A-Z of Fetish Artists - Soto

Soto - The River Ordeal

Soto usually depicts fantasy beasts being beastly to each other, as in the HellBoy stories, which is not my normal stamping ground for this series. He also uses computer assistance in finishing his work but I'm giving him a mention for his human drawings. This sketch of a man who has just been spanked with an oar over a upturned boat certainly qualifies as fetish art. I love the designer G-string dangling from the oar as supplementary evidence of his humiliation.

Soto - Casualty

Underwear removal is the focus of 'Casualty' too where a burly soldier is being rip-stripped and felt out by an inquisitive and seductive tentacle organism. The spent cartridges on the floor suggest our man is out of ammo and instead of going down fighting, he is taking the line of least resistance, preparing for the inevitable 'ending' with as much courage and dignity as he can muster. He has helpfully assumed the bog standard, open legged, sitting stance which seems mandatory for tentacle rummaging. 

As tentacle images go, this is beautifully understated and manages to suggest that such creatures have more discerning sensibilities than one would have guessed from the countless images of aggressive orifice filling, supplied by other artists. The warrior's face turned aside in passive revulsion is fabulous. I suppose the mothers of soldiers, like all mothers, advise them to change into clean underwear before battle (in case of accidents) but this chunky warrior's panties are surprisingly flimsy and provocative, scarcely concealing his own little 'tentackle', it's a nice touch of human weakness. Soto's fully coloured images are beautifully crafted and textured. The murky lighting and indistinct detail is not unusual in his work, it's highly atmospheric, but frustrating at times.

Soto - Just A Raped Guy 5

The final image is a group of sketches that explores the multifunctional abilities of tentacles to coil, restrain, pull, squeeze, caress and probe the human body. They work well as a group and the simplicity of the individual sketches is more effective than a single complex drawing which tries to show dozens of tentacles with everything happening at once. His tentacle imagining is quite interesting but there's also some nice body sketching here, I particularly like the man's stubble detail (bottom right)

See more at The art of J C Soto, if you're image searching, he also uses the name 'HellBoy'

For earlier articles in this series click on the A-Z label below

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Ira C Smith

 Ira C Smith - Bondage Pair

Ira Smith's work is based on classic figure drawing of the highest order, combined with a keen sense of style which gives his work 'hang it on the wall', artistic credentials. This is not to say he holds back on erotic content though and in 'bondage pair' two athletes are secured in a humiliating, kneeling position, displaying their naked asses provocatively through the bands of their jockstraps. There is something very sexy about buddies being captive together, the identical poses and clothing in Ira's picture play on that theme, although the details of their bondage differ for some reason. One can imagine these lads looking on helplessly as their team-mates are taken, one at a time, then stripped and bound to join them.

  Ira C Smith - Ringz

 

Ringz is an arty treatment of a classic punishment pose, the imaginative floating rings help to create a dynamic impression of struggle and comprehensive restraint. By omitting the engineering details, Ira is free to home in on the taut, arched body. He uses dark shading to emphasis the highlights and valleys of muscle definition in almost photographic detail. This technique runs the risk of 'breaking up' the subject's body and losing the sense of bulk, but the white background mitigates this effect. The rope looped round the waist and the blindfold give the image an extra, little erotic kick. Notice the halo-like effect of the central ring, the captive's head seems to be pushing through it, noose-like. The subtle symphony of winding curves, continues bottom right, in a pattern that seems to capture the snake-like sensuality of bondage rope, while simultaneously suggesting celebratory garlands. This decorative quality suggests the captor has complex motivations!

 

  Ira C Smith - Connected

'Connected' cleverly weaves bondage ropes around two men (refreshingly mature), who are locked in an embrace which might be wrestling or love making. The discreet, downward pointing hand on the stomach gives a clue to deeper intimacy. With it's tasteful nudity and geometric balance, the composition is artistically pleasing but also unexpectedly sexy. The ropes seem to be simultaneously pulling the men together and apart and controlled by hands unseen, which gives the piece a manipulative overtone and imparts to us a tingling, voyeuristic quality. Connoisseurs of 'hidden eroticism' (see label below for more) can visualise what may ultimately be revealed by the two lower ropes, drawing aside the mens' legs, like the opulent curtains of a theatre.

  Ira C Smith - Tied and Abused

 

Despite a similar, arty style, the content of 'Tied and Abused' does not hold back at all from fetish expression. It is evident that the kneeling captive has been spanked and some lash or other implement has drawn blood. A brutal foot urges him in the direction of an ominous square frame. The rope-work looping round the captive's body is particularly prominent and sharply defined. It continues, winding round the frame in similar manner to Ringz above. In a curious trick of the eye his collar is actually already attached to it. In this picture the darkly shaded torso is contrasted with starkly white or line-art only areas, such as the hair and clothing, it's a favourite technique of this artist. The artist Cavelo uses it too, in order to differentiate characters in his drawings and if you consult my A-Z article on Cavelo you will see the similarities do not end there.

The quality of Ira Smith's art speaks for itself but it rewards fetish enthusiasts who linger longer. You can see more of his work and buy it at the Ira C Smith website.

For previous articles in this series click on the A-Z label below

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Skipper

Skipper - Don't Move

Skipper's art takes in some fairly grim subjects, such as shootings and impalements, so it doesn't get much of an airing outside specialist BDSM forums. In 'Don't Move' (above) the violence is implied rather than explicit. Skipper's originals are often large scale works, so some details, like the gag-grenade, don't make it to reduced images. When you've worked it all out, there's a degree of ambiguity as to whether this fantastical scene is a sadistic execution, an elaborate, tongue-loosening (!) procedure, a suicide pact or simply a bizarre test of manhood and bravado. It could be all four. The participants are uncompromisingly square jawed, rugged men, but their sexual communion is fueled by mutual fear and uncertainty, so there's a subtle but deep intimacy here which is not obvious at first sight. The kneeling soldier's abstracted, ecstatic expression as he savours his power is almost as scary as the hardware! Skipper's use of delicate water colouring for such an uncompromising subject seems a little incongruous, stylistically the end result reminds me of some of the work of Manflesh.

Skipper often chooses military subjects showing explicit maltreatment of protesting captives and there's a disturbing degree of historical authenticity in the atrocities he adapts to his erotic purpose, such as GI's impaled with bamboo stakes. Despite their suffering, the victims always respond erotically. At it's extreme, bloody combat and sexual congress become intimately entwined in a glorious, over the top, death-rape climax. These images are too extreme for this blog but 'Construction' (reproduced in black and white for a book cover, below) gives a sense of just how challenging Skipper's work can be.

 Skipper - Construction

 A highly masculine, construction worker patiently applies a succession of nail piercings to his own body. I suppose this would be dubbed as 'self-harm' by those who like to police human behaviour, but that is hardly an adequate description of what's going on here. In fashion piercing (and tattooing) the pain is usually perceived as a short-term price to pay for a body-flattering decoration. Through Skipper's eyes it is seen as a private pleasure in it's own right, a painful, but erotically satisfying, test of inner strength. The sheer quantity of iron-mongery and the calm concentration of the Construction worker as he proceeds with his task gives the image a striking, obsessive, intensity while the upraised, gleaming nail-point adds an element of almost magical ritual. It's a thoughtful reflection on a little understood, but probably widespread, fetish. 

 

Skipper - Sanctuary

'Sanctuary' is quite different, a complex tableau depicting a failed police raid on club where a fisting orgy is progress. This is a big work and the photography probably doesn't do it justice. The entwined figures take a bit of untangling but there's some nice visual elements here for those into well developed muscularity and bull necks. The subjugation of the cop provides a domination side-show to spur the participants on. Deep fisting is also shown in other Skipper works. It's not supposed to be life threatening but there can hardly be a more demanding or invasive form of intimacy so it's easy to see how it sits alongside other activities portrayed by Skipper 

 

Skipper - Wash

I'm not sure I know what exactly is going on in 'Wash', but the distended stomach suggests something pretty taxing for the butch captive. I've included it mainly because it's a wild sketch, full of wet, sleazy vitality. There's an intensity in much of Skippers' work suggesting a strong engagement with his subject matter. It's a quality which expresses itself in a different ways in 'Construction' and in the excesses of his military tortures and orgies but Skipper always seems to have something to say about his erotic feelings as well as simply invoking ours.

I've not been able to find a website hosting Skipper's art, but there should be some oddments in the GMBA archive (current link in sidebar).

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Sketches

Sketches' quirky pictures are a curious combination of caricature and realism. The faces have exaggerated Asian characteristics but the dialogue and comments included in his pictures are very American.  

 Sketches - Military CBT

This first picture shows his deep interest in the detailed, sinewy musculature which is only ever developed by serious bodybuilders and if you invert the image you will immediately spot the weight-lifting origins of the pose. Sketches cleverly adapts it to produce a highly original and rather fiendish torture scenario. The captive soldier's flexed feet and legs are all that is preventing the fine, wire-like, c&b tether from doing some nasty work. 

 

 Sketches - Crack Whip

'Crack whip' comes from an abduction story called 'The Red Berets'. Once again Sketches takes a fairly mundane image, a hands on hips pose, and gives it a fierce erotic twist. The arrogant, cigar-smoking, parade ground bully is clad in revealing, thin tights to receive a painful ass-whipping. Camouflage tights, what a great idea! They should be standard army issue. Although, his body doesn't even flinch from the lash, his screwed up face, trying not reveal any distress, is a marvellous creation. The technique of weaving a sexual fantasy around an everyday image, must be how most erotic artists start out. Sketches works round the restrictions of his source material very well.

  Sketches - Torture

My final example shows a prisoner (of war?) undergoing some form of endurance torture (witness the perspiration). The mechanism is unclear except that it seems to involve more of that salami-slicing wire. The caricatured face and head are typical of Sketches style, it's coupled with a rather nice drawing of a squatting man with a fine physique. You can see his 'torture stool' is inspired by the humble gym bench. Sketches' interest in gym-based torture is shared with another notable fetish artist - Zamok.

Sketches' Asian, muscle drawings occupy a unique, fetish niche. They tend to inherit some of the posed, static nature of the source material used for the muscle detail, but he weaves imaginative, sexy scenarios. There is a Pridesites page for Sketches work, but beware of female presences! There should also be some oddments in the GMBA archive (current link in sidebar, it gets reborn occasionally!). He's also listed on 'Masters of Muscle' (paysite).

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A-Z of Fetish Artists - Sirio

 Sirio - Tentacles

There are mountains of tentacle art on the internet and much of it is repetitive and not terribly exciting, but I do like this picture by Sirio. The contorted body position and flesh indentations made by the tentacles do actually create the impression of a body under stress, in the grip of a powerful …...well, whatever. 

This image is simply drawn, but you can see there's a nice erotic sensuality in the style. 

The elfin ears tell you Sirio is depicting some sort of Fantasyland here.

 Sirio - Captive  

There are similar, other-worldly indicators in this picture too. I could wish for more butch-looking faces, but this simple depiction of domination and forced submission is surprisingly powerful. 

The collar imagery and tight arm restraint is great. 

In the absence of an explanatory storyline, the evidence of bruising, physical abuse gives the image an evil tweak which some will like and others not. Violence and tenderness make unpleasant bedfellows in real life and in fantasy pose difficult questions about the acceptable boundaries of S&M.

 Sirio - Batman and Bane

Much of Sirio's output concerns the subjugation and humiliation of garishly-clad, super-heroes at the hands of equally improbable villains. It's enjoyable enough as adventure entertainment but personally I don't 'get' the cross-over of comic super-powers into erotica. The sexy outfits and muscular bodies are a tease but that's usually as far as it goes for me. However, this image of Batman being subjected to a painful back breaker (part of a series at Sirio's blog) is a pretty sexy concept, it's a shame his sexy underwear isn't seen more often. 

 

Sirio - Centuria

This depiction of man on man sex seems to ooze testosterone, with it's muscular bodies and massive thighs but the face of the top has a fragile, androgynous quality about it, suggesting a quite confusing role reversal. There's a similar effect in the tentacle picture. I like the economical fetish detail, the bound wrists and squeezed pecs neatly sum up the captive's helplessness.

Sirio's art contains many ingredients which are far removed from my own interests – the Yaoi style, the fantasy characters and the biff-bash fighting. I limit my commentary accordingly - but there's some striking imagery to be found. 

 

To see more visit Sirio art at Y!Gallery which has links to various sites used by the artist.

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