The Barbaric Pin-Up Art of Shane Glines

Shane Glines is mostly known for his pin-up illustrations, but he cut his teeth working on animated shows like Batman, Superman, Batman Beyond, Justice League, and Harley Quinn. He worked under Bruce Timm for a while, and you can see the similarity in their art styles, as well as how they draw a mix of superheroes and pin-up art. I found him when I was looking for Conan the Barbarian art.

With comic artists like Bruce Timm, Darwyn Cooke, and Shane Glines, it’s fun to pay attention to how they alternate between curving swoops and straight lines. If the triceps bulge, then the biceps are often flat. If the upper arm is straight, then there’s probably a curvier lower arm. If a woman is curvy, she’s probably contrasted against a more angular man.

Glines is still alive and posting. You can follow him on Instagram here. His old Cartoon Retro website isn’t active anymore, so I think Instagram is the best place to keep up with him.

Illustrations

Conan the Barbarian

Shane Glines, Conan the Barbarian. This is an older illustration from 2005. Conan is drawn simply. Very cartoony. But you can feel the masculinity in the angularity. Lots of straight lines. You can see the classic curved triceps and flat biceps, too.

Shane Glines, Conan, 2005. Glines posted this with the year, but I couldn’t find what it was made for.

Shane Glines, Conan, 2005. Another old Conan drawing from the same year. Again, I couldn’t find a commission or publication attached to it. I’m not sure if it’s for anything specific.

Red Sonja

Shane Glines, Red Sonja. Another barbarian pin-up. Check out that arm on the right, with the curves on top, representing the shoulder and forearm, and then the flat underneath for contrast. She’s mostly curves, though, giving her a hyper-feminine sort of feel.

You can see sharper lines on a woman here:

The angularity gives her a much fiercer feel, even though her pose is calmer and shyer.

This is my favourite. The woman is slightly more realistic than in the finished version, but the curves are still pleasantly simplified. You can see how he’s sketched in lines so that he can imagine her in three dimensions. Then, when he cleans up the art, it keeps that structure to it. It keeps that illusion of being three dimensional:

The lines are so simple, but there’s so much volume to her. I love everything else about mid-century comic artists like Alex Toth, but it feels flat compared to this. This is why I’m such a big fan of Timm, Cooke, and Glines.

He’s got a cool halftone texture up there. He talks about it for this other illustration:

Glines says he made the texture by scanning sheets of Zipatone and applying them in Photoshop. Photoshop has halftone textures built in. So do drawing apps like Fresco. But I wonder if going through the extra effort of scanning in actual Zipatone sheets is what gives it that extra edge. The halftone texture on the spiked pauldron looks especially good. Makes me think of Armand Bodnar (Instagram), who also does a bunch of superhero Batman stuff. I wonder if there’s a connection.

This is Slave Leia. She’s fully covered, but you can feel the sexual energy. Contrast that against an artist like Erté, where the women are showing more skin, yet without any of the lust.

I don’t recognize this character. Looks like a mix of Red Sonja and Slave Leia.

Similar idea here. You can see how he’s sketched in some lines to keep track of the structure. So much volume from so few lines.

I’m not sure who this is. She might be on a rock. Not his best hands, and it’s a bit too cartoony for me, but he’s done a great job with all the curves.

Shane Glines, cover for The Art of Shane Glines in Color. Unfortunately, it looks like the book is out of print.

Shane Glines, Gent cover. Girls, glamour, and gags. The pose is pure vintage men’s-magazine pin-up, filtered through Glines’s cleaner shapes. I like how he’s got her wrapped in the petals of a flower.

Shane Glines, Poison Ivy. Glines spent years designing characters for Warner Bros., including shows in the same animated DC lineage as Bruce Timm.

Shane Glines, Bettie Page. Shane Glines often references old pin-up models and photos. That’s Bettie Page there. I’m not sure if he’s referencing a specific photo.

Shane Glines, vintage pin-up study. Here he’s got the reference beside his interpretation. He’s exaggerated all of the curves, making her hyper-feminine. Interesting how he’s also exaggerated the perspective on the dresser.

I love the way the black suit dissolves into smoke. Glines said he couldn’t take credit for the idea because he “swiped” it from an older illustration. He didn’t say which one.

Glines collects the old 1920s flapper art of Ethel Hays, who would often leave out the nose. Women and children tend to have smaller noses than men, so the smaller you make the nose, the more feminine and youthful the character tends to feel. Anime artists are known for shrinking the nose to the point where it disappears, too.

I love the thick black ink in the curtains. He’s getting so much use out of so few lines.

A great example of how much depth he can imply with just a few curves.

Another great example of volume.

Shane Glines, pin-up sketch. Another example of how little information he needs. One curvy line for her entire posterior chain. Look how simple the fingers are, too, and yet they still look great.

Another great example of simple hands and feet that work surprisingly well. The curves of her shoulder are really nice, too, making her feel more womanly.

Really nice point to the feet on this one.

This is a strange one. At first, it looked off. The arms seem broken and disjointed. They aren’t. Just a bit of a weird pose.

I like the mid-century furniture, and I especially love how he’s implied a fluffy carpet with just a few squiggles.

More disappearing noses. I saved this one because I like how he drew the plant. The simple landscape painting is great, too. He’s set a nice scene here.

This is an older illustration from 1993. I’m guessing this is before he settled into his art style. I wonder how much of his style came from his time working with Bruce Timm.

I couldn’t find what this was for. His men wear more clothes than his women, but the narrow silhouette and severe suit still carry a subtle sexual energy.