How to draw pictures at a party

Text: Blog between the legs

Russian version

One regular visitor of the most frank and massive events for adults writes to me: “So, they say, and so, I would also like to draw on the nearest one, but I’m shy, I’m afraid, I don’t want to publish”. A standard set of doubts and fears. And at the end he suddenly adds: “Well... you are the first”.

Of course, I'm not the first to ever paint at events involving public sex surrounded by hundreds of eyes. And at the moment it is not the only one.

Even if you were right, if I were the first person on earth who thought of drawing other people without distracting them fr om what they are enthusiastic and passionate about, even then – who would dare to stake out such a self-evident practice? It is necessary to have a very inflamed conceit.

And most importantly, what worries me especially now is that there are so many events in the “bachelorette” format that I cannot get to with all my desire.

The tips below will be useful to anyone who wants to enter any adult event as part of a team, and not on tickets, and does not know how much it costs to go to a sex party today. For all event organizers who would like to educate and feed their own artist next to their brand. For journalists and podcasters, for whom sex-positive culture is an object of study and scrutiny within the framework of their own creativity. And also, for all students to paint after eighteen years. Not because the advice is not childish, but the examples on which they are shown are not for children's ears.

A few words about the competence of the speaker

In addition to secondary and higher archaic-classical art education, he taught painting, general design and, separately, a course on sketches at a private art school for several years. He taught in parallel for five to six groups of children of different ages, fr om eight to nine years old to graduation classes. Already after, because of the connection with the topic of sex, I gave up any contact with minors, gave private lessons on sketching, fr om general to interior, for older non-professionals. Since 2019, I have been drawing densely and a lot at sex parties, BDSM master classes, as well as in body-oriented therapy sessions. So, even if you do not like at all what I do as an artist (and it may even cause a sharp rejection), then in any case, the experience of transferring knowledge and observations, the experience should be guided without breaking, but cultivating the individuality inherent in the student, I have enough experience to do this in an understandable conceptualized form to make a couple of comments on the topic.

To begin with, it is worth understanding the key difference between sketch and staged training drawing.

Because experience shows that even masters get confused here, that they torture students for fifty years.

To explain this difference, I always asked the children to take a piece of paper and draw a cuckoo clock in the corner (about a quarter of a page). The very canonical cuckoo clock imitating a birdhouse. Not really trying, because only a quarter of a leaf is available to us, so that it is not perceived as working on an illustration, as something that can drive you into stress if you do not feel confident in your hand. Just a handwriting. Have you done it?

This article will be basically devoid of any examples and illustrations, so as not to impose an image, to remove, if possible, any element of introducing someone else's view of things. Use your imagination. Or take this sheet right now. Imagination will do too.

You have drawn your cuckoo clock. As you can. For me, this is a good starting information – what will I have to work with next. But I am not telling you about this, so as not to generate anxiety. Just carefully studying the zero position.

Nearby, in the second quarter of the sheet, and I am on the blackboard, we will quickly draw the same clock, but as if we were starting to conduct a classic academic drawing in miniature. First, let's designate the proportions of the future object, then draw through the geometry, check all the lines for compliance with the linear perspective, write the exact location of the details into our blank... Stop! Look, we have already done a lot of work, and if it were a large sheet, we would have done it only by the end of the lesson, and this is still not hours. Anything: a house, a birdhouse, an angular rocket, just plaster geometric figures, one on top of the other. For hours, this drawing will only become closer to the end, when, having made sure of the correctness of all constructions and proportions, we begin to decorate it with details, draw little things, outline the dial.

In sketching, our picture should become a clock in the first seconds of contact between a pencil and a sheet. A curved circle, a tick of the minute and hour hands, the risks of the dial, the shape of the roof – a corner. Everything. This is already a cuckoo clock. Then, depending on how much time we have left, we can refine and complicate our drawing. We can even bring it to the end to the point of being indistinguishable fr om the academic one. But we went fundamentally fr om the other side. Not fr om the side of the large form. Not even from the side of the detail. From the side of a clear readable character. At every stage, whenever a brick falls on us, whenever a nuclear war starts, whenever our clock suddenly runs away to fuck to another place and with another cuckoo, it will already be a cuckoo clock.

Of course, this example is conditional. In sketching motionless and inhuman architecture, we can afford to borrow a little from the academic drawing. In a sketch of a sedentary practice – for example, drawing a masseur at work or a shibari master who has already tied his model to the ceiling and letting her hang down properly, you can take your time to outline the main anatomical nodes. But on the dance floor, it is important to be able to first grasp the very state of the dance, and only then peer. One touch is dance. And then we'll see.

I'm not very interested in sketching people sitting quietly in the corner. even if they are wearing the most unusual carnival-sexualized costumes. How does it convey the most important things? The atmosphere of the night. I'd rather go and see how the whip dances across the back and try to catch the master's characteristic swing, even considering that he doesn't stop for a minute.

I never ask anyone to pose, freeze, wait. In addition to personal interest in capturing moments, there is also an understanding that I am also part of the atmosphere of the event. Silent, imperceptible, all night long immersed in intent, but not solicitous scrutiny, flowing from zone to zone, from the table wh ere they pour hot wax to the table wh ere they indulge in ice. Outwardly always calm. Although, to be honest, all six to eight hours of work I have a panic inside, constant panic. Have time to grab!

The biggest stress is not even painting on the dance floor. There's something that: grabbed a specific movement, a specific step, and then you dress him in the details of the portrait and costume, let him move as he wants.

Burlesque is horror

For three minutes on stage, the artist manages to change several images as she moves without stopping for a second, taking off layer by layer of a multi-piece suit, until she remains in some sequin-embroidered panties and pasties on her nipples. I drew burlesque not even in the club, wh ere the diffused lighting of the bar gives you the opportunity to see at least something on the sheet, but in the theater, wh ere only the stage is lit. In the darkness of the auditorium, frantically trying to grasp the changing characters, like in a kaleidoscope.

Most of the personal techniques are developed in practice. For example, I really like to distort the space so as to show a specific practice more fully. This is most noticeable in the drawings of those interactions that occur on the massage table. For example, how the Wax Player cuts from the back layer by layer. Often, I draw the master in profile – as I really see it, but I unfold the massage table with a nude figure as if I look strongly from above. It is important to find a balance between illustrativeness and realism.

The exercise

I have a Triceratops in my workshop. A favorite dinosaur with an Elizabethan collar and sly eyes. The toy, once forgotten by my son, became the totem animal of my den. Giving private lessons not in the open air, but in a studio format, in the first lesson I often make him a model. Let's draw a triceratops. Not necessarily him. It can be any motionless character, doll, sculpture, even an object. But not an image. Elderly professors at the Academy were furious with students when they photographed the performance on the phone and then drew from the screen. They raged, but could not clearly explain. “You won't learn anything like that,” they said. And why this “nothing” is incomprehensible, if at the next lesson we made copies of drawings by old masters (not to be confused with the elderly).

The main thing that you learn when sketching from an object, and not from its photographic image, is the ability to translate complex and three-dimensional into a plane, find a position in a format, learn to see from several angles.

There is a triceratops on the table. I love him for his unique recognizable features. A stack of sketch sheets in front of the student. Draw. Without thinking about the result. The result of any exercise is not on the sheet. The sheet is just a trace left by a lot of work done. The result is in the hand, in the mind, in the eye. There is no unsuccessful exercise if we are talking about drawing. One triceratops, second, third, accelerating. With a continuous line, strokes, on an outstretched arm – any funny modifications. Stop.

I remove the triceratops from the table. I lay out the resulting drawings. And we repeat this whole dance without nature, peeping at our own tracks. Stop.

I clear all the images of triceratops from the table. We repeat the dance. Stop.

And here is the most important part of the exercise. I ask the student to draw genre scenes in the style of linear comics, wh ere the main character will be my favorite triceratops. Triceratops in a coffee shop, in a store, a triceratops whipping on the St. Andrew's cross, sex of two triceratops, three, four.

The meaning of this exercise is that, having thoroughly studied nature, its character, having learned to quickly grasp the main and recognizable, the student is completely freed from the dictate of nature, he learns to easily operate with an image as a sign, a hieroglyph, without losing the clarity of the image.

Ethics and mechanics

Ethics in a reportage sketch at a sex party is in the first place of all qualities of an artist. Somewhere out there, in the world of great museum art, the artist has the right to be scum. Moreover, they even expect from him a certain poisoning, complementing the romantic image. Here everything is different. People come to space, the main quality of which should always be safety and trust in an unfamiliar neighbor. The ability to quietly and imperceptibly, without disturbing someone else's joy and atmosphere, stand close to a fun orgy and drill them with a glance, without causing a feeling of aggression. Comfortable, discreet clothing, or lack thereof, if required. On the one hand, to look like one of the guests – rather sexualized, but not like those who came with a clear intention to show themselves. No uncomfortable masks, carnival hats, feathers clinging to other guests. Take up as little space as possible. This is especially true when you paint secluded areas with the most reverent practices. Sometimes you should come up in advance and discuss everything with the master. So, at one of the last events, in a small private area behind the curtain, the practice of the aromatic sensorium was held. A deprivation mask was put on the guest, special aromas and tactile stimuli were brought to his senses, while simultaneously telling sensual stories in an insinuating voice. It was a practice that any sneeze, any careless movement could destroy.

For the same reasons, I personally do not like to draw on a graphics tablet, which not only has a glowing screen, but also the gadget itself in a place wh ere phones are prohibited can cause additional anxiety among guests. Although I know that there are wonderful masters with a good reputation who draw sketches of sex on a tablet computer. For myself, I gave up even the idea of a small flashlight above the sheet. It is better – in my understanding – to learn to draw with a blindfold, than to break the fragile atmosphere of eroticism.

Event organizers, it seems to me, should pay attention to the artist's reputation many times more closely than to the reputation of the guests. An artist is the person who will be over the shoulder of almost everyone during the night. And be sure to pay attention to the portfolio. Moreover, it is very narrowly thematic. Not in the illustration at all, not in the skill of the artist as such. On the portfolio it is on reportage sketching, moreover, preferably sketches from sex events. Before my eyes, one artist, with whom we were at the same event with one technical task, an artist much more talented and skilled, having more weight in the art crowd, finding himself for the first time in such a specific space, quickly threw his expensive sketchbook into envy and happily waving member rushed into the maelstrom of sensual pleasures. “And this abyss swallowed her at one moment”. In my understanding, the portfolio is primarily a guarantee that you can work out your set for eight hours, from dusk to dawn, in darkness and inconvenience, close to temptations, without hurting anyone's feelings.

I went to the first few events on standard tickets, on my own money, without trying to negotiate with the organization. And only after that the portfolio and reputation did their job. Someone may try to catch me here: they say, you are sleeping with some organizers, you have been friends with others for a long time, do not fill in here about your reputation. Let me, with each of whom you hint, we met personally after. First – I came with a portfolio and a train of reputation, then – I worked the night, from call to call, issued a product, showed how I exist inside a safe space organized by them, and only after that any personal and friendly relations developed. I did not get into any of the parties through the bed, but I made a bed for myself, already inside.

Similarity and style

Usually, when the kids are trying their best to make the image “similar” to what constituted a training production, I tried to explain a simple thing to them. No one, looking at an image, will ever raise photo archives in order to convict them that the teapot had a completely different ornament. And the artistic value of the image is within the borders of the sheet, everything is in the palm of your hand. Therefore, first of all, you should strive to make a strong convincing image, with a catchy composition, with a confident line that makes you want to consider it. With the reportage sketch, things are a little more complicated. The guests of the event will still look for themselves, look for the atmosphere they remember, and look for recognition. And this is one of the entertainment after the event is over. A game of hide and seek, an excuse to talk in a general chat and seal the mutual sympathy of the loyal audience, the party brand community with text communication. In the field, it is not always possible to struggle with portrait likeness for a long time. But the ability in two or three strokes to give a clear recognizable detail that accurately identifies the hero for everyone who was there is an important aspect.

But besides the guests, brave and immersed in themselves, besides the masters of pain and pleasure, there are at least two more participants in any image: the artist and the brand of the event. And each of them has the right to their own “similarity”.

One could say – the choice of style here and everywhere is a private matter, why argue? Draw as you like. But there are a few purely technical nuances. On the one hand, drawing in extremely complicated conditions – almost in the dark, as quickly as possible, almost on the run, drawing constantly moving objects that change their position, all these factors do not contribute much to playing with various stylizations. It is better to take your most proven weapon: that technique, those techniques with which you can draw, how you breathe, that is, without thinking for a second, naturally and easily. And this is a question of home exercises – how many of these techniques are in the arsenal, on which the hand is placed, like a swordsman. More often, if we are not talking about an illustration, but about a sketch, this is one style – individual, like a handwriting. How quickly can you write text in words if you intentionally do it in something other than your natural handwriting?

But on the other hand, if you plan to develop or add stylistic diversity depending on the event, brand, and so on, then somehow you need to solve this problem without losing the naturalness of your style. Of course, everything can be partially solved at the stage of post-processing and painting. But these are already techniques of illustration, their entire arsenal. And that's another topic.

One of the easiest and most effective ways to make your sketch sets stand out without rearranging your hand is to think about not how, but what you are going to draw in advance. What exactly will you pay special attention to this night.

For example, you know that the orgy will take place in a luxurious amphitheater with columns, large halls, high ceilings, and a view from the balcony. These will be epic scale views. But accredited photographers, even if they are at this event (and not all of them are), will not shoot general plans. Because too many guests will get into a wide shot at the same time and it is too likely that one of them will use the legal right to refuse to be present in the photo report. Apart from the fact that photographers by default take portrait lenses at an orgy in order to shoot tasty fragments: a back strewn with a whip, a hot kiss for three, a spectacular guest in a succubus costume. Set yourself a goal in this situation to draw as many general plans as possible. At first, slowly (the columns will not run away) sketch out the scene of the action, and then inscribe a group of interacting figures into these scenery.

And the next night is held in a more chamber format. Small rented apartments, two or three masters and a lot of people who just gently communicate with each other, who do not want to compromise themselves by the very fact of being at such an event. Focus on portraits, the chemistry of dialogue and touch. And somewhere in the background, let the model hang out in the ropes or fill someone's back with wax.

The third night is in costume, the fourth is with an emphasis on stage performances. And each time you set yourself a new, different task, you will make unlike series of sketches, united by your individual handwriting.

And all the while remembering that it is no less important for a brand to interest new people than to please those who were at the event itself. So, returning to my monologue in front of the children, the main means of expression must be present inside the sheet and be sufficient. For a brand, images from a party are safe content (in the context of increasing sex censorship in selling social networks), the ability to show the atmosphere without taking general plans on the photo, the opportunity to tease the imagination of future guests, the ability to easily take graphic elements for in-brand design when the layout do not overload with photos, help in creating your own recognizable face.

And I sincerely wish that those of us who draw at 18+ events to become as many as possible. Because nothing reconciles a hostile society with a new phenomenon that the most banal classical fine art. What is drawn on paper or written on canvas is already something acceptable. A photo can often be perceived by the viewer as a blank document, even if it is art. Illustration, painting, art object – as fiction. Therefore, I have high hopes in the field of sexual education precisely on this form of transformation of the unacceptable obscene into the acceptable as a reportage sketch, referring to what really happened (just stretch out your hand), and at the same time became an object of art.