Face Filtration - A Study Companion

The following method of photo study comes from fast-tracked concept artist Anthony Jones, who once said something along the lines of...

"Humans, by default, can only see a certain way. But what if we were like The Predator, and our eyes took in information differently? That's what Photoshop gives you : a second sight."



Here we've run a variety of filters on some faces.

CUTOUT : reduces to simple pattern with minimal color (useful for simplifying values)
PHOTOCOPY : gives "coloring book" edges, eliminates interior noise
THRESHOLD : reduces to on/off pattern, loses edges, consolidates darks (useful in figuring out graphic stamp)
HIGH PASS : shows where the brightest parts of the image are (useful in figuring out highlight options)
MEDIAN : eliminates noise, brings down detail, simplifies colors
MAXIMUM : generates high-key palette
MINIMUM : generates low-key palette
MOSAIC : generates simple palette
POSTERIZE : reduces to simple pattern with minimal color (useful for simplifying values)
CONTOUR : shows edges (useful for seeing shadows)

The next time you do a study from a photo, see if one or several of these filters helps you in your analysis...and try out a few others while you're at it!

Babe Lab Disclaimer : Non-proprietary photos and illustrations featured on Babe Lab appear for the sole purpose of review.

Animal Leg Comparison

This will come as no surprise to the leg fetishist [NOTE : To draw any aspect of a woman well you must first turn it into a fetish.] and is sort of a no-brainer after you've studied even the most basic surface anatomy, but it's important to remind oneself that the limbs taper. It's a quality that can (and should) be exaggerated, even in skinnier women.

Legs -- widest at the hip/glute, skinniest at the ankle
Arms -- widest at the shoulder/deltoid, skinniest at the wrist

This is most noticeable in animal limbs.

As much as I hate to compare women to beasts or meat, it really drives the point home, don't you think?

Porn Caveats -- pt. 1

We've danced around this for long enough.

Babe Lab is going to assume that if you're in the business of pinup art and/or erotica, you've probably had some exposure to porn and use it as reference in drawing the female body. You should only feel ashamed of this if you're stealing the material outright, but even if just using it to study, there are a few things to beware of.

Babe Lab Disclaimer : Non-proprietary photos and illustrations featured on Babe Lab appear for the sole purpose of review.



The above frame was taken from a Jay Sin movie. The first assumption is "Hey, there's millons of frames to pause at, so if I simply choose the 'right' one, I'll be able to trace the outlines and make a perfect picture." Wrong!

Even if you follow all the contours and find all the major overlaps (this can be a fun exercise), you may still encounter tangencies that will wreck your depth illusion. The frame itself might only feature a "tween" action which doesn't convey a clear message. The figure(s) in it may be poorly cropped.  You may also be stuck with uninteresting negative shapes, straight-on camera angles lacking in depth, lens distortion, poor lighting and worse composition.  Further, there may be desirable anatomy that gets washed out or obscured (play up!), as well as undesirable anatomy that's too apparent (play down!).

It's worth your while to determine what's happening in the scene, then re-interpret the elements to best suit that action. You may even need to mentally rotate around the figure(s) to get a better angle.  Recompose!  Learn from your real-life subject and note down things that seem significant!  Don't be a dirty tracer!

The Frazetta Girl - observations on

As the fantasy art world mourns the passing of Frank Frazetta, Babe Lab felt it appropriate to give a reverent nod to The Frazetta Girl.  A complete analysis of his works and techniques could take forever;  he was, after all, a master of many subjects, his marvelous maidens being just one.

Babe Lab Disclaimer : Non-proprietary photos and illustrations featured on Babe Lab appear for the sole purpose of review.



It's clear that Frazetta made up his mind about what he found attractive in women, and didn't bother straying much from this ideal.  He drew what thrilled him.

Physical observations :
-convincing voluptuous fat distribution -- most seen in legs, buttocks, belly, breasts and cheeks
-button nose
-full lips
-long eyelashes
-directional/windswept hair
-pale breasts -- don't see the sun as much
-breasts, in true-to-life fashion, lie on/overhang ribcage -- their shapes stretch, compact, flatten and are otherwise influenced by motion and gravity
-high hip, low hip
-high shoulder, low shoulder
-bent wrists

Technical observations :
-Frazetta wasn't afraid to obscure, either via overlap or shadows.   By remaining suggestive rather than literal, his viewers' imaginations are allowed to take over.  What's lost is subconsciously filled in.
-Frazetta used external elements to frame his girls : tree branches, animals, architecture, shadows, the moon, etc.
-He put heaviest contrast on spots his target audience was likely to be looking (face, breasts, buttocks).
-His volumetric shadow shapes created a design within a design.  Light bounced up into them further emphasized roundness of form.
-When his paint strokes weren't following the curvature of the forms, they were going with the grain of the action.
-His skin tones were, like many other aspects of his paintings, color-rich.
-More slavish detail was given to the focal areas, and was considerably less dense in areas further away.
-His sense of tactility (forms at rest, pressed up against external objects, pressed up against themselves, etc.) contributed to a sense of realism, even with such improbable, heroic subject matter.

The Bettie Pages - Pt. 1

In Dissecting Elvgren Pt. 2 we looked at where and how artist Gil Elvgren edited reality to produce a much punchier illustration. Let us attempt to do the same in this, our first look at one of pinup's most celebrated icons, Bettie Page.

Babe Lab Disclaimer : Non-proprietary photos and illustrations featured on Babe Lab appear for the sole purpose of review.



A quick look at the source photo tells us the narrative : Lingerie-clad Bettie is leaning on a stool, staring down the camera with fierce eyebrows. Her mouth, its upper lip curled, is slightly ajar. Her belly is sucked in. Her pinky finger is extended. Her hands and the back of her thighs are contacting the stool, though she would appear not to be totally at rest on it.



-In our drawing, the problematic rug is removed, as it really serves no purpose here. It creates tangents with the foot, in addition to being a dull parallelogram.
-Tilts in body parts are exaggerated (ribcage, head, hips).
-Liberties are taken with Bettie's anatomy (an act her devout admirers would probably deem blasphemous), especially her breasts, which are used to create stronger overlaps that enhance dimension and break up the surrounding space.
-Her legs are splayed further, though the bend given to her right leg was probably not necessary, as her left is already bent, and some shape variation between the two helps in avoiding cloning. Even so, it's something worth playing around with. Anywhere there's a joint that isn't bearing significant weight, it may be adjusted to suit the artist's fancy.
-Her arm is adjusted for the sake of showing hyperextension and closer contact with the hip. It could have been left as-is, but again, these things are worth experimenting with.
-Pinch-in points from the lingerie are exaggerated, creating delightful pooches of fat.
-In the photo, Bettie is lit from multiple sources, producing crisscrossing ground shadows and some undesirable cast shadows. To simplify, we go with its strongest source, top-left. People are biased towards this lighting configuration, so it's a safe bet.
-Contrast is given mainly to Bettie's head, so that the lingerie, shoes and stool don't steal focus.
-Motion is added to her hair.
-Bettie's ear and earring are so obscured by hair and shadow in the photo that this detail can go away entirely and not be missed.

Dissecting Elvgren Pt. 2 - "Weighty Problem"

Pt. 1 of Dissecting Elvgren made mention of Gil's use of live models and photoref. In Pt. 2, we look to his "Weighty Problem" piece to find out where and how he edited these resources to suit his needs as an illustrator. The narrative here : "Astonished girl is jiggled by an exercise belt."

Babe Lab Disclaimer : Non-proprietary photos and illustrations featured on Babe Lab appear for the sole purpose of review.



Right off the bat, Elvgren is giving us cues to motion that aren't present in the photograph. We see motion blur on her buttocks (second in line as focal, after her face) and the machine (arguably third). Her hair is flung out in exciting directions. She's even been given a dangly earring that sways, a subtle but effective touch (also note the addition of matching bracelets on her right hand). In reaction to this more violent jostling, he's spread the girl's legs apart, stabilizing her.

Elvgren's model, it's safe to say, wasn't posing with an actual exercise belt. This was obviously some jury-rigged, elastic proxy, for which Elvgren later aquired reference. Since it doesn't even appear to be supporting her weight, as a real machine would, Elvgren has made sure to tilt her torso back in the saddle.

The photo was taken in a studio, so all ancillary background elements have been removed in the painting. The lighter backdrop afforded him the opportunity to lose edges. And you can see all tangencies have been neatly eliminated.



There's a general streamlining of form that's taken place. Any blockiness or stiffness of limbs has been softened. The pinched-in areas, not present in the photo, show her skin to be yielding.

Bringing her torso back does 3 things :
-creates a squash just above the buttocks
-brings the arms back, obscuring the breast (which, in this instance, is not where Elvgren wants us to look)
-allows the head raise and tilt

Elvgren rightly chose to make the waist band lighter, so as not to blend into her garters, and to help further round the buttocks in his rendering.

Note the very readable graphic "stamp" of the painting vs. the muddier, incomplete stamp of the photo. The prop is used as a framing element.

Dissecting Elvgren Pt. 1 - "Inside Story"

So begins what promises to be a chain of studies of Gil Elvgren's definitive work in the genre. Babe Lab Disclaimer : Non-proprietary photos and illustrations featured on Babe Lab appear for the sole purpose of review.

We open with this piece, also titled "Over Exposure." Elvgren's narratives are simple. "Inside Story" features a scantily-clad girl sitting on an x-ray table presenting an x-ray of herself. We take everything in at a glance, our eye darting from the girl's quizzical face to her clutched garment, to the x-ray, then finally down to the table.



There's no question that Elvgren's handling of color in the oil medium (dubbed "the mayonnaise school" for its creamy quality) is a key factor in his images' liveliness and appeal, but on this first outing, let's examine the underpinning elements.


-Overlaps sell the dimensionality of the subject before any tone or color is applied. Notice the fun "pooch" of leg where it hangs off the table. This is a delightful use of overlap that simultaneously informs us of the girl's softness.
-There are tactile "contact points" at her chest, the x-ray, the table and her legs.
-Elvgren gave his models props to help tell his stories. The "stage" is set/opened for the prop being displayed, in this case the x-ray. Elvgren has even splashed a spotlight on the prop, further popping it from the backdrop.
-The contrastiest, info-rich areas in the illustration are saved for the focal points.
-The background and the less important props, in this case the x-ray table, are neutral. Detail in these areas is sparse to non-existent. To render the mechanism under the table would have been wasted effort, as the viewer is meant to be looking elsewhere.
-Cast shadows always define -- never flatten -- form.
-We see warm bounced light in the shadows, and a subtle reflection of her body on the side of the x-ray table. It's likely a stroke of Elvgren's genius that this reflection draws our eye to the explanatory text stenciled there. With this seemingly redundant detail in place, there's literally no way to misinterpret this piece.
-We are given a variety of fun angles to look at. Her ribcage and head are facing in opposing directions. Even the x-ray is tilted so that we're not looking at it straight-on.
-The graphic "stamp" of the silhouette reads even without interior details.
-"Holes" in the silhouette are low-contrast, so as not to distract.
-Drapery is treated fairly geometrically, to contrast with the roundness of the girl's features.


-Hair and eyes present opportunities for "lost edges."
-Darks of the eyebrow, eyelashes and pupil are very close in range.
-Overall hair shape is geometric, like foliage on a tree. (Squint at a tree from a distance and you'll see it.)

Here are some drawings done prior to the breakdowns above. Such "master study" reproductions (even when linear or crude) help in digesting an artist's thought process. The more faithful you are, the more you're likely to learn. A color study would have been just as informative, but in totally different ways. Next time...

It should come as no surprise that Gil Elvgren, also a skilled photographer in his day, often employed live models to aid him in his work. Though the models were naturally gorgeous, it was Elvgren's sense of humor and knack for storytelling that made his depictions of them truly beautiful. Once a pinup artist develops their concept and carefully designs their composition, then and only then do they have licence to enlist the service of a model. Elvgren didn't copy; he planned with the intent to communicate and judiciously edited reality in his pursuit of the ideal.