Customer Reviews

Joe Chiodo's How To Draw And Paint Pin-Ups

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been practicing art, mainly pin-up art as only a past time for the last year or so. I have bought many books and gone through various methods. I really dig this book. In the introduction he mentions all of the past artists that should be researched and the importance and style of pin up art. He addresses throughout the accetuations that separates a pin up girl from a life portrait. He also tries to keep up with modern times with where 'sexy' art is.

His methodology was great, I wish there was more, but with his great examples you get plenty. He has some nice break downs, from pencil to paint, all the while pointing out key ingredients. He deffinitely has inspired some good art out of me already.

I have a ton of How to's at home and this is not one of my top 5. I read the reviews and one mentioned the lessons on painting was worth the price of the book. He/She lied. It's okay but it was so minute. Now I have it in my collection because its difficult to find and a good resale. Not so much due to the quality of content.

Chiodo has a varied style of female interpretation. I like his short, sweet explanations, his easy instructions, and his ease of "your art, your style" attitude. A great artist, with a great following. I will be looking into his other books soon.

The 'how-to' content I thought was sadly lacking: basic, beginner-level head- and figure-construction. Joe's quite the artist, and I would have enjoyed more insight into his method than 'make a pin-up's eyes a little bigger and tilt them'. Maybe I shouldn't fault him-- plenty of talented artists are far less articulate when they try to explain how they make it happen.

The real value in this book is Joe Chiodo's art itself. I don't really care if he can explain how he does it or not-- he does pin-ups and he does them well.

Maybe it would be best if he let his results speak for themselves...

This is a great book, but sadly not what I expected. It's not for beginners really, you need some idea how to draw before picking it up. It explains color theory really well, and the ideals of a pin up. It gives some tips on drawing, but it doesn't really break it down that much. I mean there is barely any mention on drawing breast form and shape, which you think would be important for pin ups. All in all it's an amazing book for someone in the middle of their skill progression.

Every now and then there is something in this book that is super cute. Still, I have to say that his work is pretty stale and I saw the same work used over and over again. I really wouldn't recommend you buy this book unless you don't have any of his other books.

A book filled with great girls by the amazing Chiodo. It was exactly what I expected and I am doing some great work referenced from this book, good stuff.

The book is nice to look at and the drawings and paintings are more than well executed but he leaves out some important info. Number one is breasts, this should have been up there for size, perkiness, nipple placement etc. As well he left out feet. As much attention as he placed on hands this should have been equal with feet and yet he left them out.

Then there's a typo that's quite annoying, it's regarding drawing mouths. It explains that the top part of the mouth should be drawn as a "w" this should be corrected with "m". Nit picking? Maybe, but what happened to editing? Aren't they paid quite well to just let this kind of mistake go unnoticed?

Then he explains about legs and the drawings are supposed to be broken up into three sections...I'm sorry but you can't tell by the drawing just what he means. There isn't a diagram and it leaves you feeling like your stupid to not get his explanation.

The painting technique is worth it's weight alone. But to leave out what I explained above just seems ridiculous when it's talking about Pin-ups. Other than that, the pictures are wonderful, the history helps. It's not bad, but it sure could have been better.