Film Noir Babeby `Laurazee

Traditional Art / Paintings / People

Acrylic and Sharpie on 90lb paper, 12" x 9"

This is a different one for me, but a friend needed a classic Film Noir illustration to advertise a graphic novel course. I did a quick search here on dA under "Film Noir" and came across Scott Blair's rather perfect image.

It has the classic Film Noir elements: stark lighting -- often stripey, as in a jail cell or moonlight filtering through Venetian blinds, a femme fatale, a gun, and bullet holes. That's all you need to tell the story, right?

I needed a break from my latest Vancouver scene and opportunities to do stuff that's as cool as this don't come along too often.

So a few hours later, I revamped* Scott's image: thematically, I kept the gun and pose and the bullet holes, but made the girl a blonde*² Angelina-esque Superbabe with red nails and lips, a little less cleavage, and no cigarette*³. Then I added a heavy dollop of Frank Miller-esque black and white with a touch of neon red for the nails and lips.

Funny. In the 80s, I did a ton of one-eyed babe illustrations, so this was almost like a homecoming. And it's so refreshing to do something different!

*Blatantly ripped off
*²I'm a practicing brunette, so blondes seem more fatale-ish and dramatic to me.
*³Yes, cigarettes are totally Film Noir. However, it would have been irresponsible to portray smoking in an ad targeted to 18-22 year olds.