Halloo Gronc:
All right, it's time I broke down and sent some kudos your way. How much more good work does this artist have to do? Strike that: great work. Time I said so.
So I'll just say it, and more important, why. Whatever your other work in other areas, you've tapped into something remarkably unique, and with a remarkably creative talent, when it comes to erotic art. Check out all the stuff on the Net these days (if you've got a few minutes) and I'll stand my ground in asserting there's nothing else quite like a Gronc Girl out there (even though they're all essentially the same girl).
Where *did* you get this style anyway? (I have a guess, but shan't say here). Putting a woman in bondage, sure, we've all done that, all good erotic fun (or have I said too much?
). But then there's your approach. That takes it pretty much as far as it can go. That's downright permanent in some cases; or looks it. This is a key to your work, I think. As symbolic as bondage is (no matter if it's a male or female in it) a piece of Gronc art says, in no uncertain terms, it doesnt get any better than this. Or tighter. It's not bondage, it's nearly body modification.
And the smiles you put on your women, those sensuous, sloe-eyed, always-big-boobed women. Then you put a hand grenade up her butt. Or a rocket, for God's sake. Seem to recall the first art of yours I saw was one of your Explosive Girls. Now why should *that* be erotic? Well, you can't look away, can you? Ditto the Crossed With Chains work. Complete fantasy, that, especially when you stop to wonder how those chains got through those girls. (I note the text accompanying the Meat Pendulum image; magic. I knew that.
)
But you don't stop to wonder about that, because the fantasy does in fact work, and strongly so. Bondage on the outside and on the inside. Who, upon seeing one of those images, is going to say 'Ohhhh yeah, I knew I had a fetish for that.'? You do now, buddy.
Which is another key. As much tons of artists have done damn near everything BDSM possible to the female (or male) form, here's one who puts something new on the table (since the girl's all but welded to it). Or rather, has a new angle to offer. The Ogre and the Maiden piece, for example. That's a genuinely original item, and genueinely excellent. Would it work with a woman in 'ordinary' bondage? Yes, but much less so.
And since we are on a Vore board, there's the Worm Cave. Something of a staple of Vore, perhaps, getting nommed on and swallowed by a big worm (or a plant, or a snake), but is that what we have here? No. We're talking a *Worm* here. This is a most well-thought out and well-done piece of Vorish fantasy. If it's not one of the best in the genre, show me better. And fleshed out (sic) by the text into something even better than that. There are goblins? Who are into Vore? Who serve a giant worm? And the girls are apparently volunteers?
Really. Speaking as a writer, wish I'd written that. That's pretty good, y'know? (understatement).
Whatever our fetishes and quirks, they can be easier to cope with when we can use 'em creatively to get something quality down on paper (or screen). That might be why anybody does anything artistic, come to think about it. What I would compliment most is how you've taken yours in a *very* creative direction. I get the feeling that behind each piece of art is a subtantially complete fantasy world (and an attitude towards matters fetishistic), out of which the art emerges; little of your work is 'one-off'. In the case of Worm Cave, I'd say that paid off splendidly.
(Sufficient to lead me to think of a sequel concept, if you want one; PM me if you like.)
Lastly, I'll note that the art itself is such clean, precise pen work, not a dropped stitch anywhere. It's quite assertive, actually, but there's also a straightforward simplicity to it. We are not given so much as to lead our eyes into seeing realism, in terms of shading and detail, but we are given quite enough to interpret shape and form. This is a cut above a 'cartoon' style, restrained and cool; excellent. The bodies are all perfect, not a mar or error to them, so I smell some real training backing this up, and no small experience with nudes.
Mind you. if you ever told any of the models you studied what you were going to do to their bodies, they might well have run screaming from the room. Or not; a kinky model can be a real gold mine for an artist. As a writer, I wouldn't know anything about that.
.
Anyway. I'll end this with merely the hope and wish that you can keep going. Don't let the kudos go to your head, draw what pleases you best, not the anonymous drooling mob, (now is there a reason why they're drooling?). And for God's sake ignore the trolls who snipe and the churls who snap at trivialities and imperfections. I hear tales of artists who've left Eka because of such twitness; when/if you meet with that, haul out this little epistle and reread as an antidote. And I remain,
Perfectly able to administer a supplementary dose if this one wears off,
Fred Brown.
by Gronc » Wed Apr 01, 2009 11:34 am 
