Samurai Sketchbook of Butch-Femme Art

[Samurai Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Miss_Tia

Samarai...it all depends on why they are coloring wherever they are coloring. Outside of the lines can be independence showing, creativity, or stubbornness, rebelliousness, or even a neurological disorder. It could mean they are exploring feelings or having too many feelings stuffed.

What I looked for was color selection, pressure, thickness of lines, movement and images freely formed subconsciously.

I always asked them their interpretation first, before I would examine it closer. I can see red as a color of anger and to the child, it could be a memory of the red blanket he carried around as a child and lost...which is tied into the grief now over losing his mother to alcoholism..(true story).

And for the record, almost all anger has a sense of loss attached to it. So sometimes even if they dont see the anger it there and sometimes its all about the blankie...

I had a child who would only color with greens. I gave him a box of crayons with no greens it and told him to draw me a picture. if you could have seen the torment on his face and how hard he processed this for such a long time...he simply could not do it without green. OCD. So I got finger paints and we explored putting colors together and seeing them change colors. Then we got water and food coloring..and he watched blue and yellow turn to green. By the time we were done with my therapy with him, he was using a couple more colors. Not all of them but lil steps is good. And not everyone has to use all the colors. In one culture, (I dont remember where) they only see three colors. Period. Shades of them but no other colors. So perceptions play a big part of it. If he had been older we would have explored this too. But I only had a few week with him...

That's most fascinating and elucidating, thank you! It makes me want to learn more about this. I had no idea that the deceptively simple process of watching colours mixing could be so revealing and therapeutic.

[Samurai Wanderer]

Originally Posted by little_ms_sunshyne

You are so talented! I love your drawings! Feel like they should be in a comic!

I have to make a request A pinup inspired femme and a dapper butch.

Cannot wait to see more of your art!

Thank you Stone4play and I are going to attempt a comic collaboration, so maybe, just maybe...!

Pin-up femme and dapper butch are getting the votes, so I shall give it a go once I google, uh, what the terms mean LOL.</newbie moment>

[Samurai Wanderer]

Originally Posted by pinkgeek

I'm going to ask a question - what if anything makes this image queer other than we know it to be queer.

Fantastic question! I'm interested to know too.

From this artist's perspective...

When I first showed the pic to some non-queer friends, they jokingly said, "Huh, you're drawing normal guy-girl now... That one's a total dude." I said, "Yeah. I thought I liked femslash, turns out I'm just another sucker for good ol' fashioned romance... with a twist." It's been a challenge and a fascination to find that elusive balance of masculinity and femininity in BF art. For 'Beach Splash', as well as 'Evening Wear', my foremost inspiration was based on a femme sentiment I've read in a few threads discussing butch masculinity. It went along the lines of "Why butches? If you like masculine so much, why not go with guys," and the reply was, "Because they have all the traits I want in a man, and not the ones that I don't want." I've been pondering on what that might mean, and dabbled in it through art with varying degrees of success. A man... who's not a man. Am still pondering.

[Samurai Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Katniss

What I so often read about is the many visual artists stating they painted/drew the figure because they (artist) were trying to convey a thought/feeling/idea. Almost a voyeuristic experience with the subject which can sometimes leave the viewer feeling a coolness or almost clinical approach to the work. Your drawings are very engaging and seem (to me) intimate without being intrusive. Thank you so much for sharing these with us!

Perhaps that's the "essence" that Miss Tia referred to. When I feel a distance to the subject matter, and then try to force myself into the work, I end up drained afterwards. When I feel a connection though, it's a joy. So it's my pleasure to share the sketches here, and I also feel a lot less weird that I'm not the only one who likes them!

[Samurai Wanderer]

Originally Posted by nycfembbw

I would be into seeing a drawing of a butch or a femme or some combo where one or more is full-figured

Loving this thread as well as all the great conversation your mad talent is generating.

BBW is a new theme for me, but I'm working towards incorporating some into my work, stay tuned!

Me too, I'm loving the conversations and learning about BFism (is that a word?) in an art context.

[Samurai Wanderer]

Requested by LadyRieinAL:

"There is a core connection, the place where butterflies are made, the brain and the pelvic area release passion and fire."

It was a challenging request. I hope you like it

[Soft*Silver]

Originally Posted by Samurai Wanderer

That's most fascinating and elucidating, thank you! It makes me want to learn more about this. I had no idea that the deceptively simple process of watching colours mixing could be so revealing and therapeutic.

yes and it could have been used further into therapy too...such as aiding him to understand the concept of "blended" families such as his own. Kids are conceptual if they dont have language capabilities. They wont grasp the abstract of it until they are older than he was but the image remains and will be stored until it can be processed then..

[Allison W]

Originally Posted by Samurai Wanderer

I like good ol' chivalry. Just that sometimes it seems politically incorrect nowadays to show "damsels in distress" so blatantly. It's still around when men run the show, but don't women find it degrading? ... And now Twilight comes to mind. I dunno LOL.

You did post a solo femme image. Perhaps you could post a solo butch image with cues suggesting a conflict prior to the image (like still wiping blood from her mouth, or whatever), or the butch and the opponent she prevails over, or the butch and her steed--I could go on. The strong, heroic image of the butch is still present, but not necessarily alongside the portrayal of a disempowered femme.

Jus' throwin' that out there.

[LaneyDoll]

My request:

curled up in bed, not sexy but sweet (one of my fave moments)

or

gently touching her face and just taking her in

Yes, I am a sucker for sweetness

YOU are so damn talented! If you ever decide to publish these, please put me down for a copy of the book?

[Samurai Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Allison W

You did post a solo femme image. Perhaps you could post a solo butch image with cues suggesting a conflict prior to the image (like still wiping blood from her mouth, or whatever), or the butch and the opponent she prevails over, or the butch and her steed--I could go on. The strong, heroic image of the butch is still present, but not necessarily alongside the portrayal of a disempowered femme.

Jus' throwin' that out there.

That makes a whole lot of sense. It'd be great to find out more about what would be empowerment for femmes.

[Samurai Wanderer]

Originally Posted by LaneyDoll

My request:

curled up in bed, not sexy but sweet (one of my fave moments)

or

gently touching her face and just taking her in

Yes, I am a sucker for sweetness

YOU are so damn talented! If you ever decide to publish these, please put me down for a copy of the book?

Noted Sweetness is always in fashion in my books!

Thank you muchly. A book would be awesome cool, though I'm taking this as a learning process at the moment.

[Samurai Wanderer]

Got a little overambitious for this one, so took a while. Here is horsey pic! In colour. Sort of. I tried.

For pinkgeek: Discuss

[Soft*Silver]

OMG! THis is exquisite!!! OMG! I want a copy!!!

Originally Posted by Samurai Wanderer

Got a little overambitious for this one, so took a while. Here is horsey pic! In colour. Sort of. I tried.

For pinkgeek: Discuss

[LaneyDoll]

Originally Posted by Samurai Wanderer

That makes a whole lot of sense. It'd be great to find out more about what would be empowerment for femmes.

In an image, my thoughts would be: standing/sitting up perfectly straight (because I think slouching takes away your power), chin tilted up a bit (almost snobby but not), heels (because it is me) and a hint of a smile.

Just my $.02.

[LaneyDoll]

Originally Posted by Samurai Wanderer

I like good ol' chivalry. Just that sometimes it seems politically incorrect nowadays to show "damsels in distress" so blatantly. It's still around when men run the show, but don't women find it degrading? ... And now Twilight comes to mind. I dunno LOL.

To me, it depends on the situation. When I am with mine, he "tends" to me like a gentleman would attend a lady. And I can assure you, he and I both know who runs the show

[Allison W]

Originally Posted by Samurai Wanderer

Got a little overambitious for this one, so took a while. Here is horsey pic! In colour. Sort of. I tried.

I'm not sure what we said to make you post your Big Damn Masterpiece here but holy shit I am glad you did

EDIT: requesting desktop-wallpaper-sized version of that picture, like, ermahgerd

[Gemme]

Originally Posted by Samurai Wanderer

Got a little overambitious for this one, so took a while. Here is horsey pic! In colour. Sort of. I tried.

For pinkgeek: Discuss

This is lovely!!!

[princessbelle]

Originally Posted by Samurai Wanderer

Got a little overambitious for this one, so took a while. Here is horsey pic! In colour. Sort of. I tried.

For pinkgeek: Discuss

Wow would love to have this in my living room. Love it.

[Samurai Wanderer]

Golly goshlings, your responses make me squee.

I made a couple of wallpapers for you:


1600x1200 for Normal (squarish) screens

1920x1200 for Widescreen

They might not fit perfectly, and you might have to stretch-proportionately to make it fit your screen resolution, but it should be better than the one I originally posted.

[Allison W]

Originally Posted by Samurai Wanderer

Golly goshlings, your responses make me squee.

I made a couple of wallpapers for you:


1600x1200 for Normal (squarish) screens

1920x1200 for Widescreen

They might not fit perfectly, and you might have to stretch-proportionately to make it fit your screen resolution, but it should be better than the one I originally posted.

respect, much love