Todd Yeager, a recognized Washington D.C. artist, relocated to New York City, encountering a flourishing gay erotic art underground. As an intrepid member of The Queer Men's Erotic Art Workshop, he obsessively created the sensitively rendered portraits of his first published art monograph "Rascals". Read on for an interview with the artist.

How did you discover that for you drawing is the adequate form of expression?

When I was very young I tried learning guitar and also I had a typewriter as I wanted to write poetry and songs. It didn't take long to realize I had a knack for drawing though, and I haven't stopped since.

Where do you find your models? What kind of men do you like to draw?

I find them many different ways, some really are hustlers I met in bars others might be waiters or guys I met through friends or from a profile on line or at the queer men's erotic drawing workshop. I like guys who have a certain confidence about their sexuality. They don't have to be a great traditional beauty, though some of them are, but a unique style and a certain attitude is what I look for and find appealing to draw.

How do you know a pose or a scene is perfect to put down on paper?

It can be a tricky balance and you don't always know what will work best till you've done it.

How did you choose the drawings which are now in your book?

Harvy Redding and I went through choosing images we thought would work best and that I was most comfortable with but the editors at Bruno Gmuender have their artistic vision of the book and the final choice of images.

What is your favourite work in "Rascals" and why?

I don't think I have a single favorite but there are a few I especially like. Mostly ones that feature a strong face since that's what I do best.

Did the work of other artists somehow influence you?

Yes, I had the idea to try that academic style of crosshatching when I saw one of Paul Cadmus's lithographs at the LLGAF gallery.

What are your next projects about?

Harvy and I have talked about drawings focusing on the many colorful characters here in NYC that somehow feature the city in the works as well. Maybe have guest appearances from famous porn stars, underground performers, and other off the wall legends. we'll see...

posted in Interviews, Comic & Art on 29.05.2008