Comic artists have long used beautiful women for their heroines and villians, and (outside of a few people) fans are just fine with this. In fact, over the years, there have been a number of ‘limited edition’ (translation: ‘We’re only going to print 100,00 of these’) pin-up and swimsuit editions from comic companies that fans snapped up as soon as they came out..
But the work was, largely, done by comic artists as opposed to pin up artists; with the occasional name artist producing a piece for the release. And despite what some may think there is a difference in the approach and feel of the finished image.
So what about a comic artist who specializes in doing sexy pin up work? What about an artist with the skills to produce high quality comic book work and the eye and approach of a pin-up artist?
If that sounds appealing then you will want to look at the work of New York city’s Mike Renzine.
Using popular comic and fiction characters as his subjects Renzine then renders them with the eye of an illustrator rather than as a comic artist. But, he draws upon the comic artists ability to tell a story within a panel and the pin up artists choice of putting his subject in an alluring pose.
While Renzine admires many comic artists he lists Japanese artist Hjiame Sorayama as his primary influence, and in an interview Renzine states that he sees himself as a pin up artist.
While he colours primarily in digital medium Renzine’s work starts off as beautifully rendered pencil images which he carefully and slowly builds, sometimes taking several months to create the image so it turns out exactly as he wants it.
And the results are amazing.
While Renzine’s pencil work breathes life into the figure, his choice of poses creates an alluring image and his choice of colours highlights and brings the entire image together. Although he doesn’t always use backgrounds in his images, the quality and allure of his work stands alone strong enough without it.
You can follow Mike Renzine on Facebook and Twitter.
John Goodale is the author of ‘Johnny Gora’ (available through Amazon.com), and a number of articles here on TMRZoo.com. His monthly column ‘Indy Comics Spotlight’ appears here and through his blog Indy Comics Spotlight
