his work is present in the biggest auctions all over the world.
#4 Gil Elvgren: The Drawing Reference
Gilette Elvgren was an American artist born in 1914 and died in 1980. Elvgren went to the University of Minnesota to study architecture and design, but also took art classes at the Minneapolis Art Institute. It was there, during a summer course in 1933, that he turned to art rather than the design of buildings or parking lots.
Gil joined Chicago's most prestigious advertising agency. He became a protégé of the talented Haddon Sundblom , who was extremely famous for drawing Coca Cola's Santa Claus. Elvgren himself has contributed to various Coca-Cola advertisements.
In 1937, Gil began painting calendar pin-ups. His pin-up drawings are easily recognizable because they are signed with a handwritten version of Elvgren's name. It has become the reference of the genre.
Elvgren used live models to paint his Pin Ups! Find vintage Pin Up posters by Gil Elvgren in the store
#5 Frank Frazetta: Favorite of the Stars
Frank Frazetta was born in 1928 in America and died in 2010. He is one of the best-known science fiction illustrators with a glorious career in American comics.
Frazetta counts Hollywood stars like George Lucas and Clint Eastwood among his most loyal friends and fans. His works fetch high prices at auctions.
His Pin Ups are marked by the American comics style of the 70s and Vampirella is undoubtedly his most famous pinup.
#6 George Petty: Petty Girls and Nose Art
George Petty is an American artist born in 1894 and died in 1975. He is one of the most famous Pin Ups designers in the world.
The "Petty Girls", a series of paintings of pin-ups published in Esquire magazine between 1933 and 1956, were to become a success. Petty Girls will be widely used in Nose Art to decorate American army planes during the Second World War.
Petty has the distinction of often depicting women with longer legs and proportionately smaller heads than those of his models.
#7 Olivia De Berardinis: Drawings for Playboy
Olivia De Berardinis is a contemporary American illustrator born in 1948. She has been producing Pin Ups since the mid-1970s and has contributed to Playboy magazine since 1985.
Olivia exhibits her works in art galleries around the world.
#8 Duane Bryers: Hilda the Voluptuous Pin Up
Duane Bryers is an American artist born in 1912 and died in 2012. He is the creator of a small Pin Up with generous curves who enjoyed great success from the 1950s to the 80s but above all who was recently rediscovered .
Hilda is a redhead, has rounded curves, is clumsy, often naked and exudes the joy of life! She is the first round pin-up to have had such great success. (well deserved!)
#9 Archie Dickens: Naked Pin Ups and Old School
Archie Disckens is an English cartoonist born in 1907 and died in 2004. He began his career as a freelancer for commercial drawings in the 1930s when Pin-Ups became fashionable.
Her Pin Ups are drawn completely naked in innocent situations and in an Old School style which will be enormously appreciated by fans of pretty girls.
#10 Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell: Fantastic Pin Ups
Julie Bell and Boris Vallejo are two contemporary artists and share their lives. They are both masters of fantasy and science fiction style drawings. They are the authors of numerous comic book covers and films of the genre.
Their works often feature monsters, gods, warriors. Their Pin Ups are classics of fantasy style.
#11 Earl Macpherson: Blockbuster cartoonist
Earl Macpherson is an American artist born in 1910 and died in 1993. He is one of the most successful pin-up artists.
He is the author of calendars sold in large quantities in the 1940s. Some of his drawings were so successful that they were used for advertisements or other calendars.
He is also the author of a very famous book on how to draw Pin Ups .
#12 Earl Moran: The Pin Ups of Hollywood
Earl Moran was born in 1893 and died in 1984. He is one of the American stars of the pin-up genre. He achieved success as a photographer and illustrator. His style is distinguished by the great diversity of situations and poses as well as his mastery of lighting.
After working in the biggest advertising agencies and for the biggest magazines and selling millions of calendars, he moved to Hollywood. Although he painted many Hollywood stars, we will remember that he painted Maryline Monroe for 4 years before and after she found success.
#13 Earle K. Bergey: Pulp Fiction Magazine
Earle K Bergey is an American artist born in 1901 and died in 1952. He is one of the most prolific artists of very popular pulp magazine covers during the first half of the 20th century. He is said to have produced more than 1000 drawings.
For magazine covers and film posters, he will feature numerous Pin Ups. His masterpiece is undoubtedly the poster for the film “ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ”.
#14 Enoch Bolles: The Zippos Pin Ups
Enoch Bolles is an American illustrator born in 1883 and died in 1973. He is one of the pioneers of the Pin Up genre. Although he remains known for his drawings of young women, he was also a versatile artist and worked extensively for the advertising industry.
His best-known works are the “ Windy Girls ”, these little pin-ups which were affixed to Zippo brand lighters for decades.
#15 Frank Cho: The Marvel Pin Ups
Frank Cho is a contemporary American illustrator and screenwriter of South Korean origin. He is self-taught and joined Marvel Studios to work on several highly successful titles.
Frank specializes in drawing women and produces Pin Ups as well as books on how to draw them.
#16 Hajime Sorayama: The hyperrealist
Hajime Sorayama is a contemporary Japanese artist born in 1947. He is famous for his hyperrealistic pin-ups mixing eroticism and science fiction.
The realism of Sorayama 's Pin Ups is striking and his very erotic drawings appear in Penthouse or Playboy TV magazines.
There are also many more science fiction oriented works where robot Pin Ups are drawn. He participated in the design of Sony's AIBO robot.
#17 J. Scott Campbell: Disney Pin Ups
J Scott Campbell is a contemporary American author born in 1973. He is famous for his work in comics and creator of numerous successful series. He joined the Marvel team in 2006 and actively participated in the drawings of Spider Man .
If J.Scott got noticed in the drawing of Pin Ups by creating a series of drawings of Disney heroines which was enormously successful.
#18 Jessica Dougherty: The Contemporary
Jessica Dougherty was born in 1975. She is an American artist who has become an expert in modern pin-up drawing. Jessica is also comfortable with classic painting and drawing techniques and uses modern techniques, particularly digital , for her creations.
She is also very active in creating tattoos which are very successful.
#19 Mel Ramos: Pin Ups and Pop Art
Mel Ramos is an American painter born in 1935 and died in 2018. His painting is anchored in Pop Art.
He began his career by drawing inspiration from the imagery of American comics then he explored the Pin Up genre. A particularity of his pin ups is his Pop Art touch by featuring his muses in front of a background of consumer product brands.
#20 Pearl Frush: Active and Realistic Pin Ups
Pearl Frush was born in 1907 and died in 1986. She is an American artist and one of the greatest ladies of Pin Up drawing.
She is recognized throughout the industry during the Golden Age of Pin Ups for her great mastery of light in her drawings .
A particularity of Pearl's Pin Ups is that they are very realistic and often painted in active situations such as playing sports or sailing.
#21 Peter Driben: Prolific artist
Peter Driben is an American Pin-up artist born in 1903 and died in 1968. He produced numerous drawings between the start of the Second World War and the end of the 1950s. He had the rare opportunity for a Pin-up artist to become the artistic director of the New York Sun.
It is rumored that he was the most prolific Pin Up designer of his generation . His catalog is immense.
#22 Zoë Mozert: Pin Up model then successful painter
Zoë Mozert is an American illustrator born in 1907 and died in 1993. She is one of the rare women to have achieved success in Pin Up drawing and is often considered the greatest Pin Up designer.
In order to pay for her art school, Zoë began by being a Pin Up model for other painters. She then found success as an illustrator in the Pin-up genre with numerous calendars and film posters.
#23 Ben-Hur Baz: Pin Ups and Cigarettes
Ben-Hur Baz was born in Mexico in 1906 and died in 2003. He found success as a Pin-up painter and glamor artist in the 1940s and 1950s thanks to his collaboration with Esquire magazine.
Ben-Hur will remain famous for having successfully illustrated the advertisements for many cigarette brands . His style is particularly elegant.
#24 Harry Ekman: Disciple of Gil Elvgren
Harry Ekman is an American artist born in 1923 and died in 1999. Largely inspired by Gil Elvgren, with whom he collaborated in the 1960s, his work is as fresh and as lush as that of his mentor.
It is rumored that certain paintings signed by the master Gil Elvgren were in fact produced by Harry Ekman. Plus, a lot of her pin ups are depicted with a dog!
#25 Hugh Joseph Ward: Pulp Artist
Hugh Joseph Ward is an American artist born in 1909 and died in 1945. If the Pulp culture is at the origin of the work of a large number of Pin-up illustrators, this is particularly the case for HJ Ward who illustrated a large number of covers of its popular magazines.
Many of the covers are pretty, very elegant Pin Ups which will bring him into the genre successfully.
#26 Joyce Ballantyne: The Coppertone Girl
Joyce Ballantyne is an American artist born in 1918 and died in 2006. She is one of the three best-known female Pin-up illustrators in the world with Pearl Frush and Zoë Mozert. We talk about the “ Girls Club ”
Her style is noted by the more natural poses of her pin ups compared to her male colleagues. In 1959, she redesigned the face of the American sunscreen brand Coppertone with great success.
#27 Norman Saunders: The Pulp of the 50s
Norman Saunders is an American advertising illustrator and designer born in 1907 and died in 1989. He achieved success in the 1950s with his Pulp magazine covers. He is a true legend of the cover of Pulp and will sign for example the covers of Mars Attack .
We find his talent on trading cards, very popular in the 50s and 60s in the United States. The style of her Pin-ups is strongly influenced by Pulp culture.
#28 Robert McGinnis: Movie posters from the 60s
Robert McGinnis is an American painter and illustrator born in 1926. He had great success in the 1960s by signing posters for very popular books and films such as Breakfast at Tiffanys with Audrey Hepburn and the 1967 James Bond Casino Royale .
#29 Rolf Armstrong: Pin Ups and living models
Rolf Armstrong was born in the United States in 1889 and died in Hawaii in 1960. He is one of the pioneers of Pin-up illustration . He became known thanks to his Pin Ups and his female portraits for the Photoplay magazine dedicated to cinema at the beginning of the 20th century.
Rolf used to paint with his live models facing him.
#30 Roy Best: American classicism
Roy Best is an American Pin-Up illustrator born in 1892. Although a recognized Pin-up artist, he enjoyed enormous success illustrating children's books including the cover of Peter Pan .
Roy's style is classic. A large number of his works are paintings of American actresses or unknown women from the beginning of the 20th century.
#31 Vaughan Alden Bass: Jack of all trades
Vaughan Alden Bass began his career as a Pin-up illustrator in the 1930s. He began by retouching the paintings and drawings of Gil Elvgren, Al Buell and Joyce Ballantyne. He then developed his own style.
A particularity of this illustrator is his ability to treat different subjects. In the 1950s, he had great success with a series of Catch drawings , Pin-ups and even a portrait of American President Eisenhower !
#32 Arnold Armitage: The Billboards
Arnold Armitage is an English artist born in 1899 and died in 1991. He moved to the United States in 1925 to settle in California to draw Pin-ups and specialize in the production of “billboards”, these large advertising posters. several meters on each side.
#33 Jon Whitcomb: Back for good
Jon Whitcomb is an American illustrator born in 1906 and died in 1988. He was famous for his paintings of glamorous young women.
At the end of the Second World War, he created a series of drawings entitled: Back for Good, in homage to American soldiers returning from the war by highlighting pretty Pin-Ups.
#34 José González: Vampirella
José González is a Spanish comic book artist born in 1939 and died in 2009. He created numerous Pin Ups in the 1960s for the international market but it was in 1971 that he became the main artist of the fictional character Vampirella which he would become famous.
#35 Andrew Tarusov: Pin Ups up to date
Andrew Tarusov is a contemporary Russian artist whose talent is internationally recognized. He revisits the great classics of Pin Ups and has made a name for himself in recent years by producing series of Pin Up drawings with characters from Disney or Game of Thrones !
Fan of Pin Ups and their look?
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Your favorite Pin-Up illustrators?
Don't hesitate to tell me in the comments who your favorite Pin Up illustrators are, whether contemporary or vintage! I will be happy to add cartoonists to this article!
6 comments
Et Bill Randall? Bill Medcalf ? Art Frahm? T.N Thomson? Billy Layne? Billy Devorss? Al Moore? Freeman Elliott? Jules Erbit? Al Brulé? Al Buell? Ernest Chiriaka? Edward d’Acona? Frank d’Amario? K.O. Munson? Walt Otto? Irene Patten? Edward Runci? Arthur Sarnoff ! Haddon Sunblom? Ted Withers? Et tant d’autres !!!
Il me semble qu’Edward Runci mérite largement sa place dans les 35 génies du genre !
Je cherche un illustrateur qui signe J Hedys ou J Haleys ?? Est-ce que ça vous évoque un dessinateur de Pin up ?
Bonjour,
le frère Gourdon, et Pierre Laurent BRENOT n’y sont pas ?
Cela mériterait effectivement un petite mise à jour pour Friz Willis! :-)