Yay! My very own Joeboy!

All the way from ComicCon in San Diego... after what felt like an eternity, it finally arrived in my mailbox yesterday. Boys will be Boys: Extended Edition by Joe Phillips. The photo above shows a special treasure inside. My very own Joeboy, even looks a bit like me. OK - maybe when I was a bit younger :)

There is something so awesome about receiving gifts from far away places. After a little disagreement with the South Africa Postal Services - firstly over the actual arrival of the parcel and secondly involving a frantic search for the incorrectly stored item - they finally gave it to me.

Trembling with excitement all the way back to the car, I could not wait to open it - but had to wait a bit longer to get through the strong packaging. Inside was the book, a Joe Phillips Calendar and a comic book from ComicCon.

So I just thought I would share my happiness. And, to the person that made this possible, I can never thank you enough...

See more of Joe Phillips' artwork on his website: JoePhillips.com

Quick Anatomy of the Back

One of my good friends was kind enough to create and send me this brilliant guide to the Anatomy of the Back. We are not allowed to perv over the images... it's all in the name of research you know! Enjoy!

Altar Boy

Not really an altar boy... but he has a sweet naughty smile that looks like honey could not melt in his mouth. Drawings get very dirty during sketching. Usually I clean up the whole thing but this time it reminded me a bit of a halo so it was left on the outside.
Pencil drawing on A4 paper. Hope you like...

Just a little survey...

Here is your chance to participate in the future of this blog. Let me know which topics would you like to see explored more often on Drawfellas. The last one isn't really an option 'cos I know you want more of that :)

a. Drawfellas art
b. Art by other artist
c. Art teqniques and tutorials
d. Male art photography
e. Male anatomy for reference
f. News etc. about South Africa
g. South African guys
h. More nekkid dudes

Francois Sagat Smiling

Just a little homage to that handsome French guy, Francois Sagat. Can't say to much about him as I don't know anything except that he seems like a really good guy. What I do know for sure is that he is to me the ultimate modern specimen of the male ideal.

Strange thing is that I have never seen any of his movies, only photos, but I like how he has also used his talent for other endeavours and inspired numerous artists. He obviously has a creative streak himself. Visit his blog and see for yourself...

How did you find Drawfellas?

How bizarre... Over the last 7 days, you have found Drawfellas via Google looking for the following search terms:

fella (857)
jacques sultana (84)
muscle art gallery (48)
hairybears (35)
hottlead (30)
human anatomy lessons (20)
figure study (16)
jacques sultana (16)
humplex (14)
jungle boy (13)
jacque sultana (10)
male artist background (10)
the humplex (9)
how many male are there in gauteng in the mid 2007 (7)
philip swarbrick (7)
cast of the loin king (6)
jockstrapped (4)
i've graduated at the (4)
drawfellas (1)
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Philip Gladstone Fine Arts

"The Cellist Elevated by His Bath", Acrylic on Canvas

Philip Gladstone lives and works in a home on a quiet lake in rural northwestern Connecticut and spends his days at home with his family and, of course, painting up a storm. His work is available on E-Bay - buy some before I buy all of them (I wish - maybe one day when I can afford US dollars). Visit his amazing galleries: Philip Gladstone Website and Blog.

Portrait of Alex

Just some practice with ink... fine black ink pen on A4 white paper. The textured paper was added later in Photoshop. I don't know anybody called Alex... the name just popped into my head and stuck.

The quest for art that excites...

At the moment, this artist is still learning to produce pretty pictures of attractive guys. It dawned on me recently that in order to ultimately produce memorable works of erotic art, I will need to investigate the very definition of the concept.

Erotic art was one of mankind's first handicrafts. The Paleolithic "Venus of Willendorf" with her "unbridled erotic force" is considered a traditional symbol of potency, more than a work of art. Today, the term erotica is often seen as neutral or even good, while pornography is always bad. Finding a workable definition of erotic art seems tricky. It seems to have a lot to do with chemical desire and concerned with sexual stimulation, or arousal.

Freud is famous for his theory of the Id, Ego, and Superego. Later in his career he scrapped this theory and supplanted it with drive theory. He said that everything boiled down to twin urges toward Eros and Thanatos, best translated as pleasure and aggression. So erotic means the desire of pleasure, and only sometimes sexual pleasure - or in the case of art, art that evokes desire. Simple pleasures can have sexual overtones. One example is the zipper - considered quite erotic when it was introduced. Opening something is inherently pleasurable, for example, unwrapping a gift.

Morality or drawing the line between the "erotica" and "pornography" is not the goal of this post, however "erotic art" seems to hover somewhere between these concepts. The definition is highly subjective, varies for different cultures, and changes globally every year. Luckily each person can decide for themselves what they consider to be art and whether they find it erotic or not.

We have become bombarded with an daily avalanche of images, it becomes hard (no pun) for aspiring artist like myself to produce art that still touches us where it counts. How do I translate the erotic charge or thrill of a glimpse, stolen in the locker room and share that experience through my work, while still keeping it in the domain of "popular" art.

So erotic means the desire of pleasure, or in the case of art, art that evokes desire. The successful artist should give us enough hints to allow the viewer to find the erotic in the work.

Just some of my thoughts... Let me know yours.

Related Links:
Wikipedia: Erotic Art
Wikipedia: Erotic
Wikipedia: Homoeroticism

Drawfellas Studio

More of a desk really... its not always this tidy. The metal tin keeps all my pencils and other bits away from the cats. They like to play with them and hide them from me. In the other tin you can see a large soft brush used to remove eraser filings from the drawings.

My favorite drawing tools - some pencils, erasers and an erasing shield. The cotton buds and compressed paper stick is used for blending and the bulldog clips keeps sketches in position.