i was 14 when i started this, and it's taken years of practice to get where i am now
if you think you need some innate ability or genetic predisposition to draw, i'm happy to tell you that you actually just need to pick up the pencil and do it
Nothing makes me more insane than the “people always tell me I seem straight, but there’s no right way to be gay 🥺” genre of gay influencer thirst trap, because it is such a perfect little machine for converting narcissism into moral virtue.
First, you casually establish that people are apparently CONSTANTLY astonished to learn you’re gay because you’re just so masculine and heterosexual-coded. Very important information. Thank God you’ve alerted the public. (Also you have a fagcent, but I digress.)
But you can’t simply enjoy the compliment! No no because then everyone might notice the obvious hierarchy underneath it. So instead, you nobly object to the compliment. “Actually, saying I seem straight is homophobic because there’s no one way to be gay.” 🙄
And now you’ve pulled off something marvelous: you’ve repeated the flattering claim about yourself in full, made absolutely certain everyone understands that you possess the traits gay men are routinely rewarded for possessing, and transformed yourself from beneficiary of the stereotype into its brave little critic.
The hierarchy remains completely intact. In fact, the entire story depends on it! If being perceived as straight and masculine carried no status, there would be nothing worth repeatedly telling us about. You haven’t stopped signaling your place in the hierarchy. You’ve just found a socially acceptable way to signal it while pretending to grieve the hierarchy’s existence.
You’re not dismantling the ranking system. You’re submitting your résumé to it with a paragraph about how problematic rankings are. (Hmmmm sorta feels like you’re cushioning the fall here…)
And then comes the thirst trap, because apparently this banal revelation—that gay men can have different personalities (oooh aaaah)—simply had to be illustrated with your shirt off. (Perhaps you are insecurely aware that this is the only reason anyone values your online presence?)
So now ordinary vanity has been alchemized into vulnerability, vulnerability into activism, and activism into engagement. And we the audience are expected to admire the body, applaud the bravery, reassure you that stereotypes are bad bad very bad, AND pretend not to notice that the entire fucking post was constructed around making sure we know everyone thinks you’re masculine and hot (please tell me I’m masc and hot or I’ll kill myself 😭).
The funniest part is that there would be absolutely nothing objectionable about simply wanting attention. Post the pecs. Arch your back. Fish for compliments. Beg to be called handsome by strangers. God bless.
Just don’t make me sit through a fucking TED Talk about heteronormativity voiced over a closeup of your ass please god.
before high noon i did some exploratory sketches for a 90s hip-hop inspired 2xko ekko skin, ultimately didn't go in this direction for various reasons but figured i'd share these concepts since i still quite like them