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Story Illustrations (Behind the Scenes)
🕑 Added 2020-08-15 19:00:03 +0000 UTC
I’ve always been a one-man-band when it comes to my weight-gain fiction. It’s not that I have an aversion to collaboration; it’s just that when I wrote my first tale, “The Lesson” back in 1996, there was no one to collaborate with. Back then, my primary proof-readers were my English major Mother and a couple of semi-literate college buddies--none of whom would I have felt comfortable sharing my sexualized tale of weight-gain revenge.
Dimensions, Fantasy Feeder, Deviant Art, Curvage, and other weight-gain oriented sites emerged in the years since, and though I was relieved I wasn’t as weird as I suspected (at least as far as my weight-gain and bbw fetishes go!) and grateful to have like-minded people with whom to share my work, I never really collaborated with anyone until Riptoryx approached me to edit his epic “The Slowest Champion--Revisited” five years ago. I’m glad he did. Without such a talented and commensurately pervy dude to brainstorm with the past few years, this site wouldn’t exist and I’d likely be back to my torrid production pace of one or two stories per decade.
With the help of your generous patronage, we’ve since expanded this collaborative spirit to include additional talent. Riptoryx already shared some of his dealings with professional voice-over artist Kim Reiko, whose excellent narration of “You’re Going to Get Fat!” kicked my humble tale up numerous notches: https://www.patreon.com/posts/behind-scenes-to-34786427. Similarly, we thought our more ardent supporters might enjoy a peek into the commissioned art for “One Night Adventure” and “Diagnosis: Feeder.”
I can’t even imagine trying to get weight-gain fiction illustrated twenty-five years ago. Where would you look? The Yellow Pages? And what would you say when you called? “Can you draw a good fat chick?” Today, inquiring to an artist about illustrating your fat fetish porn is actually the easy part. (Sites like DeviantArt host a plethora of emerging and professional artists, many of whom share our particular kink.) Finding a talented artist who is ready, willing, and able to accept commissions, and whose skill-set and style jibes with the job and your vision, is difficult. Riptoryx and I spent A LOT of time going back and forth on different artists, weighing their pros and cons, long before we approached them. And once we did, the “ready, willing, and able” part would sometimes bite us in the butt.
Ultimately, we were fortunate to procure the talents of two very different artists: Asaragi (https://www.deviantart.com/asaragi) and Monomaniac (https://www.deviantart.com/monomaniacart).
Asaragi is a humble and versatile artist whose work ranges from whimsical line-drawn cartoons to painterly renderings and washes suitable for framing. When I saw this classy pin-up of his character Helena, I knew he was an artist I wanted to work with:
Fortunately, he was equally excited to work with us so I sent him a copy of “Diagnosis: Feeder,” a short vignette that would allow us to dip our toe into illustrative waters without risking one of our lengthy character-driven classics on a virgin effort. I didn’t give him much instruction (I wanted him to feel involved on the creative side); I just asked him to come up with compositions he felt fit the narrative.
We ultimately asked him to do two sketches and one detailed study based on his preliminaries. First he sent us the sketches:
These are very close to the final product. In fact, I was prepared to OK them when Riptoryx reminded me that the story’s protagonist, Samantha, is raven-haired and battling an acne problem—neither of which was obvious in Asaragi’s first drafts. Asaragi darkened her hair, added a few blemishes, and we were good-to-go.
Then he sent us the detailed study:
Although I loved it artistically, I felt it was too sexualized. At the end of “Diagnosis: Feeder” it becomes clear Samantha and her boyfriend are playing Doctor, but until then we assume she’s embarrassed and ashamed by her physician’s scrutiny. So, I asked Asaragi if he could adjust Samantha’s hand and obscure her nether regions slightly. Fortunately, he was accommodating and his final version provides a dollop of trollop without going too hussy-heavy. (I also asked him to tone-down the acne a tad.)
When we work with Asaragi again (and we will), we’ll probably supply more specific directions and references for him to follow. That’s what I did for Monomaniac’s “One Night Adventure” cover and it worked well…for the most part.
Monomaniac has a polished style that screams cover art. It’s sleek, glossy, and well-composed…just like the girls he renders. Frankly, I’d buy a swimsuit calendar if he did one. Speaking of which, it was his illustration of bathing beauty Brooke that convinced me he was the right choice for the cover of “One Night Adventure”:
Not only did Brooke’s look remind me of my vision for Jenny, but her sly grin and angled positioning showcase strong composition and an ability to capture personality I’ve not seen in many digital artists. Delving into Mono’s portfolio a bit deeper, I discovered this unique perspective of another character, Cora, which inspired the hiney-sight view of Jenny’s junk spread across a spread of junk food.
Jenny’s look (a cross between Mono’s characters of Brooke and Dani) and the cover’s composition came together seamlessly. Speaking of seamless, this was Monomaniac’s dress-less draft of Jenny to measure skirt length and clothing coverage.
I learned two important things about the commission process from this draft:
1.) Be careful where I open correspondence.
2.) Pay attention to the wardrobe lines…not the T&A.
Ultimately, I gave Mono a thumbs-up without thinking of the practicality of the skirt. So, a few weeks later this arrived:
While it’s not uncommon to have sexual elements exaggerated for a cover, Riptoryx (again the voice of reason) rightly mentioned that a skirt that short would grind any party to a screeching halt. Fortunately, Mono was a good sport and gave us a chance to make revisions:
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes and under-the-seams look at how commissioned illustrations are crafted. (I’ve attached downloadable versions of everything below.) If you’re inclined, please “watch” Asaragi and Monomaniac’s DeviantArt pages (linked above). They’re talented gentlemen and we look forward to working with them again.
Have a great weekend!
Maverick
Comments
Maverick and Riptoryx
"Voice of reason" might be an overly generous title for me. ; ) That's a nice retrospective on the iterative process the illustrations underwent, though! -Riptoryx
