masturbation drawings

artwork, NSFW

I’ve spent several sessions over the past two weeks rewriting, revising, and adding to the masturbation book, now titled Born To Sweet Delight. I’ve added sections on Rodin as my life drawing master, and William Blake as our master of joyful sexuality in poetry and life.

I’ve also decided that each section of the book needs artwork on its title page, so I have selecting existing drawings, and making new drawings, to that purpose.

In the past week I have made 8 new drawings for the book, with a few more I’ve decided needed to be added but which I haven’t drawn yet. The book is becoming much more balanced between text and artwork. It seems to me that I have nothing to lose by following the example of existing sex education, massage, and popular sex manuals, all of which tend to be heavily illustrated. People want to see photos or drawings of what the books are talking about. Some of us learn better visually. And the whole point of my book on masturbation is to entice the readers into exploring their bodies in joyful, pleasurable, exciting ways.

So, new drawings.

I still use the line art illustration style I developed when I began doing drawings for this book. Each drawing takes at least two stages to complete. There is the initial line drawing, which in the case of these illustrations I use photo references to make. Then there is the cleanup and finishing stage, which concludes with added the bold outlines to each drawing.

One of the reasons I like finishing this artwork with a bold outline, added using brush pen, is that it makes each drawing stand out. The details within the drawing are done with pen, but the brush pen outlines really catch the eye.

Another reason I like finishing these drawings with a brush pen is that the brushed line allows me to smooth out any rough edges. The body outlines become one smooth, continuous line. My initial ink drawings often have small shifts in touch or tone, or breaks in the line, or rough edges. When I do the initial drawings, I do a lot of short lines, to catch details, rather than lone continuous lines. Finishing with the brush pen smooths all that out. The drawings look less emotionally edgy because the line is smooth.

The type of line you use when drawing greatly effects the mood and emotion of the drawing. I regularly experiment with line to create different expressive effects. For this kind of illustration for a book, I want a more unified look, and a line that makes you feel smooth rather than edgy. I do believe the reader is affected by what they see, and the artwork style is an important element in that visual alchemy.

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