Tu Bei is a US concept artist and illustrator, with an array of gorgeous and diverse work to be viewed at Art Of Tu — artoftu.com. Here are just a few examples, above a character design concept, and below, three pieces from Tu Bei’s “Noir Series”.
Braithwaite’s Gangsters
“Gangsters Showdown” by Australian artist Shane Braithwaite.
Art Of Levi
From Montreal, Quebec concept and matte painting artist Levente Peterffy (formerly from the UK, I think), whose artoflevi.com site is full of stunning work. I’ll share the most ‘noir-ish’ piece from the galleries, a panel from an Avalon graphic novel.
Noisette’s Diner Meeting
“Diner Meeting” by French artist Edouard Noisette. My question: Is he about to whip a gun out from under his suitjacket? Or more likely, does she have a nice compact .22 tucked inside her purse? Who nows, but lets assume sparks are gonna fly one way or another in this greasy spoon before anyone gets a chance to order.
Guillem’s Femme Fatale
It’s titled, simply enough, “Femme Fatale”, and clearly it was fatal.
A darkly beautiful bit of art from Barcelona, Spain artist/illustrator Guillem H. Pongiluppi. To learn more about the artist and his work (mostly concept illustration and excellent fantasy style work), go to the artist’s website at guilluemhp.com.
Walter Stackpool’s Larry Kents
England had Reginald Heade, Australia had Walter Stackpool.
Australian artist and illustrator Walter Stackpool (1916 – 1999) grew up in Queensland and, armed with a scholarship, set off to study art at the Queensland Art School in 1939. But he never finished the course, signing up for the army instead once WWII broke out. After the war, he quickly found work as a sought-after illustrator for book covers, well known for his many, many westerns done for Cleveland Publishing Company, as well as the Invincible Mysteries series in the early 1950’s, and especially the popular Larry Kent series from the mid-1950’s clear through the 70’s. More about that hard-boiled P.I series soon, which ran about 400 titles!
A diverse talent, Stackpool was also a popular children’s book illustrator, and later in his career, a respected wildlife artist. Here are three paintings which I believe are all from the Larry Kent “I Hate Crime” paperback originals series, including “It’s Hell, My Lovely” from 1960 (at the top), “Homicide, Sweet Homicide” from 1959 above, and “The Pushover” from 1963 below.
Krysdecker’s Lethal Ladies
Look for Krystopher Decker’s work at Art Station and DeviantArt, where the artist also goes by ‘Krysdecker’. He’s facile as can be with superheroes, fantasy pinup style art and even a vampire or two. Now I tend to scroll right past the winged amazons and capes-n-tights crowd, no surprise, but can appreciate his darker spin on Resident Evil’s Ada Wong above, and Natasha Romanova/Black Widow below.
I Was A Hideout Honey
As is often the case with vintage pulps, it’s not always clear which of the bloodcurdling or teasingly sexy stories the cover art actually depicts. Face it: Sometimes the cover art was commissioned or purchased without any regard for that issue’s individual stories, or before they were even written.
Here, I’m going with “I Was A Hideout Honey” from this 1951 issue of True Cases Of Women In Crime. The classic Howell Dodd gouache illustration (I’ve also seen it credited to George Gross…couldn’t be, though. Right? Experts, please correct me if I’m wrong!) is crammed full of every genre trope and cliché you can ask for: Cigarette dangling from his lips, a bad guy smirks while he fingers his .45. The end table’s littered with an empty glasses, another cigarette smoking away in the ashtray, so you can almost smell that dingy old room. On the divan, the ‘hideout honey’ herself glances his way, resplendent in her filmy negligee, lacy black slip, coyly fussing with her nylons. Who knows what crime’s gone down already or is about to be committed, but Dodd sure nailed it all with this cover art.
The End Of The Line
Gorgeous vector art from Mike Mahle, this piece called “The End Of The Line”
