Pin-up art, more specifically pin-up girls, are everywhere. They can be as subtle as cherubic smiling faces on ads adorning skyscrapers in the heart of Times Square to models in raunchy clothing with smoldering looks to paintings of elegantly clad females in provocative poses to comic-like drawings of women with superhuman proportions.

One way of identifying a girl in pin-up art is that they are scantily clad or show more skin than is deemed necessary by traditionalists. Such forms of art are also informally known as "cheesecake."

Nowadays, technology enables most artists to digitally visualize and enhance their craft. They have the ability to take a model and airbrush out her blemishes, give her a boob job on paper or on screen, reduce wrinkles and reshape her waistline. Women, in a way, are not truly appreciated for their beauty, which shines forth from within.

Pin-up art reached its height in America during the WWII era. Women, whether in opposition to their gender roles or outright rebellion, permitted themselves to be models. Artists who painted them were enthralled by such women's beauty, boldness, and most importantly, their femininity. They've done their best to capture the playfulness, coyness, coquettishness, flirtiness, tigress, vixen, and even the bitch in these women - anything that drew out their unique power to subjugate a man.

One who still adheres to the integrity of pin-up art is Armando Huerta Arellano. Born in Mexico in 1969, Armando attended Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana until 1993. He currently lives in California and can be decreed a self-made man in that he taught himself the techniques of the pin-up artist he admired the most and built his skills around it. He had his stint with Playboy Magazine and Coca-cola in terms of his graphic design work, but he gave them up for his pin-up freelance job. The conversation was revealing in relation to his views on women, his love and respect for the female form, his take on American politics and societal views of his type of art.

What was most interesting, though, was when he lamented the turn pin-up art has taken in the new millennium and his desire to bring it back to its original form. He anticipates the day when women are not portrayed as mere sex symbols and seen only for their body. He desires to take pin-up art to a higher level and hopes people can see the subtle beauty in women - and not just their rack.

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SEXHERALD: What made you interested in pin-up art?

Armando: When I was in school for graphic design, I've read many books of other artists, like Giger, Gil Evgren and Sorayama, who was famous in the '80's and '90's. I was impressed by their use of airbrush in all their art, which was realistic. So, while aiming for my degree, I taught myself their airbrush techniques as a hobby. It wasn't something I did seriously. But, then I realized I had 20 to 30 paintings in the house. I gathered them and sent them off to different publishers. And that was that.

SH: Why do you consider Sorayama the "Master of masters" of pin-up artists?

Armando: I personally think he's the best of them all. He has a book with a set of instructions on how to imitate his techniques in the back. I learned his techniques by copying and following those instructions. He uses a realistic brush-painting technique and rarely uses airbrushing. Even then, he uses them as finishing touches. I use more airbrushing because Sorayama's technique is extremely difficult to follow. He applies fresh ink, and someone with less than stellar skill can easily mess it up, because the ink is wet and dries too quickly. It's difficult to handle.

SH: Apart from technique, why women? Pin-up art is basically about women. Drawings of women. Some people, mainly feminists and lesbians, would see such things as women being objectified. As an artist, how do you view the things you do? What do you like to capture in your paintings?

Armando: : I like to do what Sorayama did to his work. They were realistic - they came off the pages. I was more impressed about his technique than the women. It was amazing how a person could paint like that. To the point where even the subjects' essence were captured and a moment was stilled. In the beginning, I was afraid of doing something like pin-up art. I never dreamed of doing anything like it. It made me afraid to do something so radical. Then I saw Sorayama's art and his realistic and ethereal rendering. He made it beautiful and I was inspired. And I wanted to inspire and awe others the way he [Sorayama] did to me. I was looking for realism. Sexuality came later.

SH: Pin-up art is considered erotic. What are your thoughts on that?

Armando: I'm concerned about the eroticism of it all. For me, women are the most beautiful creatures on Earth. I don't find any other subjects as interesting as women. I don't like to paint cars, airplanes and things like that. I just like girls, women. It's my intuition in art.

SH: On your website, there was a tagline that read, "Better nasty than sexy." Is that a mantra you abide by in your paintings?

Armando: That's my motto in my more hardcore kind of paintings. I don't like that word 'sexy' because you can use that word for anything, like sexy clothes, sexy fork, whatever. 'Sexy' is now not a good word to describe the erotic, or any form of art. Your grandma could walk up to you and say, "You look sexy," or your grandma could look sexy and you can tell her that and she may not feel like a sexpot. Ya know?

SH: So, no 'sexy' in your work...

Armando: I don't like the word sexy and I don't like to paint it. That's why I admire Sorayama so much. I emulate him because I think we're the only pin-up artists who don't necessarily try to capture 'sexy.'

SH: What do you call the portraits of women with "come hither" looks and more than proportionate breasts?

Armando: In the beginning, it wasn't always like this. Unfortunately for me, I have to do things that are more sexy, or I have to deal with pissed-off people who want more of that. It's hard to sell a painting without the sexy.

SH: I see.

Armando: It's not my preference. I don't think it's time yet for just art, basic art. There is a time and place for it, just not now.

SH: Not the time?

Armando: Yeah. People have come up to me and complimented me on my art and requested some. They say they'd love to hang up a piece or two in their bedroom, but it's not too hardcore. They ask me why I don't do more of women in bikinis or just wearing g-strings. Now, I have to only do that because it's my way of life. There's no turning back. It's how I pay the bills.

SH: Have you ever been approached by a woman's rights activist or feminist?

Armando: I've never met any of them. I haven't been called a pig or anything like that. When I drew one of the models, she actually told me it was too soft-core. She didn't feel attractive. She asked me to do it more hardcore.

SH: You can say the woman might feel it to be more liberating, especially having to grow up in an environment with puritanical values.

Armando: Yeah, I'm living now in America. I've been living here for a year now. The people here are cold and inhuman. They're not too open. I was thinking all this was in the past. I mean, I've lived all my life in Mexico, and in Mexico, you can talk about sex and nobody cares. You can have porn magazines in your bedroom and nobody cares. America is supposed to be about freedom, so it's really weird.

SH: Yeah, there are some who can be uptight about sex.

Armando: I'm not trying to offend women with my art. I'm not one who creates human body. If you want to complain to someone, then do it to God. He's the one who created the tits, the pussy, the butthole, everything. I'm just trying to paint what I like.

SH: Hey, who's to tell you what's art and what's not.

Armando: I'd really prefer to be someone like Jenna Jameson; someone who has nothing to hide or be afraid of.

SH: And like Milla Jovovich? I hear that's your favorite woman in the world.

Armando: I love her.

SH: She's become a recent sex symbol amongst men. What do you like about her?

Armando: I like her hair, her eyes, her smile. Her voice is key. She speaks and can ask me whatever from me. Also, I adore women with light, pale skin. I paint a lot of blondes because that's what people want and buy. I would like to do more brunettes and redheads. I find them equally attractive as blondes.

SH: I noticed there's a lot of leather, metal and a futuristic feel to your work.

Armando: Yeah, I like bondage style in my art. I'm not personally into bondage; I'm just a regular guy. I don't have any of those leather outfits. But, I like all the things associated with bondage, like the electrical stuff, flash, the techno/hardcore beats. I focus my art in bondage instead of traditional attire. Can I ask you a question?

SH: Sure.

Armando: As a woman, what do you think of my art?

SH: I'm a huge reader of graphic novels or comic books. Your work sort of reminds me of them, especially the women with the overemphasized breasts. Why do you think they draw women like that in these novels or books?

Armando: Comic books were actually one of my biggest influences as an artist before I learned how to airbrush. I wanted to be a comic book designer. Marvel changed the face of graphic novels when X-Men came out because the characters' bodies were drawn differently. They were more powerful, more sexy, more attractive. Before, they were all gross. I try to portray the girls more powerful, whether in their eyes, their smile, their body, instead of painting them dumb. I really like it when you tell me my work looks like it has some comic-book influences because that's what I strive for.

SH: Glad to be of service. What do you like most about what you do?

Armando: I have a graphic design degree and I have a job that works more like a hobby. I make a living out of this, but it's more of a hobby to me. I love what I do. It's the women, it's the art, it's both.