The Garage- Musings of a Blue Collar Pin-Up Artist
http://www.karinadale.com
The Garage- Musings of a Blue Collar Pin-Up Artist
Featured Clients:There Once Was A Girl Named Shirley
So this REALLY interesting woman contacted me a while ago. She is in Iraq VOLUNTARILY, working and actually having a decent time. She wanted me to do a pin-up of her. She was referred by a friend of mine and she seemed a bit apprehensive about the fact that she was older, or something like that. When I saw her picture I was like.... WHAT? SERIOUSLY? This woman is exactly what I imagine when I hear the term cougar mentioned. I was instantly in love with the idea of working for her.
I offered to do a bunch of extra stuff for her to say thanks for being brave enough to be over in Iraq and all. My Significant Other Matthew is military and spent so long over there while we were dating and I know how hard it is. Even if she is working in a palace.
and this is Shirley in real life
She is vibrant, gorgeous, extroverted, and so incredibly nice. She was just a joy to work with. I decided to get a bit of perspective from her and ask her a few questions. This is what she had to say.
I offered to do a bunch of extra stuff for her to say thanks for being brave enough to be over in Iraq and all. My Significant Other Matthew is military and spent so long over there while we were dating and I know how hard it is. Even if she is working in a palace.
and this is Shirley in real life
She is vibrant, gorgeous, extroverted, and so incredibly nice. She was just a joy to work with. I decided to get a bit of perspective from her and ask her a few questions. This is what she had to say.
1. tell us about you, where are you from, and what are you doing with your life right now?
Originally I am from Cleveland Ohio, but moved to Colorado
springs in 1997 where I started down the path of computer help desk
technician. It eventually led me to apply for a job in Iraq because my
job was being outsourced and I thought it would be an exciting
experience. I honestly had no idea what going to a war zone meant, but
even though my lead thought I would never manage to make it here for a
full year, I will have been on this contract four years at the end of
October 2008. I love my job and the people I work with. But I think
it is getting time to go home to my family.
2. When did you first realize you liked pin-ups, what inspired you?
2. When did you first realize you liked pin-ups, what inspired you?
I have a friend. Kim. She sent me a pin-up that you did of her
and I was enthralled. I saw her in it and I wanted to be able to have
something that showed my best features like hers did. She sent me to
you.
3. What are your views on size acceptance, the idea that everyone is beautiful regardless of weight.
3. What are your views on size acceptance, the idea that everyone is beautiful regardless of weight.
In the days of Ruben, I would have been a Goddess. They loved
their women round and soft. I believe I am beautiful and desirable in
spite of the way the media has portrayed beauty. I real man will see
beauty for what it is. Inner strength, character, a big heart and
hope, and all this comes out in a real woman as beauty, with or without
extra weight.
4. How did you find out about Karina Dale, and what inspired you to want to be made into a Dale Doll?
4. How did you find out about Karina Dale, and what inspired you to want to be made into a Dale Doll?
My best friend Kimmy. She was so excited and so thrilled about
her art and I wanted to feel what she felt. She told me I could. All
I had to do was write to you.
5. is there anyone special your going to give your pin-up to? Is there anyone you would like to recognize, thank, or just say HI! to? I have a very special friend I will be sending it to. Someone who has stood by me for the last 10 years. Someone who has been my roommate, my confidant and my most significant other. And I want to thank Kim for sending me to you.
5. is there anyone special your going to give your pin-up to? Is there anyone you would like to recognize, thank, or just say HI! to? I have a very special friend I will be sending it to. Someone who has stood by me for the last 10 years. Someone who has been my roommate, my confidant and my most significant other. And I want to thank Kim for sending me to you.
It feels good to let the world know I am a sexy lady and that I am
proud to be me. I'll be putting this up on my blog, and maybe on a few
dating sites! Think it'll get me noticed? 
Thanks Karina... I am sending a ton of love your way!!
And much love right back to ya Shirley!
You can find out more about Shirley from her blog http://crazyiniraq.blogspot.com/
if you stop by send some love her way!
<3
Karina
And much love right back to ya Shirley!
You can find out more about Shirley from her blog http://crazyiniraq.blogspot.
if you stop by send some love her way!
<3
Karina
Featured Clients: Inkerbella! Pin-Up/ Fetish Model
This is Pin-Up Fetish model Inkerbella.
That super hot Gretsch was provided courtesy of the ever illustrious Zach Heald. He has sexy guitars.
Inkerbella has recently been interviewed by BettiePage.com. She was the interview right after mine. You should go and read it. The interview was great and does a far better job telling you who Inkerbella is than I could ever do!
She is a fetish model, a mom, a pin-up and now a Dale Doll.
Yeah Shayna came up with that. pretty spiffay huh?
Inkerbella got her own banner. She was the first person I experimented on and she liked it so I am going to keep making people Banners. Clicking this banner will take you to her MySpace.
She contacted me after my interview with bettie page.com and of all the people to respond she was definitely the most charming and cute. So I was not incredibly surprised when she was interviewed also. With a request from Shayna I put her at the front of the list of people to draw, and man am I glad I did. She proved to be one of the most inspiring people I have worked with so far!
That super hot Gretsch was provided courtesy of the ever illustrious Zach Heald. He has sexy guitars.
Inkerbella has recently been interviewed by BettiePage.com. She was the interview right after mine. You should go and read it. The interview was great and does a far better job telling you who Inkerbella is than I could ever do!
She is a fetish model, a mom, a pin-up and now a Dale Doll.
Yeah Shayna came up with that. pretty spiffay huh?Inkerbella got her own banner. She was the first person I experimented on and she liked it so I am going to keep making people Banners. Clicking this banner will take you to her MySpace.
She contacted me after my interview with bettie page.com and of all the people to respond she was definitely the most charming and cute. So I was not incredibly surprised when she was interviewed also. With a request from Shayna I put her at the front of the list of people to draw, and man am I glad I did. She proved to be one of the most inspiring people I have worked with so far!
Lookit what Shayna made me!
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Copy and paste the code below for your own Dale Doll Banner! |
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Copy and paste the code below for your own Karina Dale Banner! |
Featured Clients: This is Helen, the Rock and Roll Librarian.
www.karinadale.com
http://www.myspace.com/leatherlibrarian
This is Helen
(Quoted from her MySpace)
http://www.myspace.com/leatherlibrarian
Thank you so much Helen!
And thanks to my readers
!
Karina
http://www.myspace.com/leatherlibrarian
This is Helen
(Quoted from her MySpace)
Librarian by day, Pin-up by night!
I work in a university library during the day, which is actually really fun, but outside of work I'm involved in various bits 'n' bobs. I like to do a bit of pin-up posing and I'm quite vocal about body-positivty - hence my new website, www.pinup-parade.com!
(end quote)
She is quite an amazing woman. I feel lucky to have found her and be able to draw her. Everyone should go and check out her MySpace and learn more about her! You might just fall a little bit in love, just like I have.
http://www.myspace.com/leatherlibrarian
Thank you so much Helen!
And thanks to my readers
! Karina
I was in the BettiePage.com Blog
So it was a weird and fantastic day yesterday. I was interviewed by the BettiePage.com blog.
"Karina Dale, Blue Collar Pin-Up Artist at BettiePage.com"
My whole family read it, all of my friends. Tons of people went and commented and left me notes. People added me on MySpace, People dropped me notes of encouragement. I am really happy!
Its really special to me because I have never gotten any sort of recognition beyond people one on one. I have never complained LOL but I was always passed over in school because my teachers felt that other students needed the encouragement. Other people assumed I was far more professional than I actually was, so I wouldn't appreciate their exposure or I didn't need it. How strange is that?
Either way, I want the world to know that THIS is the first mass exposure I have ever gotten and I am really proud of it. Bettie Page is the worlds most famous Pin-Up and I really appreciate everything everyone has done.
This is exciting.
<3
Karina
"Karina Dale, Blue Collar Pin-Up Artist at BettiePage.com"
My whole family read it, all of my friends. Tons of people went and commented and left me notes. People added me on MySpace, People dropped me notes of encouragement. I am really happy!
Its really special to me because I have never gotten any sort of recognition beyond people one on one. I have never complained LOL but I was always passed over in school because my teachers felt that other students needed the encouragement. Other people assumed I was far more professional than I actually was, so I wouldn't appreciate their exposure or I didn't need it. How strange is that?
Either way, I want the world to know that THIS is the first mass exposure I have ever gotten and I am really proud of it. Bettie Page is the worlds most famous Pin-Up and I really appreciate everything everyone has done.
This is exciting.
<3
Karina
Featured Clients: This is Zach Heald
www.karinadale.com
Zach is an artist and a musician from Livermore California, he requested a commission for the purpose of being made into a sticker for his upright bass. He had some ideas, he gave them to me and I sent him back a couple of rough sketches with some choices he could make. His response was something like "Damn you for making me choose!" lol
Zach is incredibly charming and really generous so I made two similar images for him and printed them both out as stickers.
The quest for good stickers is really what ended up bringing you this website. Through the search I found out I could make my own and make them better than I could order them. So I did, now I sell them.
You will find a version of his commission at The Shop The one you see in the shop is called the Zach Heald pin-up, but he has a version that has different makeup, eyes, and she is sporting matching pinstriped lingerie. His commission is not for sale to anyone else.
You can find Zach at and at www.myspace.com/zachheald and http://z-heald.deviantart.com/
<3 Karina
Zach is an artist and a musician from Livermore California, he requested a commission for the purpose of being made into a sticker for his upright bass. He had some ideas, he gave them to me and I sent him back a couple of rough sketches with some choices he could make. His response was something like "Damn you for making me choose!" lol
Zach is incredibly charming and really generous so I made two similar images for him and printed them both out as stickers.
The quest for good stickers is really what ended up bringing you this website. Through the search I found out I could make my own and make them better than I could order them. So I did, now I sell them.
You will find a version of his commission at The Shop The one you see in the shop is called the Zach Heald pin-up, but he has a version that has different makeup, eyes, and she is sporting matching pinstriped lingerie. His commission is not for sale to anyone else.
You can find Zach at and at www.myspace.com/zachheald and http://z-heald.deviantart.com/
<3 Karina
Where did it all begin?
www.karinadale.com
So where did all this begin?
My Mother would probably blame my fathers easily accessible collection of classic Playboys, or the plethora of Centerfolds hanging in the garage of my youth. My Father would probably say the same thing. Yet there is a well known fact that I rarely subscribe to the circumstance that is most obvious, and I often keep my thoughts and ideas to myself. Since I was such an enigma as a child they might just both decline to comment at all. lol
I'll tell you, yeah, those images intrigued me but they had no context in my life, they didn't look like anyone I knew. They were beautiful, but me? I loved ART. Anything drawn or painted. Anything illustrated like cartoons and comic books. For me the very very beginning was the classic Victorian advertisements.
Those ancient Art Nouveau beauties with their flowing hair, or corsets and big hats. They were all over the antique shop that was connected to the restaurant my mother, aunt, and grandmother worked at. The whole area I grew up in had a big boom in the early 1910's and 20's and then fizzled to a small satellite town that was antiquated to epic proportions. So they played it up for the tourists and the whole place was filled to the brim with antiques and really old STUFF.
I used to go down to the Oakland Trader I think it was called. It was an old corrugated steel warehouse/barn that had been turned into a antique shop. They had prints of Gaslight Players shows and old advertisements like this.
I loved the muted colors and white skin of the models. I could see the dynamics of my hands drawn in their hands. I could see the potential to someday have hair like that (which I do) and to someday know how to paint that way. I followed my interests into old magazines and books at the library, eventually finding the old Gibson Girl ads.
The Gibson Girl, I learned, was THE ORIGINAL pin-up girl. I was about 12 years old by now and I was so library savvy at this point I though "So what in the heck is a pin-up girl anyhow? " and I went and looked that up. I found pictures of Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, and even Betty Page. I found all the artists I would come to idolize like Billy Devorss, Gil Elvgren, George Petty, Earl Moran, Earl Macpherson, and especially Pearl Frush. She had a SUPER photorealistic style and man did I love that. The idea that someone could paint so well you couldn't tell the difference from a photograph. That was amazing.
I like big pictures, you will have to forgive me
So after that I basically had an obsession going for myself. I changed styles when I decided to paint instead of draw in pencil, then I became highly allergic to the paints I used so...I went back to pencil.
Finally after years of thinking I could never really make good color art because of my allergies I found openCanvas for my computer, which has such realistic sketching tools I fell in love. Now I draw my friends, real women I know, as well as I know how, with openCanvas and a 90 dollar wacom tablet. I have nothing fancy, and I don't intend to ever. Did I mention that I am pretty blue collar, I get it done with what I've got, and make do with what I have.
I intend to keep doing this till my hands fall off pretty much, so what about you guys? What made you love pin-ups?
Karina
So where did all this begin?
My Mother would probably blame my fathers easily accessible collection of classic Playboys, or the plethora of Centerfolds hanging in the garage of my youth. My Father would probably say the same thing. Yet there is a well known fact that I rarely subscribe to the circumstance that is most obvious, and I often keep my thoughts and ideas to myself. Since I was such an enigma as a child they might just both decline to comment at all. lol
I'll tell you, yeah, those images intrigued me but they had no context in my life, they didn't look like anyone I knew. They were beautiful, but me? I loved ART. Anything drawn or painted. Anything illustrated like cartoons and comic books. For me the very very beginning was the classic Victorian advertisements.
Those ancient Art Nouveau beauties with their flowing hair, or corsets and big hats. They were all over the antique shop that was connected to the restaurant my mother, aunt, and grandmother worked at. The whole area I grew up in had a big boom in the early 1910's and 20's and then fizzled to a small satellite town that was antiquated to epic proportions. So they played it up for the tourists and the whole place was filled to the brim with antiques and really old STUFF.
I used to go down to the Oakland Trader I think it was called. It was an old corrugated steel warehouse/barn that had been turned into a antique shop. They had prints of Gaslight Players shows and old advertisements like this.
I loved the muted colors and white skin of the models. I could see the dynamics of my hands drawn in their hands. I could see the potential to someday have hair like that (which I do
) and to someday know how to paint that way. I followed my interests into old magazines and books at the library, eventually finding the old Gibson Girl ads. The Gibson Girl, I learned, was THE ORIGINAL pin-up girl. I was about 12 years old by now and I was so library savvy at this point I though "So what in the heck is a pin-up girl anyhow? " and I went and looked that up. I found pictures of Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, and even Betty Page. I found all the artists I would come to idolize like Billy Devorss, Gil Elvgren, George Petty, Earl Moran, Earl Macpherson, and especially Pearl Frush. She had a SUPER photorealistic style and man did I love that. The idea that someone could paint so well you couldn't tell the difference from a photograph. That was amazing.
I like big pictures, you will have to forgive me
So after that I basically had an obsession going for myself. I changed styles when I decided to paint instead of draw in pencil, then I became highly allergic to the paints I used so...I went back to pencil.
Finally after years of thinking I could never really make good color art because of my allergies I found openCanvas for my computer, which has such realistic sketching tools I fell in love. Now I draw my friends, real women I know, as well as I know how, with openCanvas and a 90 dollar wacom tablet. I have nothing fancy, and I don't intend to ever. Did I mention that I am pretty blue collar, I get it done with what I've got, and make do with what I have.
I intend to keep doing this till my hands fall off pretty much, so what about you guys? What made you love pin-ups?
Karina