Thank you all for being so patient. ^_^
[ I will be adding more explanation of this Artwork shortly. ]
~***~
ADDED 04/18/12 at 12:50 pm:
~ * BackStory * ~
About “Feel Out The
Forms” [watercolor on thick-illustration board painting]:
This piece started out with
the pose, as most of my artworks do, because the figure is the
focus... I don't see much of a chance for the scene to be successful
if the figure doesn't have a captivating, appetitive or otherwise –
interesting pose going on (akin to the saying “you can't make a
good painting if you don't have a good drawing” or other variants
of foundational-skill/preparation). After deciding what pose I wanted
to portray I started thinking about the background. I have noticed
that the backgrounds in a lot of homo-erotic/gay art pieces are left
a solid color, or if there is any indication, it seems like an
'after-thought'...I wanted to change this trend –at least in my own
works. Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying I won't ever do a 'simple' background piece ever again, and I can also see the practicality in not spending time on the
background (I even did the 'simple-solution'/'minimal-backgrounds'
myself) when I was busy with my art school course-work, but as I am
working on a piece I start to get antsy, and I start to ask myself
what do I want to 'say' in this little 'stage' --this time? I often jot
down little key-words that pop into my head, and for “Feel Out
The Forms” the words “flourishes”, “home decor”, “whiplash
curls” ,"ornate" and “opulence” came to me. I also wrote “A touch of
feminine with the masculine” and “Textures-fibers-visual
interest” below that on my sketchbook page. I guess this is like my
'road-map' and it is certainly coming 'in-handy' as I am typing
this all out.
About the Designs in "Feel Out The Forms": I didn't just want to make up the designs, so I
referred to a book of Islamic designs for motifs that I fancied. I
eventually found a design that I felt would work well for the wall
border/trim-design, and another design inspired me to create the
“alien-flowers” as I have since dubbed them...they were amongst
my favorite parts during this artwork's progress! Oh, perhaps I
should add a bit about what I meant by “a touch of feminine with
the masculine”: well, I meant that I wanted some soft and delicate
elements to counter-balance/-act the masculine subject and the
highly-erotic action being depicted...I am sensitive to sexism, but I
do think that people generally associate home-decor and furnishings
to originate from women, so this association 'worked' to get me
inspired for the piece.
Other Inspiration/Note-Worthy: I also strongly believe that
my love for the work of Art Nouveau artists, especially Alphonse
Maria Mucha, influenced my the direction my gay works are taking at
present. Mucha always has such ornate and lavish décor surrounding
his 'pin-up' vixens (well, of that era), so I wanted my Male
'pin-ups' to have the same privileges! ;^P .
About the body-type of the
figure: I wanted this piece to have a 'manly-man' –a man with some
nice muscle-y--curves and toned 'meat on his bones'...basically the
opposite of me, as I am a skinny, nerdy man blessed with the
frame of a 'twink' for all time! I guess I could bulk up a tad?! ...but I
will never be the Adonis-like characters many of these leather-daddy
and bondage porn-stars evoke. Oh well, I guess I wouldn't be an
illustrator if I had a bod like them! Heheh! I accept it! Anyway, one
cannot survive on 'twink' bodies alone, so I was much more
'turned-on' by this figure versus a slim one ('this time-around'). I'm also happy that I
decided to add the beard and body-hair to his legs (one of the most
challenging parts of this painting) because I like men with a little
more scruff/edge currently...that and tattoos... (I am strongly
considering doing some pieces with tattooed hunks now) Deee-lish! The
background also started to take on an 'exotic' feel, no-doubt because
of the Islamic motifs, so I wanted the figure to look like he could
be Middle-Eastern or some mixed exotic ethnicity ( I need variety
from time-to-time...what can I say?! :) ).
A few last things: I wanted
to mention my use of pencil in this piece (because I already wrote
out a quick 'blurb' in my sketchbook about it!) Here goes: I'm not
a fan of “goodbyes”. I like to leave my pencil lines and to
not-always re-ink/paint the linear areas of my works because I like
to leave a 'history' of my process...or rather (–more
specifically), of the moment my hand created the lines. I
strongly-feel that it adds “an energy” that I feel
'polished'/'professional'/'highly-finished'/'clean' art pieces
lack...then again I am severely-biased, as my 'love-affair' with all
that IS the simple, iconic, classic PENCIL started long ago! In
short, when I do cover my pencil lines, I do so with much hesitation!
PHEW!
Okay, this IS the LAST
thing: I wanted to mention the term/vocab that is a form of the
pencil drawing + shading before I started to add the Watercolors, and
the term is “Grisaille”, here is the definition from
Dictionary.com:
gri·saille
[gri-zahy,
-zeyl; Fr. gree-zah-yuh] Show IPA
noun, plural gri·sailles
[-zahyz,
-zeylz; Fr. -zah-yuh] Show IPA for 2.
monochromatic painting in shades of
gray.
a work of
art, as a
painting
or stained-glass
window,
executed
in grisaille.
I learned about this in my
1st year of Art School when my Analysis of Form class
visited the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco...it has always
'stuck-with-me', and I wanted to impart this art knowledge to the
masses! ^_^.
I like working on the
shading and establishing the crucial areas, because it really helps
me to achieve more accurate and subtle-details of the male physique
in the painting-stage.
I am so happy that I could
add more of the detail,whimsy, and 'fun' that I enjoy putting into my
non-gay/homo-erotic illustrations, and I hope you enjoyed this
installment!
