Kinky Art: The punk and skinhead scene is where I’m from!

MasterMarc: Hello Drubskin. You are drawing erotic pictures for more than 25 years. Have you really been into kinky stuff with 15, and what have been your first steps into the kinky world?

Drubskin: Hi MasterMarc! When I first started drawing, I drew on paper from my sketchbook late at night or when I knew I’d be alone for long stretches of time at age 15. It’s when I first started noticing guys my age in a sexual manner, my father’s friends, and developing my themes and tastes in men that are still seen in my work today. I hadn’t had sex yet. That came a little later when I left home at 17 to go to art school. All my drawings were ripped out of my drawing pad and rolled up and hidden in the wall where I thought they might be hidden from others. I was always worried I would be found out by my parents, so I’d end up throwing them out.

My first steps into kink was during my freshmen year of college.

Everything was new. I was out from under the very protective yolk of my parents for the very first time and very far from home. I was a precocious kid and I had a good idea of what got me excited. I lost my virginity in October of 1991 to my next door neighbor in the dormitory. He was notoriously in the closet which resulted in lots of secret and angry fucking but it didn’t last. My first real boyfriend tied me to his dorm room bed so I couldn’t do anything and rode my cock with the purpose of draining me dry. From that point on, everything and anything I could try, was on the table. Coming out “kinky” has always been a process of peeling off layers of taboo. Not having any sort of mentor, being naturally curious and fearless about everything, I answered a personal ad of a guy who was very straight-laced but was wildly adventurous and I opened up to him about a lot of things. I even gave him one of my early sketchbooks that I started at college and he encouraged me to put my work on the Internet. The first things I came to grips with was my clear and apparent foot/sock/sneaker/boot fetishes. After that hurdle was cleared, everything became that much more easy – bondage, role playing, watersports, heavy ass play, flogging. There wasn’t much I wasn’t interested in trying at least once.

MasterMarc: I think in the teenager years every one of us have had his secrets and the worst case would be, that parents would know it. Your foot/sneaker/boot fetish is very visible in your pictures. They are often in the centre of the drawings or accentuated big. It seems that it is beside your skin/punk heart still your main fetish. Why are in your eyes feet so adorable? 

Drubskin: Before developing my own identity in my late teen years and early twenties, feet were a main focus. Feet, especially socks, then the boots or sneakers I’ve always associated that part of the body with hard work and I linked it to my understanding of what it means to be masculine. It’s also one of the most vulnerable parts of the body. We cover our feet up for most of the day, so I imagine that’s part of the appeal for me. This dualities of soft versus hard, strong versus tender, covered versus exposed, etc. had a great deal of erotic charge. You layer on top of this, natural things like sweat, dirt, and wear along with the identity of WHO the man depicted or objectified is and the combination becomes absolutely volatile. It’s never been just about the paraphilia but more about the man who has worked in and sweat in the footwear. You can determine a great amount of information in regards to a man’s life, tastes, class, job and habits from what he puts on his feet. Before he even opens his mouth, I can always tell if the man wears his boots habitually or if he hides them in a closet to only wear them at a club. These are clearly two different types of men.

MasterMarc: The punk and skin world seems also to have a big influence on your work. We feel that this is your world. What is the essence of the skin/punk lifestyle?

Drubskin: I’ve always felt like I didn’t belong to any type of “gay community” and still don’t feel absolutely accepted. I come from a working class household. My formative years were spent constantly coming to grips with the fact that I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth and seeing the disparity between and being at odds with those who have a disposable income and my family. Being an artistic child with supportive parents, I was very lucky to not have been forced to go into the military or take up a trade. I’m the very first person in my family to attend college.

Everything I have was earned. Nothing was ever given freely. I fought my way to where I am today. That’s a real struggle.

The punk and skinhead subcultures are so deeply tied to music and the fashion. When you go to punk and ska shows with your friends, you feel like you belong. You get dressed up. You own the music. You sing along.

You get in fights or fall down in the mosh pit. You’re part of that. It used to annoy me to see people appropriate the gear associated with a specific subculture and run off to an event where there is not a single nod to that subculture is given musically. It’s crass and disingenuous and they always fail to hold my interest. Those types of people follow trends.

The punk and skinhead scene is where I’m from and it flavors my entire point of view. My creative writing teacher in college said, “Write about what you know because it will show.” The same concept can be applied to my illustrative work. I’ll always feel more comfortable here than perhaps some popularity contest leather or fetish event.

MasterMarc: It seems that this trash style of the punk subculture has become part of your illustrations. I say that in a good way. But even if you have chosen a clean white background for a drawing, the pic seems still to transmit a little a dirty feeling. How is that possible?

Drubskin: The white backgrounds were initially intended to do two things. The first reason was to harken back to the old World War 2 pin up girl posters. My grandfather had them in his garage and I always thought they were amazing. When I started working on my style, I wanted that feel to my work. The other reason was to draw focus on the action of what fetish or sex act I wanted to showcase. In doing so, the viewer gets a taste of my perverted brain and sense of humor. If it doesn’t arouse somebody, it usually makes them smile. All my work shows the perverse glee of the “bottom”. It is very important to me that my work is joyous and accessible.

MasterMarc: I hope you can be even more perverted than we can see on the pictures. 🙂 How much of you and your experiences are integrated in your drawings? 

Drubskin: I’m definitely more filthy than my paintings let on but everything depicted in my art, I’m definitely very into. 🙂

MasterMarc: Now you’ve made me curious about your fantasies. Are there some dark parts of your imagination you haven’t painted till now, and what kind of fantasies are that? 

Drubskin: Haha!! A guy has to have some secrets. 😉 I’m obsessed with satyrs. I need to explore that.

I’m pretty much ‘anything goes’ as long as everyone involved is into it. Somebody once told me, “There’s nothing more boring than somebody else’s fetish or fantasy.”

It would be nice to just have a steady weekly appointment just to be tortured sexually and physically again. Most guys I meet don’t have the patience, imagination or stamina to keep up.

MasterMarc: A weekly appointment? That sounds more like a therapy than like a real torture. 🙂 How would you describe your art?

Drubskin: My goal is cathartic experiences. When matched with the right person or people, it’s everything. It’s both at the same time. Otherwise I really don’t understand why people bother.

My art? They are illustrated glimpses into a fantasy world of my own making which are made up of memories, experience, fantasy, people and desires. They are mostly joyful moments in time or the practice of being present at a specific moment. That’s the essence of what I’m doing through these graphical depictions of sex or even in the pin ups. It may not be for everyone, but in the off chance it may catch someone’s eye, it’s like I’m leaving the door open slightly to let someone in.

MasterMarc: I think you have with your illustrations a lot attention, more than just for a short moment. A lot of people like your illustrations and also other artists say just good things about your art. Where can people see your illustrations and where can we buy it? 

Drubskin: I seem to be enjoying a great deal of attention from individuals looking to get commissioned art right now. This is wonderful! I have a great deal of work available for purchase directly from my website, Drubskin.com. All purchase inquiries, commission requests, or gallery show requests should come to me via email on my website and I will take care of them personally. I’m just an email away, so get in touch with me.

I also have several, extremely affordable options through a vendor. These are my more accessible and less explicit works which are available on T-shirts, housewares, greeting cards,  and art prints through Society6.

These can be purchased here: www.society6.com/Drubskin

I also have a Facebook group for my art and for general silliness and art postings to brighten your day, one can always follow me on Twitter. Just search for Drubskin!

MasterMarc: Hey Drubskin. It was a great pleasure to talk to you and to know more about the guy behind the kinky illustrations. I wish you all the best for the future and hope, that we will see many new Drubskin illustrations which enrich our dirty fantasies.