Me? Draw? No Way! (Read This, Even If You Don't Like Me At All)

First off, for those of you who stumble on this, a little info about me:

Name: Ben Wetzel

Age: 25

Height: 5'7"

Weight: Depends on what planet I'm on.

I'm a graphic design student, artist, gamer, and all around ranter. I'm completely bizarre in the art manner, because I see art where a lot of people wouldn't. I have several side projects, such as Taliesin, Goria, Hex, Shade, and Muzzle. But my main passion is flat out art, especially as of the past few years, pin-ups. This has gotten me into trouble before (you would not believe how many people think I'm sexist because of this), and you can imagine that I get sick of hearing this. Here's the kicker; a lot of my friends are women! Smart women who don't think I'm a pig. Why? Because, there is one simple fact that a lot of people are ignoring. One small, nearly insignificant fact, that's almost not worth mentioning. What is that fact, then? It's simple: They've known me for longer than ten seconds! Yes, imagine that, getting to know me means that you may find that I'm not a pig, but someone who actually sees this as art. Why bring this up? Is it because I'm drawing Pin-ups again? Is it because I'm drawing nudes? Yes, and no. I mean that's part of it.

The bigger part is that apparently, a lot of artists, both professional and amateur, have been getting a lot of crap for drawing nudes. Here's the context people. I'm in school for graphic design, and the first class I had were drawing classes. I had two drawing classes: one was objects, the other was life drawing. Guess what? For life drawing, we had a model come in and pose nude. Oh no! Save the children, a college has nudity! What will we ever do? I'm thinking no one reading this is shocked to hear that art schools have nude models. Good. But here's the kicker: Its not like artists can walk up to a woman and say "You have the most amazing eyes, I must draw them!" and win over someone's heart. This goes for finding nude models. To remedy this, they either go through agencies, or sometimes loved ones (do you know how many artists used their wives or husbands for inspiration?). Barring that, we have stock images, or magazines, some of which people have gotten jobs drawing for when they found out the artists were drawing from them. When these fail, we use out imagination.

Guess what, now? I don't exactly have flocks of women wanting to model for me, clothed or nude, or hell, even covered in a sheet to look like a ghost. So heaven forbid I have to use photos to get a pose right (a reference). That must mean I'm not creative, or that I'm a pervert. No, it means that I use a reference, and that if you think I, or any other artist, is a pervert, you must have your head up your ass. If you think that the nude human form is perverted, or that anyone using it for art is a pervert, the artist isn't the one with the problem; you are.

That being said, I'm very particular about the models or images I use for a reference. I'm aware people come in different body shapes, and not the 48ZZZ-22-36 figures you see in comics half of the time. This is another thing that gets me in trouble. I know way too much about how my characters are supposed to look. Take the Goria duo, Sodom and Gomorrah (http://thewindowkeeper.deviantart.com/art/Goria-Sodom-and-Gomorrah-82471763), for example. I know where Gomorrah's tattoos are, I know their hair colors, skin complexions, ages, heights, weights, the basics. I know how they walk, how Gomorrah sounds, and how they'd react in different events. But, I also know some other things about them. First, they happen to be romantically involved with one another. OH NO! A lesbian couple in a comic? I must be perverted. You can say that... but don't lesbian couples exist in the real world? Oh, but that doesn't matter, because I also seem to be the only one who takes my creations to this next measure.

I know both of their body types. I know Sodom's figure is 34B-23-36 and Gomorrah's is 38C-24-34. How many people can say that they created a female character, and memorized how her body looks? Not many. Why, then, do I do it? Does that mean I'm a pervert? NO! If I was a pervert, I'd be memorizing the sizes of my male characters' wangs! Do I? No, because that doesn't affect how they look to everyone witnessing these events. Unless I have a male character running around naked (and I probably never will, because I never have a female character doing that, either), no one would see it outside of privacy. But, women have body shapes that, most of the time, stand out physically, making them all different. This means breasts, hips, and waists. And, while yes, this affects men to an extent, it doesn't affect them to the extent that it affects women.

So, what does all of this mean? That I should only draw women with petite builds, or smaller breasts? No, because, I want to achieve some semblance of realism in my comics. And I need to do that with the characters, not only how they act, but how they look, and what their psychologies are. I'm so invested in making a character, that the only way I know they're worth working with is if I find someone who fits that build, both physically and mentally. Most of the time, I do, granted with out the abilities and genetic defects. Am I going to find a guy who can turn invisible or a deaf/mute woman who can make people suffer any mental defect she wants them to? No, but I can find people who look like them. Does this all make me a pervert? No. What it does is make me passionate about my hobby. The day I stop giving a crap what my characters should look like is the day I should probably stop drawing.

In that turn, I will continue to use reference photos. That is, unless, I start getting volunteers. And even then, in that off chance, I probably won't stop using reference photos. So, live with it, people. I'm not the only one who does.

Now that that's all done, here's what I'm working on now. I started designs for some of the Taliesin characters (one of which will be in the later stories). But I'm also going to do a promo thing. I'll be doing pin-ups and postersof my characters, from all of my "side" projects. Here's the list of one's I'll start first:

Jackie Macrix (Taliesin)

Sodom (Goria)

Gomorrah (Goria)

Sable (Shade)

Goria (Goria)

Elaine Carver (Goria)

Hex (Hex)

I'm also working on promo pieces for Taliesin. I'll post links and photos when they're ready, so keep an eye out.