Creative Inspiration: The Cowboys at the Rodeo

On Saturday I headed up to Shawnee Mountain in the Poconos with my friend Mark.  We had such a great time checking out all the handsome men. 

It was very inspirational, to say the least. 

Pigskins and Foreskins

While “Pigskins & Foreskins” is not my best work, it is the piece with the most emotions attached to it, both happy and sad.

As I mentioned in one of the previous posts, I had been shopping my artwork around to some of the gay publications in New York City.  It was early summer 1996 and one of those appointments was with the art director at Maverty Media Group, Ltd., which published numerous gay magazines such as: Playguy, Torso, Honcho, Inches and Mandate.  I didn’t leave that appointment with any freelance work, but I did receive a phone call a few weeks later regarding an assignment for Torso magazine.  The art director told me about a manuscript (aka erotic story) that needed an illustration.  I jumped at the opportunity to have my work published and went into Manhattan to meet with him.  The name of the story was “Pigskins & Foreskins” and dealt with a coach and his football team.  I was thrilled!  Not only was I given an erotic story to illustrate, but it was a full page / full color assignment.  WOW!  I had landed my first homoerotic illustration job and it was fully loaded…literally!  I was so excited to have this opportunity…I couldn’t believe what was happening. 

At that time, having spent nearly a decade employed as a full time designer, I was working from my home studio in Northern New Jersey as a freelance artist/illustrator/designer. I shared that beautiful home with my then partner of nearly 8 years.  While I was so excited to create the work you see above, I had no idea my world was about to be turned completely upside down.  As we approached the end of the summer, the illustration deadline was drawing near, and unbeknownst to me, so was the end of my relationship.  With the money earned from the Torso illustration, I took us out for a wonderful dinner overlooking the Manhattan skyline to celebrate this milestone in my career.  The illustration had been handed in and I was ecstatic, however, it seemed like I was the only one at our table who was celebrating.  I noticed my partner was miles away from the conversation and even further from celebrating this incredible moment with me.

As much as I wanted to pursue a career as a homoerotic illustrator, sadly I needed to find a full time job, pack up my belongings, pack up my studio and find a new place to live.  The joy I had for landing my first homoerotic illustration quickly turned into sadness beyond description.  My relationship was broken beyond repair, as I began to discover my partner preferred countless anonymous encounters in the woods of the South Mountain Reservation over what we had worked so hard to build together.  As the weeks went on, I was repeatedly stunned at the scope of his transgressions and infidelity.  Heartbroken was an understatement.  You see, years before we had made a monogamous commitment to each other…but I was unaware of the change in status he had brought upon our relationship.

Needless to say, this was a very difficult time in my life.  I had to pack my belongings, move from our beautiful home, leave my relationship of 8 years and find a job all at the same time.  I started working as a full time designer on Friday, November 1^st and moved out on Saturday, November 2^nd. 

As they say, that was a lifetime ago.  Yesterday, September 15, 2012, was the one year anniversary of this blog!  Woo-Hoo!  I’ve posted much of what I created, getting me to the point of having my work published in Torso magazine.  I have tried to give you an idea of my creative process and my peaks and valleys that I have traveled to get me to this point.  “Pigskins & Foreskins” was printed in the December issue of Torso magazine in 1996.  I was beyond thrilled to see my artwork published along with my name next to that work.  I had great joy and was very proud.  All the painted pieces (Princess, Nagel Boy, Tex, International Male) motivated me to hire a model which inspired me to create all those hybrid pieces (The Sweat Shop, Vested, Treasure Trail, Gay Pride, Scruff and Blue Collar).  And it was those early works that prompted the art director to offer me the magazine illustration.

Hybrid

You’ve all read about my “hybrid” pieces.  Those are the works that were created traditionally (with pencils, paints, brushes and on actual paper) back in the 1990’s and either completed or modified recently using Photoshop.  Some of the original works were taken to completion with full color, while others just remained black and white line paintings (India ink on bristol paper) waiting nearly two decades for color to be applied. 

Probably the most modified painting from the 1990’s is “Blue Collar”.  I thought I would show you the (untouched) before (1994) and the after (2012).  You can see just how much the piece has been changed.  The most obvious modification is color.  Then perhaps comes the details such as facial hair, body hair and tattoos.  Almost 20 years later, I went back into the piece to correct the original painting, making the drawing more accurate.  I made his hand larger, lowered the placement of his ear, put more detail in his ear, tweaked his nipples making them larger and made the profile of his face more accurate to the model’s facial structure.   

There are many benefits to using Photoshop during the creative process, but one of my favorite uses is applying color.  As you can see from the 1994 painting, sometimes the color does not always dry even.  This was always a big concern for me.  Being a perfectionist, I wanted the color to be flat, even, consistent and flawless.  You could mix the paint to the perfect consistency, you could make sure your best brushes were cleaned and ready to go, but that didn’t guarantee a flat and even finish to the color.  With Photoshop, the color application is flawlessly flawless each and every time.