Contributor Profile

Bio

Alan Daniels was born in Stockport in northern England and studied fine art and sculpture at Maidstone College of Art in Kent. After graduating he travelled extensively throughout Europe.

It was here that he discovered his affinity for drawing heavenly hussies, initially in an erotic Alice’s Wonderland series and then in a more idealised pin-up fashion. These paintings and drawings were exhibited in England and Germany.

He resettled in England and worked for a while on science–fiction paintings for the Young Artists agency and airbrushed pin-up art for galleries and publications such as Penthouse, Playboy, Mayfair, Zoom, Avant Garde, Omni, Club International and Men Only. The connection to California began to form whilst doing work with Paper Moon Graphics in Los Angeles.

While touring America he fell in love with California and moved to a town north west of Los Angeles where the cost of his lifestyle took him so much by surprise he developed his technical illustration style but continued to do science-fiction illustration. The pin-up ladies started to develop futuristic overtones during the work he did for the 1982 science-fiction classic, Blade Runner. However, at this time, the demand for non-erotic artwork was rising and the publishing industry’s appetite for pin-up work was waning. The technical style he’d developed now supported him and many others with illustration work.

Returning to the ladies, they are now somewhat of a contrast to the idealistic airbrush renderings of his earlier work, the atmosphere back then was too antiseptic and failed to leave room for emotion. The darker feeling that’s now very evident in his work is to allow for what is not always apparent.

Initially the girls were perfection, icons drawn from the male fantasy of the female form; now, the “Hussys” are more of the girl next door – people with whom you could hold a conversation. They are not in peril; they are not submissive girls – they are self-assured women with the most interesting forms of soft curves against hard lines.

When producing his sculpture-electronic environmental pieces, the most important ones were always those that appeared in his dreams. Alan’s “Hussys” come to life in a similar fashion, dictating to him how they should look, the attitudes they should possess, and the situations in which they wish to be depicted.

He’s now worked as a commercial illustrator for thirty years, which has provided a very comfortable life but left him precious little time to promote his paintings. He still lives in California with his family, who are an inspiration to the working of his ladies.

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