To Boobie, or not to Boobie?
Sunday, August 24th, 2008
Let’s get this out of the way as fast as possible. I like boobies.
When I draw, I don’t draw for you. I draw for me. I’m selfish that way, but I think of art as a sort of therapy. The world closes off and I get absorbed in my work. Sometimes I make great art decisions and I’m ecstatic, other times, it’s… not so good and I have to start over or try another technique. A lot of my art has boobies in in though, and let me tell you, if you’re the least bit prudish, boobies are the least of your worries.
The problem is, I want to share what I do with others. Do I risk embarrassing them or embarrassing myself? The best result is that if they’re not offended at all and enjoy the work – the worst is they condemn me to who-only-knows where and banish me (though I’m not sure that’s entirely the worst, that at least comes with entertainment packaged right in).
I think the problem I struggle with is legitimacy. There’s a raunchy quality to some of the pieces I do, pornographic is the word. Can an artist be taken seriously, even if it’s porn? I’d say it’s possible, but the quality of the art should be flawless in execution and style – anything less would be perceived as amateurish. That would put me in the dreaded realm of furry art. I am forced to admit some of it is very good as far as execution and style, but guess what? It’s still furry art.
Something I have discovered about myself though, I have no eye for fashion, or rather, no eye for coming up with something fashionable. Costume design is way beyond me, but I feel I have a grasp on anatomy well enough to distort it to my own style. When I have a director, an outside influence, or even a reference to copy, things turn out quite well. I still put my own slant on it, and it invariably turns out dirty, but if the subject is wearing clothes, the piece gets a nice bump from porn to erotic. That’s an excellent neighborhood to be in. With erotic, you can still flash a nipple or any other naughty bit and still be not unacceptable. Erotic carries with it the connotation of class. The best example I can think of is the pinup girl. Well-executed forms, clean style, and
Pinup style isn’t my primary influence, but I will say it’s my latest direction to strive for. Now, I still make a porntastic piece more often than is probably healthy (or is it exactly as often?), but I try and that’s important. To be clear, my first influence is Bruce Timm of DC Comics and Batman: The Animated Series. You know the one. Whenever I feel I’ve gone astray or don’t like where I’m going, I look at his stuff old and new and study it.
But does this shift in focus lead down something more insidious like self-censorship? It all depends on perspective I guess. Like I said before, “I make art for me,” but I really like it when you like the art that I make. The acceptance and praise I receive for a good piece is much better for me than the relaxation I get from the craft. In order to make the art that you find appealing, I need to make my it more accessible.
I can happily say though, regardless of content, my technique is always undergoing refinement and evolution. My drawing tablet is a great investment, but I still use the mouse for more mechanical actions like clicking on menu items or choosing options. It’s hard for me to join the abstraction of the absolute screen-space to tablet-space, when I have a mouse cursor that’s relative.
