Pop Culture Pin-Up
A large portion of my creative work over the last 10 years has been creating fantasy pin-up images; re-imagining well-known themes and characters from popular culture, and creating artwork that explores the mix of beauty and power with an added provocative flair. In 2010 I developed an interest in photography, and began creating these images using my own photos of models, locations, and architecture; mashing them together with a combination of digital painting and traditional media. This post is a reflection on some of my more memorable pin-up images I’ve created over the years.
The Engagement of Batman and Ariel
This was a super fun project. Bettina and Justin approached me as they were preparing for their wedding, and wanted a uniquely creative engagement portrait that they could print and display for their wedding attendees. The direction was – Justin wanted to be Batman, Bettina wanted to be the Disney mermaid Ariel, and they wanted to include all their pets as well as their dearly departed kitty. So I came up with this concept – Batman carrying Ariel out of the waters to the shores of Gotham city, with their pets happily frolicking about. For the photoshoot, I took photos of Bettina and Justin separately; a few shots of Justin looking back holding a broomstick over his shoulder, and for Bettina I had her balance herself on a step-ladder.
Gambit and Rogue
For this cosplay team-up photo, I wanted to do something a bit different than the typical fantasy pin-up style I’ve done in the past. I wanted to do something more conceptual. Over the last decade, anything to do with Marvel has become synonymous with big-budget Hollywood blockbusters. Cosplay as well has exploded in popularity, with cosplayers flooding social media channels with elaborate costumes and brilliant fantasy edits.
So for this piece, I wanted to bring these two Marvel characters back to the roots: comic books. Instead of creating a typical three-dimensional setting, I decided to illustrate comic book panels around the models and incorporate the classic comic book action fonts, to give the feeling that the image is living across both worlds of photographic realism and 2D illustration. I made the Sentinels as the primary antagonists of the piece – X-Men’s foes since they first appeared on Marvel’s comic book pages in the 60s.
This image was an interesting creative exploration for me, and is the first of hopefully many more images that will have me going down this path.
Super Mario Mayhem
Whenever I’m trying to think of an idea for an image to create, I draw inspiration from aspects of pop culture that I have a strong connection with. The whole Pokemon Go craze of 2016 had me thinking about my favorite games from when I was growing up. Super Mario Brothers 1, 2, 3, and Super Mario World on the SNES were a huge part of my childhood. Below are a few pieces I created as a fun tribute to these games. The model, Stephanie, is a fantastic model I’ve worked with numerous times in the past, and she knocked it out of the park on the photoshoot for this project.
Supergirl and Wonder Woman Save Calgary
I did this image back in 2013 and it is still one of my favorites. At the time I was preparing to exhibit at the 2013 Calgary Comic Expo and wanted to create a Calgary-specific piece. I had recently shot models Michelle and Nica separately for different Supergirl and Wonder Woman images, so I decided to make them the stars of this image as well.
For the street scene, I used an image from Google Streetview as reference, then proceeded to illustrate the entire background in Photoshop. It probably took me a good 40 hours to do, and in retrospect it would’ve been a lot easier to just drive down to Calgary, take some photos, and use those as a base to photo-bash from. But in the end it was a great learning experience that helped me stretch my skills.
Ahri – League of Legends
I created this piece a number of years ago and am especially happy with how this one turned out. This image represented a shift for me, becoming more comfortable with digitally painting wardrobe. Prior to this, I would typically paint either battle-worn armor, or enhance the model’s existing wardrobe with design elements or texture overlays. For the shoot, the model was wearing a corset and a skirt, so most everything she is wearing in the final image is digitally painted.
Behind the Scenes
