designfeedr

The following article features input from the following creative minds : Aleksandra Marchocka, Luke Feldman(SKAFFS), Candybird and Liz Lorini(Miss Kika).

There’s no denying it, sex is hot these days. One might argue it has always been so, but lately it just seems to be embedding itself deeper into the mainstream. Just turn on MTV as an example. In a conversation with my girlfriend a few days ago about cute character illustration we ended up discussing the sexy character art that’s thriving at the moment.

In this article we’ll look at different styles, what clients commission this work, if by doing this work you lose the ability to work with more mainstream clients, when it’s time to tone the sexy-level down and see what the craziest thing is our participants have ever been asked to commission.

There are a lot of different types of sexy illustration, some easier to categorize then others. There’s the ever present fashion illustration, the (often Japanese influenced) cute characters, the more traditional illustration with references to pin-up and there’s even sexy graffiti art by the likes of Miss Van and Fafi. In this article we’ll focus mainly on contemporary sexy art, so classic pin-up, fantasy art in the vein of Luis Royo or Victoria Francés and what else is familiar ground will not be covered.

Fashion photography has always ventured close to art and thus isn’t afraid to show a nipple or two, just pick up a copy of vogue and look at the editorials. Even though fashion photography’s main purpose is to showcase the clothing, the women will often not be fully clothed. It’s no surprise then that fashion illustrations often follows this lead and presents women in various states of nudity. Illustrator Candybird is a good example of an artist working in this style with her artistic line-work, sparse use of color and slender characters that resemble fashion models with a slightly big head.

Illustrations by Junko Mizuno

When we go to the cuter side of this phenomenon we end up with characters that have smaller bodies and bigger heads. While creating characters in this style is very popular in Japan, I wouldn’t say that every artist that works with these proportions is heavily inspired by this. Western cartoon and comic characters with these proportions have been around for ages.

Once you start mixing this style with sexy-ness, you remove the childish innocence from the work, all of the sudden you have cute characters that are tailored to adults. In that situation I suspect that Japanse Manga and Hentai must have been a heavy influence for the founders of this style. Junko Mizuno, who’s work mixes innocent and cute characters with blood and nudity (Wikipedia calls it Kawaii noir) is a good Japanese example of this style. United States based Kukula is a good example of an artist who has similar proportions but has look feel Japan inspired because of her traditional painting and the Victorian reference.

One amusing fact about this type of work is that contrary to what you might think, there are a lot of women creating the art. From Russia’s Jarovich to Japan’s Junko Mizuno the women are well represented. “People who see my illustrations on the internet often think I’m a man, because I’m drawing nude girls.”Says Aleksandra with a smiley face at the end of the sentence. “Some people find it weird that a woman draws sexy illustrations.” She adds.

Sex sells, but who’s buying?
SKAFFS creator Luke Feldman says he’s done work for lifestyle magazines, fashion magazines and women and men’s magazines. He’s also done commissions for shops that want sexy installations. Apartment owners that want wall installations tend to ask for “sexy” illustrations as well according to Luke.

On the flip side Aleksandra Marchocka and Candybird both state that they’ve also worked on tattoo art. Candybird has even had an exhibition in a tattoo studio. Aleksandra ads that most of her work is for posters, games, books and magazines.

Liz Lorini however states she has a totally different type of client : “For sexy work I usually am commissioned by private collectors that want something a little different from my personal work. Normally the people are women aged twenty-five to thirty that contact me about doing the pieces. I think the fact that my style and color choices are very feminine is the main reason women predominately commission me and not men, although they do as well from time to time.” she says.

It’s hard to gauge how big the market for this type of work really is in comparison to less provoking illustration but as the above confirms there’s definitely a host of client types an illustrator can work for.

Is it all candy flavored then?
There are always narrow-minded people that confuse erotica infused art with porn. When writing this article one thing I was very curious of was whether the illustrators who create this kind of work sometimes get branded as perverts because of the sexy-ness of their work. I was pleasantly surprised when I asked the participants about this none of them have ever felt they were demonized for their work.

Illustration by Aleksandra Marchocka

“No, I don’t feel I get branded as dirty.” Says Candybird, who’s living in France. “My illustrations are sexy but they are not vulgar. Sex is present everywhere around us: on television, in advertisements, on internet and many other media. My work represents sexy and liberated girls that are sensual yet innocent. I feel it corresponds to our period.” she adds.

SKAFFS’s Luke Feldman feels the same. “The SKAFFS chicks are sexy and stylish. I think they bring a new and modern dimension to illustration and art in today’s society.” He says. “I have never felt that my work is vulgar and in fact it seems to be appreciated by all ages, and both sexes.”. The fact that the SKAFFS girls were used to promote Coca-Cola is as good a confirmation of this as any as far as I’m concerned.

As far as toning it done a notch goes all three realize that they can’t always have full freedom and need to conform to the brief and client like any other illustrator has to. “My work is not limited to the SKAFFS sexy chicks.” Says Luke Feldman. “I’ve spent many years in the Department of education for children and because of that a lot of my work is for children-targeted companies commissioning interactive education, book illustrations, animations and more. One of my animations “Who Saved the Moon” is targeted at all ages and is currently showing at the children’s Little Big Shots Animation Festival in Australia.”

Liz has also been asked to tone the work down on occasion “In fact I have a special order for a canvas piece this week that involves me adding a top to one of my pieces so they can give it as a gift to their daughter.” Liz Lorini shares. “Its an easy fix and I don’t mind toning down pieces from time to time for people because as I do know I have some younger fans that really don’t want to see bare breasted ladies on their walls!” Liz says with a laugh.

In the end we can conclude that if you do your craft tastefully and with style, there is no harm to your name or brand if you focus your portfolio on sexy art. You’ll obviously lose the ability to work for certain clients but gain the attention of others. Personally I’d say that you can just let it come down to what you love doing and which part of the pie you want to be eating from. And if you’re really in doubt there’s always the option of working under a pseudonym to keep your mainstream work separated from your sexy stuff.

How weird can it get?
When you do sexy illustrations every once in a while, someone comes up to you and asks you to do something crazy. To finish off I asked the participants of this article what the craziest thing was they were commissioned to create. “One publisher asked me to draw a nude sexy girl with her pubic hair shaved in a shape of Seat logo.” says Aleksandra.

“I have been lucky and have never gotten anything too nuts for a commission!” Liz tells us. “I do get odd requests from time to time, I had one person that found a lot of my contact info and spent 2 weeks trying to contact me online to do a foot fetish piece for him….after that experience I stopped listing my instant messenger accounts on my sites!”.

Candybird shared that the craziest thing she was commissioned to make was a stylized portrait of the client herself, for use as a tattoo on her husband’s body. As for Luke, he already spilled the beans on this one in the SKAFFS spotlight we did with him.

If you enjoyed this article and this type of work be sure to come back in a few days for a showcase of the cutest and sexiest character art around.

Designfeedr sends virtual cookies to Luke Feldman and pink chocolate flavoured donuts to the ladies Aleksandra Marchoka, Liz Lorini and Candybird.