Joe Chiodo's How To Draw And Paint Pin-Ups Paperback – May 16, 2006

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...

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.

I love Joe's style. This was a bit light on instruction, but did showcase Joe's workflow, and if you're an artist who knows how to paint, this will give you some stuff to think about for sure!

I like this book, I use it to draw what I call G-Rated pinups.

I find Joe Chiodo's work amazing and this book is filling with beautiful examples of his work and lots of helpful tips.

This book really gave me new ideas to help me draw better and let me see how someone else does it. Thanks,

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.

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.

The introduction contains an essay on the history of pin-up art, and lists several artists such as Gibson, Sundblom, Petty; accompanying illustrations would have been welcome!It contains only a little 'how to' instructional information, the majority of the book is the author's own sketches and pictures, which I regret to say are not that great. The accompanying text is full of simple grammatical and spelling mistakes, e.g. "peeked interest" (sic) instead of 'piqued'. Even allowing for the American English, this still reeks of sloppy editing. The final chapter contains a 'Suggested Reading' list, the majority of titles are out of date (1946, 1949, 1956...) and therefore out of print!I was looking forward to using this book as a study guide but I was pretty disappointed. One to avoid.

I like the pin up art of Joe Chiodo, mainly those in the style displayed on the book cover. This is a good book, the paper is good quality, and the reproduction is also good. The book opens with a brief history of pin up art, then moves onto considering the pose. There are 15 full page drawings, and 1 page with a further 2 poses to study. There is plenty here to study and learn from. Chapter 2 explains how to construct the face. The eyes, nose and mouth are studied in the next two chapters. Joe also explains how to drape hair on your drawing, and points to consider when adding hands. The figure is then studied, with many examples shown. The last third of this book is on how to paint what you have drawn, again there are some fine examples of Joe`s finished art shown. For me personally, the book is worth the price alone for the pencil studies and the finished paintings. As with any book on art instruction, some people will get more out of it than others. If you like the realistic style of Gil Elvgren etc then you may not like this book. If like me you like Bill Ward or Fastner and Larsen`s style you may get more out of reading Joe`s advice. The bottom line is that you have to find your own style and practice, practice, practice. This book will serve as a very good start.