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Airbrushing Contemporary Nudes With Style


Hugh Owen Porter was born in Toronto in 1967. His mother is a New Yorker so that makes him half-American but he cheers for Canada in ice hockey championships. Hugh has lived in Toronto and Washington D.C. but spent most of his life in Hamburg, Germany (and got married in Denmark). He plans to move to Vancouver Island when his wife has finished at the university.


I used to paint surrealistic paintings as I admire Magritte in particular. After some unproductive times I came across a book on the art of Olivia in 2000. That was truly inspiring, I have spent the last five years concentrating on painting pin ups. I usually paint with oils on canvas with brushes, I don't feel very comfortable with an airbrush yet. Some things are done on computer and are mostly sketches that just got out of hand. Painting on computer can be so much fun.

What I enjoy painting most are women adapted to a comic book ideal of anatomy unfortunatly not found in nature. The pink haired lady my wife called Candy has since seen many painting and drawing sessions. She has become my mascot for my website, while giving me an excuse to draw a babe with a huge chest.

was born in Toronto in 1967. At the age of six I moved with my family to Germany. After graduating from the international school there in 1986, I moved to Washington D.C. for a year before moving on to Guelph (canada), where I studied art history at the university of Guelph for two and a half years. 1990 I moved back to germany. In 1994 I married my german wife in Hoyer, Denmark. We now live in a tiny village 80 km east of Hamburg.

In school I was a great fan of the fantasy artists that painted the covers for Dragon magazine like Elmore and Caldwell, and of course Frazetta and Vallejo who split most of the fantasy book covers between themselves. In university I became an admirer of the surrealists, especially of Rene Magritte. His sense of humor appealed to me and he impressed me by his mild manner. I find divas that believe to be the center of the universe, rather annoying, as I am sure most people do.

Artwork should not require any explanation by the artist. The viewer should be able to contemplate the painting without the assistance of the artist. The effect a painting has on people varies anyway. To say one interpretation is correct and another false is ludicrous. The only people that talk more bullshit than the "modern" artists are the artcritics. Their own eloquence surpasses their good judgement. So please make up your own mind.

In 2000 I came across a book with the art of Olivia de Berardinis. The impact she has had on me is obvious. Since then I have looked at a lot of pin-up art from the 1930's up to today and have concentrated my efforts to establish myself in this art niche.

My pin-ups fall into two categories. There are those where I attempt to paint what is in front of me in a realistic manner and those where I distort the figures to a typical comic book ideal. I have to admit that the latter ones are more fun to paint and my favorites are almost all from that category. This also led to the creation of the pink haired comic charachter I call Candy. She is obviously a mix of american comics, japanese manga and my own tastes and maybe someday I'll present a comicstrip with her, but don't hold your breath.

My favorite media is oil painting. I love standing in front of a canvas, creating an image that is all my own with tools that are centuries old. The feeling when signing a finished painting is overwhelming, but you are never satisfied yourself. It could always be better.

My wife gave me an airbrush and a graphic tablet for christmas 2002. I am having trouble with the airbrush. It makes a mess and takes forever but I will try to keep at it. The graphic tablet has been a real treat. Everybody that draws should buy one. It is truly amazing what can be done, or undone, in photoshop. It has almost completly replaced my sketchbook. It is also treacherous, if you do not stop going into ever more detail you can spend just as much time as for a painting.

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Hugh Owen Porter

Hugh Owen Porter