“The Spiritual Sir”
Soon after “Acceptance,” self-portrait for Slew Self Portrait/Still-life contest, I started working on the next portrait in the series.
Rob was such an easy subject. From his experience with “Drummer Magazine,” I figured he would be. Yes, Rob was on the cover of Drummer, and in the issue. As for what is contained in the issue. That’s for your resources to find out.
“Drummer Magazine” is a huge opportunity for me, or any artist. Drummer focuses on leather culture and art. So, getting them on board with what I’m doing would help me grow and hopefully prosper as an artist. Which is basically what I want now. Gain momentum, show the world my talent, and all I want is exposure. Even though many artists seek this sort of outlet. We shall see what the future holds.
Let’s get back to the model…
Rob and I met at an IML send-off party for Keron. I went to support Keron on his journey in the leather pageants but also was looking for the fifth model. Someone who had the “look” sort of speak. As for what that was, I was looking for men who had various styles. Rob had this “Muscle Leather Daddy” style. So, while looking at him, he saw me eyeing him for about a couple of minutes, but what was the title?
So eventually Rob came over to talk to me. Now reminder at this time, I had no idea about Drummer Mag or who this guy was. All I knew was that I needed to draw him. We chatted about different things. Eventually, Drummer was brought up, and how he modeled for them. Then he showed me his Instagram, we talked about the series of Leather Men, and then we continued with the party. It was maybe a ten-minute conversation. Keron’s sendoff was overall fun. I witnessed my first ever, sort of drag “lip-sync,” outside of Rupal’s Drag Race. I did get home around one in the morning, and immediately was thinking about the title. Which to me was the most important part. Since it was on a Saturday it was fine for me to stay up late. So, I started writing down different titles, while looking on Rob’s Instagram for ideas. At this time of night, I came up with only one title. “The Playboy…” Now before Rob starts calling me. This was all before the interview and questionnaire. The idea came to me based on his Instagram profile photos which had him in some leather showing off his muscled chest and abs. Which I appreciated. So, I just went off what I saw.
Then the interview came…
The day of the interview, I was running around crazy. My parents went away for the weekend, so I was occupied with three dogs to take care of. I blame them for double-booking me because I had this photo shoot and interview all scheduled before their event. So, my time with Rob was shortened, but all is good now. Rob was super supportive and was super easy to work with. Now as for me finding his place, that’s a different question. Nice farm and house but hidden like a “gem.”
I got Rob’s questionnaire rather quickly, and that guided me with the interview questions. I went through the interview with numerous questions about the leather pageant scene and his life. He has been in this scene for about 35 years. Longer than I’ve been on this earth mind you. So, getting his scope on this was key. While talking about his life, he mentioned something about “The God Above.” Which made me think. Eventually, the interview ended, and he then gave me one of the books he had written. It’s called “Sexual Energy, Spiritual Power,” I saw this book and the word “Spiritual.” Which hit me in the face. At the time I didn’t think about it, but then I got home with the photos. I then really thought about the title “The Spiritual Sir.” Which is what it is today.
The Source I made.
Moving forward in time.
About two months ago was the interview and photo shoot. So I had a lot of catching up to do, and still do mind you. I then started working on the source. Which did not take long at all. This was getting much and much easier with every portrait. I settled on him holding his flogger in his hand because the second one made him appear weaker. I wanted him to show off his muscles. Proving that he is the “Leather Muscle Daddy” we all want.
Drawing him was rather fun. His eyes, just like the other portraits, were key. I then got to his magnificent chest and pecs. I had to research more male anatomy to make sure the proportions of the muscle tissue and anatomy were correct. So after my research, I took my time, focused on my value scale, and made sure the form was good. Now let’s talk about these tattoos. I put a lot of pressure on myself to get exact with these portraits, but at the end of the day, I like my sleep. So I did my best, and I think everyone got the point. Once most of the portrait was done. I had to move onto the flogger, which was very interesting. All of the layered leather straps of the flogger were fun to render. Some parts were confusing, but eventually, I figured it out. Then it was the hankies in the background, and by Saturday afternoon it was done.
“The Spiritual Sir”
Materials: Bristol Paper (11”x14”), Faber Castell Graphite Pencils, Faber Castell Matte Graphite Pencils, Ohuho 320 Marker Set, and Prisma Color 150 color pencil set.
The finished product looked amazing, and I always do a double check on this portrait. This was too perfect to change. From a perfectionist perspective, not everything is quite perfect, but sometimes you feel like it is. This is now the first time I’ve felt this way about one of the portraits. The title made sense, the model killed the look, and also the artist drew it. All flowed together like it should’ve been. It did take three weeks to complete with different events popping up, but it’s now done, and I can move on to the next one.
This time, someone younger than me…
