The three "H"

The three "H" : Hobo, Halawa and Hated ! Still black and white because I'm at my parent's house.

"Hobo", I hope you recognized at least a little bit Charlie Winston. Got the album for Christmas and I was there, doodling, with no inspiration, when my eyes met the front page of the booklet. I just had to try a little portrait and it was satisfying enough for me to share it. I might make a painted version sometime, with soft greyscales... :}

"Halawa" ! Usually I'm not into portraits but today is the exception. Let me introduce you Sultan, a fantastic bellydancer I found out on a float, during this year's Gay Pride in Paris. Not only was he a gorgeous guy but he was also a fantastic dancer. I already drew him this summer, but it was at a convention -read : on the corner of a full table, with very few hours of sleep ^^"-, and it was pretty bad : but this time I used some pictures of him as references -check them out on his Myspace- and I think it's much better this way.

"Halawa" means "so beautiful" and I think we all agree he deserves it. I know, I know I may sound like a groupie but watch him dance only once and you'll understand, even if you're not into guys you can just be smitten.

If you look closely you can see I drew the braces on his teeth ; nobody ever notices he's got braces, because people usually can't stop staring at everything else. But I really like that he's the proof a guy can wear braces and be incredibly sexy.

"Hated". This morning I was reading a book about Gothic Fantasy Art I got for Christmas -yay, my family rocks !- and the master Brom, in the preface he wrote for it, tried to explain the interest and the purpose of gothic art. I don't think he managed but he said something that caught my attention : "Frankenstein's creature in a garden full of roses". I just LOVE Frankenstein's creature, he's moving, touching, so I had to give it a try.

I'm a huge fan of the original Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - and of Kenneth Brannagh's movie which is, in my opinion, the best adaptation ever because it shows perfectly how the creature is nicer and more human than humans themselves. It shows the cruelty of our race towards different people. And that's honestly the most scary part of this story. What human's darkest side can do.

So you understand I'm definitely on the creature's side. To me he's a nice guy who went bad because he was denied the right to love and be loved. This is why the idea of him in a garden of roses sounded so terribly CUTE to me ! I had to do it ! I decided to go for a "closed" compo, to have a kind of frame, the roses protecting him from the world -though the spines are here to remind us it's not all about happiness and fluff-. I chosed old-school roses, inspired by some classic tattoo designs just because I like them and I didn't want the illustration to look too much like a Harlequin book cover ! :} However, old-school roses are most of time bright red to suggest passion, while these ones will be colored in baby pink with very soft lights and shadows. Because it's cute and yeah you can draw gay porn and have a feminine side, especially when it comes to Frankenstein's creature. This character is my sweet tooth. Oh, this is why of course he looks so sad and desperate on this illustration ! Because, you know, pop culture changed him into a monster, and that's unfair : the monsters are the ones who rejected him !

'Kay, I think I'm starting to mumble like an old lady, and in front of my screen I'm yaaawning so I'm off to bed now ! ^^