Victory Gals _New_series preview-BigBlockGals!

[Gangus]

Here is the ongoing series of Victory Gals start.
I will do my best to keep new paintings of this series in the original post.

Thanks for visiting,
Respectfully,
Glen

I did a little online poll, as to what people really
wanted to see for a present day Victory Gal
and there was an overwhelming landslide vote for the A-10

I wanted to give the present day aircraft the same nostalgic pin up feel, but as always try and push the subject matter a bit to keep it fresh.

This is my first painting where I collaborated with a professional model for inspiration.
Her name is Veronika, and her web site is www.perfectmuse.com.
Feel free to drop her a line if you like this Victory Gal to show your apreciation of lending her beauty to this series.


Hope you guys like,
It's at the bottom of these pics and the end of the forum thread as well.





At the bottom
Thanks for the great response guys.

I am a little bummed to have been knocked down to 4 stars but I guess thems is the way it goes.

In any event I wanted to offer the loyal participants of this thread a look into my next series:

To continue my love of marrying stylized pin up with machinery and tie in my passion for classic cars I have decided to think ahead of the completion of the 12 Victory Gals and compose my first in a series of "BigBlockGals".
This is Big Block Belle- the car is my pride and joy dream car my 69 Chevelle. Who may unfortunately be on the chopping block to raise money for Teddy. My wife has been amazing in pushing it as far back from the money raising efforts for therapy, but alas unless the Victory Gals calender can get a sponsor and take off- it may be an inevitable but neccessary loss. In any event this was pencilled on the computer- I used a self taken photo of my car to exact the proportions of the grill and such, but ultimately judging on the painting there isn't anything left of the initial reference.

I want to make this about expressive idealized figures, interesting color choices and visual impact while taking the traditional car pin up painting thing and giving it a little more artistic merit intergrity opposed to the ussual beefcake magazing photo spreads. I am hoping that some hot rod mags may be interested in giving there pages a new look as well.

Anyways, enough babbling. I hope you like!
Don't worry there are going to be some Fords and Mopar beauties to come.

Regards,
Gangus

[Phlebas9]

these are absolutely amazing. the execution is great, but it is the idea which really stands out. congratulations.

cleveland

[Skank]

by far the best work ive seen from you man. simply (or not so simply) beautiful!!
ONLY crit ive got..the ammo feed on the first one is rather thick where it connects to the gun. but where its draped over her arm, it doesnt have that same thickness.

amazing job tho man! keep it up!

[Pavel Sokov]

wow this is amazing stuff, the first and jap one are my favs.
in the first the gun and bullet belt is very beefy and intimidating actualy, and the japanse one is just beatifull.

the idea itself is extremely beatifull.
i do hope u havent stopped here.
you didn't do a german one, and you did not do a soviet one. which are by far the 2 most important players in the war.

[Waffle_King]

These are fantastic. Definitely going into my "To inspire you" folder. Great texture, anatomy, and composition. My favorite is the "sharkteeth" one- I just love that mech-shark. Once a geek, always a geek i guess.

One crit- the Memphis Belle's right arm- it looks a little too much like a fleshy tube and not enough like a sculpted arm, not that it needs to be muscled. It looks like shes pushing her arm forward from the shoulder, so it reads well, but-- I don't know exactly what it is. Maybe the wrist is too thick or try to define her deltoid twisting forward. I'm sorry- I'm not sure exactly what it is but something about that arm seems off to me. Call me crazy.

Either way, Great work. Really, really nicely done.

-Andrew


EDIT:

Originally Posted by manslauter

you didn't do a german one, and you did not do a soviet one. which are by far the 2 most important players in the war.

This isn't the time or the place, but, I don't know about that.

[Gentrifier]

goddamn gorgeous! The skin tone and blending on the bottom one -- the bomber -- doesn't seem to work quite as well as the rest, but that's about all I see, other than what's already been mentioned. Fantastic. Keep up the great work!

Alec

[Stugmeister]

Thats some fantastic work sir! I bow to you.

No crits from me - I think the ladies and planes all look wonderful!

[inspector Lee]

Really cool concept, nicely executed.

[Tack]

this is what it's all about! seamlessly pulling together the idea and the artwork :3
*puts them in her inspiration folder too*

[Gavin Hargest]

Wow, so fantastic, so inspirational!

Simply can't wait to see more of these, they are all godly. Love the textures and style going on, gorgeous work

[Mandryk]

hey Gangus, very fun and lively illustrations here - I like the ideas presented. If I could offer a crit, it would be that you should take it easy on your highlights. I know you're going for a high energy look, but you're treading really close to a dodge/burn look...there's so many things competing for attention. It's a minor point - these are well done, and I do enjoy them.

[robinchyo]

Excellent stuff, sir. I love the concept of all these. My favorites are the shark and Japanese Zeros. I just love the colors and the dynamism. Bravo!

[Charlie_2.0]

Astonishing pieces! Mandryk beat me to saying there are too many highlights, but I really don't want to crit such beauty....great work indeed

[Jon Hodgson]

So much nice stuff going on in the painting itself, and a very nice concept? Its a winnah.

I want to see a British one!

[Theo]

watch out for over dodging man!

Great ideas and great compos though! Specially like your belle.

rock on!

[bat]

Very amazing work and an innovative idea. Can't wait to see more.

[JasonChan]

This was a great thread for me to wake up to. You've made my morning

[beckerda]

Wow, those are really good looking, cool idea too.

[A.Grudgfield]

wow.... I cannot believe these, they are absoluelty amazing. The first 2 are absolutely stunning, I almost wanna frame them and hang them on my wall

[carnalizer]

Outstanding idea and execution!

[midknight523]

great!

[Gangus]

Hey CA,
thanks for the feedback on these pieces.

Waffle_King: thanks for the heads up on the Belle arm- she is the most recent one I finished and am still going back into this piece from time to time to add some final polish- will look into your suggestion, thanks.

Gentrifier: same as well- I agree, will add some more colours in her flesh tones to work her into the piece better.

Tack: Thanks! That was the main thing I wanted to do with these -is marry the girls with the subject matter. As I really apreciate everyones warm response to these you hit the nail on the head with what I wanted to accomplish. I didn't just want some pin up chick next to a plane- I wanted them to be more than that- and I think you have gotten the subject matter.
Thanks again.

Mandryk and Theo- I will watch out for the dodge and burn guys- I wanted these to be very etheral and therfore wanted them to have a ghostlike glow to them. However I will keep a keen eye on the opposite ends of the value spectrum. It's not the first time something like this has been mentioned to me. Maybe because I l;ook at the compositions to 'Graphically" breaking artistic rules for my initial print advertising background- making bold strokes for eyeflow, emphasis from contrast of value and colour and overall shelf impact.

manslauter and Jon Hodgson: Don't worry guys-As I had mentioned in the original post this will be a limitless ongoing series for me. Already have a F-190 Flight of the Valkyrie one started for the Lutwaffe. Plus a potential Graphic novel story arc.

Thanks again to everyone else who posted -nice to get such a wide diversity of opinions on these.

Regards,
Glen

PS - Check back in a bit- I will be making some of the changes suggested and adding more of these as I get them done.

[cognition.sb]

Great idea.

Absolutely adore the Japanese one. Will be waiting for more!

[spudstudios]

wow...superb

[Hookswords]

The execution is great,but the concept is what is really excellent. That is an awesome idea. I can wait to see more.

[Jason Snair]

Awesome idea and very well excuted. Damn. I dunno. I think these are some of the most beautifully patriotic paintings I've seen in a long time.

Damn fine work. Any chance we could see some WIPs of these, maybe just one.

j.

[mosquitinnn]

Thanks for sharing , BIG idea! and Great excution! Gangus.

[yonson]

Aviation rant - You didn't do a BRITISH plane. The Spitfire is one of the most iconic WW2 aircraft, and the battle of Britain the most crucial air battle in the european campaign. It's clear you are an american my friend!

BUT - I'm going to let you off because conceptually this is one of the best ideas I have ever seen. I have a few crits over the shininess of the skin in 1 & 4 but I love the texture of the skies and metals. The Shark rocks.

Now let's see that spitfire!

[sourgasm]

i agree with the above post. WW2 aircraft is defined by the spitfire. you gotta do one.

this series is just amazing. every piece is thoroughly impressive. highlights are a little over done in the first one.. but that's just nitpicking. this set is too brilliant to critique and not feel like a jack ass in doing so.

[mconnors]

I agree with Mandryk a bit, but overall its a kick ass concept and nice execution, my only real crit is where is the 1st woman shooting? She should be pointing the gun wheres shes looking otherwise shes just blindly shooting away, actually it looks like shes shooting the plane. I think that's minor though, really nice work. I think the japanese woman is the strongest. My vote for spitfire too.