Thursday, August 13, 2009

Fatale

Another warm up sketch. This time I changed the gender of the dangerous individual. Though I made her a brunette, I suddenly remembered some of the Alan Ladd/Veronica Lake movies I have on DVD. In case you are not familiar with the kind of movies they did together, they were the Bogey and Bacall before Bogey and Bacall. "The Glass Key" and "This Gun for Hire" are a couple of good movies with them. Though Veronica Lake always seemed like she could take Alan Ladd in a fight. :) And speaking of Veronica Lake, wow, she was hot. The first time I ever saw her was in the Steve Martin movie "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid". I had to find out who she was. Not a great movie except in how they managed to put Steve Martin's gumshoe detective in scenes from classic film noir. Best scene ever: Martin with a young Kirk Douglas and a puppy. :) Check it out.

This was done in my sketchbook with ink, markers and some acrylic.


12 comments:

Lan Pitts said...

I think you've been reading my mind. I've been thinking about starting a pin-up sketch book (I've been studying a lot of the Hildebrandt stuff as of late).

Very cool. Love the use of shadows here.

Gene Gonzales said...

Lan - Are you talking about a sketch book to collect pin-up sketches or a sketch book for you to practice your pin-ups? Having a sketch book to work out ideas is always good. I burn through one every 6-8 weeks. Not all of it good, but all of it useful.

Lan Pitts said...

Collection-wise, sir. For practice I use HUGE notebooks.

Gene Gonzales said...

Cool beans! Let the collecting begin! :)

Lan Pitts said...

Oh, it's on, like Mini-MegaCon.

LUD! said...

Gene, I always enjoy looking at your babes, but I'm going to be a bit of a prude on this one (WHAT? I know!)... she's a little too busty for my taste. A true film noir fatale shows enough to entice... not overwhelm.

And you're right, Miss Lake was one of the true film beauties. It's no wonder they based the original Black Canary on her...

Gary M. Peiffer said...

Your warm up sketches are really looking great. I do like pushing the envelope on busty ness

Royce Thrower said...

I saw the Steve Martin flick at the theatre when it debuted and loved it personally. Steve was still very big at the time and the spliced together scenes, while not making a "great" story, certainly were entertaining as you mentioned in your post. Need to dig that up and watch it again. Excuse me while I go and adjust my willie. It got knocked out of whack as I smashed through the window on my entrance. I like the sketch by the way.

Craig Zablo said...

I love it. Mean it.

Brian Jones said...

Really digging these...of course it also helps the dame's a looker ;)
Have not seen Deadmen wear plaid in ages....I remember enjoying it and the puppy scene....pick that up!

Vincent Paul Bartilucci said...

Veronica Lake was a classy lady.

In later years, she appeared on a talk show with a number of other actresses of the Golden Age of Hollywood. At one point the subject of leading men came up and Alan Ladd's name was mentioned. A few of the ladies made snide comments about Ladd's height and how he had to stand on a box during their kissing scenes.

Lake, however, displayed real class by saying that no, Alan Ladd and she were about the same height and he had never needed to stand on any boxes to kiss her. That squelched all the unkind words about the late actor.

The affection she felt for the man was clearly evident. I'll say it a third time .. Class!

Gene Gonzales said...

LUD! - That doesn't make you a prude at all. Honestly I didn't even notice how busty she was until you pointed it out. I think I took all of 30 minutes on this and didn't look back. :) Thanks for posting!

Gary - I'm glad you appreciate the bustiness. Thanks! :)

Royce - It is amazing that the movie was made in 1982. Before all the digital fx they can do now. I think it was just great editing, splicing and research. And I forgot about that line. How about getting shot in the same place each time? And Rachael Ward's ability to extract the bullet. ;)

Craig - Thanks!

Brian - Great scene. I came across the original Kirk Douglas film they used on some late, late show. For the life of me I cannot remember what he really referenced when he pointed at the floor and said "pick that up".

Vincent - Cool story. She had a rough life and sometimes people who have it like that tend to lose that kind of heart. I read about her quite a bit way back when. Had a bit of a crush on her. Another movie I really liked her in was Sullivans Travels. Great movie if you want to see what so much of this country was like at the time. Thanks!