FoxxFireArt

This user has not updated recently.

3645 336411 101 270
Forum Posts Wiki Points Following Followers

Making A Point


A little definitional primer before we start.

Concept Definitions:

 
Cheesecake-
Sexually provocative images of female characters.(also see Fan Service)
 
Beefcake-
Sexually provocative images of male characters.
Well, I finally got around to posting the X-Men 4koma I had posted recently in my Comic Vine Blog onto my devArt profile. The comic with Cyclops and Namor coming to blows. As seen HERE. For the most part people really liked it there, but I'm fairly sure quite a few of you noticed the odd disclaimer I posted right before the image. The one saying how I didn't want any complaints out of my male audience members. I'm actually wishing that I had put that on my posting on my devArt page. On devArt I tend to get complaints from my male audience whenever I draw blatant beefcake images.
 
No Caption Provided
The vast majority of comments were very positive. More particularly from my female audience, and a certain component of the male audience. There were a few 'choice comments' that I noticed, and I thought I would share some of these. I'm not going to name names, but I felt this was rather interesting.
 
There was one person who mistook Namor in the image for being Wolverine. Despite having read the comic and supposedly reading the comments where I talked about who is in the image and what the purpose of the picture was for. This person still asked me why I drew his ass. I seriously doubt that this person would press that question if I had drawn a female ass barely covered.
 
Another person said:

 Person A
 " Disturbing. and yet... disturbing. "
 
FoxxFire Art
" Only guys are disturbed by this. Would you feel the same if the genders were switched? "
 
Person A
" Do you feel a stereotypical respose of "hell yeah", or a more honest answer of "maybe", or even a complete non seqitur like "fishpaste" is a good answer?"

I do have to say. At least he was honest about his hypocrisy. To be upfront, I was a bit disturbed by that image of Clint Barton strapped naked to that chair as Norman and the other Dark Avengers stood around in " The New Avengers Annual #3". Though, it wasn't the naked part that bothered me. It was the fact that this image reminded me so much of what happened to Daniel Craig in "Casino Royale". (shivers)
 
One person asked me if I felt uncomfortable drawing the third panel. The short answer was, "Not even slightly.". I was keeping in mind who I was trying to target with that image. I was drawing this for Babs of ComicVine. I remembered how much she enjoyed the Namor ass shots in the Dark X-Men: Beginning books and I went with what I felt she would enjoy.
 
If you look in comics. The vast majority of images pretty much exploits the female cast. I'm not saying I object to sexy images of women in comics. Look at what we get all the time. Women in small outfits, often skin tight; perfect bodies in near impossibly proportions, and in some series perpetually hard nipples. Yet people wonder why female readership tends to be low in traditional comics. I certainly don't think the answer is to pull back on sexy images. I say give women something to look at too. News Flash World! Women aren't sexless beings deprived of any hormones. They like sex the same as the rest of us. Give the ladies some beefcake in comics, but don't think they all want some steroid freak. Put in some variety. One of my biggest critiques in publishers like Marvel and DC is that so many artists draw men and women with the same body types. How many times do we see Scott Summers drawn as muscular or more so then Logan? Even though Scott's nickname is 'Slim'. Many artists can't even distinguish between nationalities.
 
Gold Digger #40 - Jet
Gold Digger #40 - Jet
If you ever check out the comic work of my artistic idol, Fred Perry. In his Gold Digger comics he draws both sexy women and men. Yes, he tends to lean heavily toward the Cheesecake images, but he adds in quite a healthy amount of Beefcake as well. Not Ken doll type beefcake with nothing between the legs. I just don't admire his skill as a writer and all around artist. The man knows to treat his male and female audience the same. It's the fairness of it.. This can be seen throughout many titles published by Antarctic Press
 
 
I don't mean for this posting to come across as some sort of excoriation against the male gender as a whole. It's not really the topic at hand. There was one particular comment that was left on my X-Men 4koma image that really sparked this discussion. This was said by one of my posters: 

Person B 
" Northstar it's a stupid gay! xD "
 
FoxxFire Art
" And you are mister bigot who needs to learn to keep his ignorant comments to himself. There is nothing wrong with being homosexual. "

Now, to this person's credit he did apologize, but something about it felt rather halfhearted. That became apparent when this same person sent me a devNote, deviantArt private message, to try and explain his actions. (Mind you that he's from another country so that could explain the poor grammar.)

Person B
" Hey bro look sorry if say some bad about of you draw but, don't make say this words what make feel bad =( today not it's my day and my doggy it's dead and don't feel so good =(  " 
 
FoxxFire Art
" So, that is your excuse for calling Northstar a "stupid gay"? Sorry to hear about your dog. I'm a dog lover, but don't take out your sorrow on a whole lot of people."

I took notice that he seemed focused not of what he had done wrong, but how it made him feel for me to challenge his comments. He replied to apologize again. This time he asked if I would tell him if I was heterosexual or homosexual at the end of his comment. I replied.

FoxxFire Art
" I accept your apology. Just try to refrain from repeating that action and it's alright. Also, why does it matter to you if I'm heterosexual or homosexual? "
 
Person B
" Look, i respect to the ppl like you but tell me you are hetero you like men and womans to same time? i respect the homosexual rigths And thankies man "
 
FoxxFire Art
" I'm not going to tell you my sexual preference, because it doesn't matter. "

I never even gave him an answer, and he still said, "i respect the ppl like you-". I found the statement of "people like you" rather telling. Quite frankly, it really doesn't matter what my sexual proclivities lean toward. If you can't figure that out from my comments and art work, then you are probably never going to figure in out. I would think the answer is rather obvious, but I am bias on the matter. lol
 
Gratuitous Panty Shot
Gratuitous Panty Shot
Personal information really doesn't mean anything when it comes to comics. It's as inconsequential as appearance. I enjoyed the art work of Fred Perry for many years before I saw a picture of him. Seeing what he looked like didn't change anything for me. To be quite honest, before I saw his picture I had never even thought much about what he would look like. Though, I had thought he might of been from either Central or South America. This was do to a black and white, chibi-style self portrait I saw of him once. His appearance doesn't change how I think about him or his art. The only thing I learned about him after reading his comics that affected my opinion  is that he was a member of the armed services during the first Gulf War, and that only caused me to respect the man more.
 
There is no reason to question the sexual preferences of an artist just because he happens to draw men in a sexual manner. I really like women, but that's not going to prevent me from making art for women to enjoy as well. I have found that my female audience is the most supportive in the things I draw. They like my sexy drawings of women and they very much enjoy it when I make some beefcake pictures for them. It's my male audience that tends to get uncomfortable when I draw some guy with a big 'package'.
 
It's the blatant hypocrisy of it all that gets under my skin. The majority of the male audience is alright with women being sexually exploited in comics. Yet when it's reversed. They suddenly get all uncomfortable, and they don't see how that's a problem. I think everyone needs to lighten up and let everyone enjoy the artwork. It should be for both men and women.
 
Happy Holidays to You!!
8 Comments