The first publishers with the brains to realize the average person does in fact judge a book by its cover were the people who published pulp paperbacks. Below are the artists who grabbed your attention at the newsstand and sold countless magazines, paperbacks, and straight-up sleaze. Pulp art sold a hell of a lot of pulp fiction.
Some of these artists are featured in our collection of Pulp Art books and pulpy graphic novels you can check out. Like this list, it will be updated as we discover more books. Also, full disclosure, we are affiliated with Bookshop.org, so if you buy anything on our bookshop page we get a small cut of the money. Bookshop.org teams with local bookstores and small businesses so if you can find it there, it’s better than putting more money in Jeff Bezos’ pocket.
Pulp / Pinup Artists
- Samson Pollen
- Robert McGinnis
- Mort Künstler
- Robert Maguire
- Stanley Borak
- Mitchell Hooks
- Mel Crair
- Norm Eastman
- Gil Cohen
- Earl Norem
- Ernest Chiriaka
- Norman Saunders
- Victor Prezio
- Rudolph Belarski
- George Gross
- Jack Faragasso
- Glen Orbik
- Walter Baumhofer
- Basil Gogos
- Tom Lovell
- James Avanti
- Francesco Francavilla
- James Bama
- The Leyendecker Brothers
- Rafael DeSoto
- Earle K Bergey
- Charles Copeland
- Carlo Jacono
- Jon Whitcomb
- Gloria Stoll Karn
- Rudy Nappi
- Paul Callan Burns
- Alberto Vargas
- Ed Emshwiller
- Sean Phillips
- Enoch Bolles
- Brothers Hildebrandt
- Harry Schaare
- Virgil Finlay
- Bernie Wrightson
- Robert Bonfils
- H.J. Ward
- Coby Whitmore
- Margaret Brundage
- Jim Steranko
- Gil Elvgren
- Peter Driben
- Earl Moran
- Rene Gruau
- Mike Ludlow
- Patrick Faricy
- Paul Mann
- Ron Lesser
- Ren Wicks
- Bernie Fuchs
- Peter Darro
- Edwin Georgi
- Arthur Sarnoff
- William George
- Robert Fawcett
- Walter Stackpool
- Victor Olson
If you see any artists missing that you’d like us to feature, email us at [email protected] – Thanks!
Not Pulp Artists but we still love their work
- Norman Rockwell
- Thomas Hart Benton
- Sally Storch
- Edward Hopper
- Martin Lewis
- Charles Burchfield
- Giovani Baldini
- R. Kenton Nelson
- Niagara Detroit
- Ástor Alexander
- Thomas Ott
- R. Crumb
- Wally Wood
- Will Eisner
Community Spotlight
- Stu Hepcat
- Skye Barak
- Martin Ellison
- Eric Hibbeler
- Mundisa
- Zachary Jackson Brown
If you’re an artist and you want to be featured, email us at [email protected] – or DM us on Instagram.
Other websites featuring Pulp Art
Check out these websites for more Pulp Art:
- Galactic Central – philsp.com – A massive index of Men’s Mag covers, great index for reference.
- Men’s Pulp Mags (Subtropic Bob) – Another heavy hitter when it comes to the breadth and knowledge, particularly men’s adventure magazines. Bob Deis also has books on the subject that are worth checking out. You can find them here, in our online bookstore.
- Pulp Curry – Andrew Nette also has a few books you can check out in our store, here.
- Mort Künstler’s Official Website – It’s hard to pick favorites, but Mort is probably our favorite pulp painter. There, we said it.
- American Art Archives
- Pulp International – A great collection of pulp and smut, updated daily.
- Film Noir Foundation – If you like Turner Classic Movies’ Noir Alley and the host Eddie Muller – he’s the President of Film Noir Foundation, and this is their website. They also have a magazine, Noir City.
- The Pulp.Net – Great website with a lot of information about past pulps as well as New Pulp. They also organize PulpFest — the cool ComicCon.
- The (New) Thrilling Detective – Tons of pages about old and New Pulp. The Word on the Street Section has what’s going on in the world of Pulp Fiction and Mystery stories.
- Stag Mags – A collection of Men’s Magazines from Man’s Action to Playboy
- Illustration Magazine – A publication devoted to American Illustration art. They’ve got some great stuff.
- Vintage Paperbacks – Exactly as it sounds
- Today’s Inspiration – Some deep cuts in terms of artists. This is a good website to discover someone you’ve never heard of before.
- Pulp Covers – A huge collection of Pulp Art that we have often used for our social media content.
- Not Pulp Covers – From the same people as above, just not featuring cover art.
- Tutt’ Art – Pulp art and Fine art
- Vintage Arts and Illustrations – This hasn’t been updated in a while, (but we’re not one’s to talk about updating websites). It’s worth checking out.
- Killer Covers – Very aptly named, these pulp covers are killer.
- Film Noir and Femme Fatales – Great source of noir GIFs and movie posters.
- Old Films Flicker – Old School Hollywood, great stills from movies.
- Greenleaf Classics – Vintage Sleaze galore.
