Influencer: Big Men Edition - Hakujin [NSFW]
As the bara boom continues to spread, more artists are turning to the internet to express their ideas.
As a result, my friend Ali and I were able to speak with Hakujin, a Japanese artist from France, about his life as a gay man, his incredible bara work, and his other work outside of the bara environment.
My Artful Beginnings [Part 1]
Since childhood I suppose. I've always drawn and read a lot of french "bandes dessinées" and french editions of Marvel comics. I reproduced the drawings, panels, sometimes beginning small strips with my elder brother and friends. It was all for fun, pass-time. My parents encouraged cultural activities (reading, playing music, drawing). They encourage us (my brothers and I) in whatever passion we were into. I wasn't into sports. At 12, I fell into Métal Hurlant (the original French Heavy Metal magazine) and had a blast. Sex, counter-culture and Rock'n'Roll. Luckily, my parents didn't see those magazines nor listened closely to the music we were listening to (laughs). So I kept drawing from Métal Hurlant.
Both in fact. Junior High School art teacher encouraged and directed me to an art high school. I have a high school diploma in fine arts (1986 - yes, I'm that old). It allowed me to practice various techniques, like sculpting, painting, architecture, perspective, etc... The thing is I wanted to become a comic artist and it wasn't well received in art schools, even if the "bande dessinée" had become the 9th art. I didn't see what painting a lame still life would be of use for my goal. I should have known better... You don't take shortcuts if you want to practice a medium that requires knowledge of anatomy, composition, colors, architecture/perspective, narration... But the art teachers were rather dissuasive too. They didn't give you an explanation to apprehend a medium (gouache, water colors, pencils, whatever) and it didn't help (me) to render on the sheet of paper what I was seeing or wanted to deliver. I wanted to achieve something good at once, I didn't have the patience. We (students and teachers) hadn't had time. Anyway, it gave me basics and when I started working in the animation industry, everything made sense. All that I've learned or didn't understand came back to my mind as I was explained the ropes of the job by professionals. They took time and didn't judge you if you made mistakes. They pointed at them and explained why it was wrong, what you should do to make it right and it artistically unlocked a lot of things . And explained through a medium you like (the animation), the message passed better. I'll add that I'm constantly learning.
I think that I would be good at any art technique since now, I have more patience, more time to apprehend the tools and focus on what I do. I love penciling and creating the storytelling of a page. I love watercolors, color pencils and gouache (funny thing is my color teacher was saying that I wasn't and will never be a colorist). I love digital drawing and colorizing with photoshop. I wish I could practice plein-air painting more often but it's not easy when you're with your friends and you have to make them stop just for you. I wish I could master oil painting too.
It depends on the era of my life and when I've discovered them. A lot of comic artists of course, french and american, like Alan Davis, Adam Hughes, Frazetta, Kirby, Buscema, Neal Adams, Frank Miller, Olivier Coipel, Stéphane Roux, Moebius, Druillet, Paul Gillon, Uderzo... And in the beaux arts or illustration fields : Alphonse Mucha, Leonard Da Vinci, Louis David, Gustav Klimt, James Bama, Norman Rockwell, Frazetta again, Drew Struzan, Gil Elvgren... Those lists are not exhaustive. Japanese artists came later, first through animation then manga : Otomo (Akira), Toriyama (DragonBall) Kojima (Lone Wolf and Cub), Miyazaki... I'm a sum of influences. I like to look at art or visual products (like movies with a strong art direction or special effects) because it nurtures me. It goes with the job, I can get things from artists or genres that are not my taste. So I can't tell if one is above all the others. I've tried to emulate the style of some of them, which is a way to progress, but you can't be -you don't wanna be- the new/french Adam Hugues, the new/french Stuart Imonen. Now, I look up to all those artists as a means to progress.
It's because it's the men I'm attracted to. Not really the "bear/muscle guy/big boy cliché" but rather the guy next door, not too young and manly. At some point, I've been aware of artists doing homo-erotic illustrations or porn comics/manga like Tom of Finland (whom I've discovered in Metal Hurlant) or Gengoroh Tagame, Logan Kowalsky, Seizoh Ebisubashi, Jiraiya, Goh Fujimoto. What happened is that during a convention I was attending as a semi-pro comic artist (Japan Expo), I've met a bunch of guys who were launching their adult fanzine (Dokkun) about bara manga. I said "Guys, you are doing what I wanted to do for several years !" They enrolled me. At that time (2010), the bara genre was unknown in France, even in the manga scene. There was Yaoi (gay romance between adolescent boys drawn by girls for girls) but bara (for barazoku, gay sex/porn stories between men drawn by men for men), zilch. So I've developed a new style based on various Japanese artists that I've discovered and like. And that's why my characters are beefy, muscular, hairy, masculine because it goes with the genre and the codes.
Well, my main job is animation so I've worked on several animated TV series, some even made it in the U.S. like recently "Alvin !!!" (of course, it's an american product though the pre-production design was created in France), or Totally Spies. Maybe the elders remember "Around the world in 80 dreams / les aventures de Carlos", my first assignment in 1992. Working in the animation industry implies changing your style of art according to the series chart, from cartoon to realistic, to be flexible. Mostly, I'm more into realistic stuff, designing props, vehicles, characters and special effects. Besides, I've worked a bit around the comic book industry. It happened through my best friend, former animation director and artistic director and... who is now a comic and cover artist for Marvel, DC... At that time we've created a website to display illustrations, fanarts, things we and a few friends were doing on the sidelines of animation. It allowed us to be invited to conventions, drawing commissions, selling prints and self produced sketchbooks on the Artists Alleys. I've made some contacts and I've provided a lot of sketchcards (original artist trading cards) for licensed companies of Marvel, DC and Image (Upperdeck and Cryptozoic). I've done sets for Iron Man, Avengers, Batman, Walking Dead and others under my real name (Yeah, Hakujin is a nickname, folks !). I've done some commissions, and had two sci-fi creator owned comic projects that, I guess, will never complete. I've switched to bara and homo-erotic art and have a lot of fun doing that.
I'd like them to notice the dedication I put into my art, that it's not only about naked men, or men having sex. I hope I try to make something different. When seeing a new piece, I'd like them to think "He outdid himself".
I've figured it out according to my experience, the quality I deliver and the estimated time that it could take to complete a piece. Regarding commissions, I know my prices may be high, especially for "porn-related" drawings but once again, quality and work has a price and I don't want my customers to give it away freely on the internet, or make prints and sell them. Anyway I have difficulties lowering my standards .
I don't know... I'm proud that I've made it in an artistic media although my teachers didn't have great hopes for me. There are things that I'm really proud of like the Star Trek NG cover that I've provided for a french sci-fi magazine, the Catwoman pin-up base trading card, and on the bara genre, the Board chapter 2 part 1 and my 13K pin-up for twitter. And the illustration I've provided for the fine male illustrations book "BogossBook 3".
Art is a passion. I need it. Creating helps me relax and escape from monotony. There is a feeling of achievement when an illustration or a comic is completed. I have nothing that comes to mind, but yeah, it's beneficial.
Be aware of your potential, your skills and your talent. When you've reached a certain status as a professional, stop accepting jobs from people who ask you to work for free "because it will give you visibility". You'll just lose credibility. Art is a passion, but art is work too. You've studied for it, it's a real job. Real jobs get paid.
I'm currently working on the next chapter of my manga "The Board", the story of a married salaryman discovering his gayness with the help of his boss. Of course there's sex (a lot), but there is more than that. Each chapter is 24 pages but since I can't work full-time on it, and I put a lot of quality in it, I try to produce 1 episode a year. You can get the first chapters on gumroad.com/theartofhakujin (the very first part – the prequel that started all- is An Evening with The Boss). It's digital pdf files. I intend to do prints of some of my bara illustrations and a small booklet with the pin-ups that I draw each time I pass another 1000 followers on twitter. Maybe I will advertise on twitter for my comics-related sketchbooks that I still have in stock for people to order, not sure yet.
Hakujin Comic Book Art Gallery
My Gay Journey [Part 2]
Oh, it wasn't easy... I've fantasized about men since adolescence -maybe before- but didn't accept that I was gay. It was fantasy, a turn-on... I was hiding that part of me mostly because of my family, my friends and didn't have a reference for what being gay was. The only references at that time were rather negative, cliché, something to laugh at. I've never had a girlfriend, I thought "Someday, I will have someone and forget about that". I was still browsing the internet, watching porn and pictures. Around 29, I had a nervous breakdown. The good thing that came out of it was that it swiped away the so-called friends (who by the way, were the more homophobic). Then I met someone at work who was gay, older than me, and we had a lot of talk. And one day, I've decided to accept and say it. The first one to learn it was my younger brother and his reaction was "So what ?". It relieved me so much ! Then I told it to my best friend (same reaction and a lot of talk too). It took my parents some time to accept it, same for my elder brother but it's ok now. And then I began to have a sex life (really intense, I had catch-up to do) . Then a love life.
Around 1996 when I got my first internet connection I think. I was still closeted then and for stupid dumb me, gay meant effeminate. I had a crush on my parent's neighbour who was stocky and manly, a bit fat, and I happened to catch sight of him naked once. So I've typed something like "big naked men" on the search engine and... "Wow ! They exists". Then discovering the various types of men, age, that I had prejudices (but hey, I was on my own...). And slowly I've begun to accept the idea that "Yes, it's men I like... That kind of men..."
I couldn't say. Except going to the sauna -even if it was supposedly a bear sauna, it was more a sauna with regular men, mostly above 50 in age, some married- when I've started my journey through sexuality, I've never been in the bear scene, not even in the gay scene. Never been to a gay bar on a regular basis. Physically, I'm not a bear or a big guy. So the only differences that I could see are in the porn videos, which is not representative of a "culture".
The closest thing to a LGBT event that I've attended is the wedding of 2 of my friends (real bears by the way). Although it was really formal, it was very moving. Captain Sensible me.
Oh, certainly some porn actors (laughs) ! Some daddies from Older4Me, Bearfilms, Pantheon Productions. Currently I'm really into Colby Jansen. He's hot. Admiration is too much a big word, ok... On a more serious tone, I'm not involved in the gay community, I'm out of the scene (always been) so I don't know about someone that I could admire, someone who stand for the "gay cause" if such thing exists.
As I've said, I know nothing of the bear community. I've talked with Ali (@BrBeast269), International Mr LeatherBear 2019-2022 and former porn actor, who has told me that when he began in porn, there was a lot of racism. In the first movie he has made (The Big Heat), I've noticed that he had a very good duet with a white guy, but when it came to the final orgy, he remained with that guy and the others didn't mix with them. Until Ali did his part and got out of the screen, then the others mixed with Ali's partner. Ali told me that, yeah, the others didn't want to have anything to do with the black guy. That could be a trait to work on, but it doesn't affect only the bear community, not all the bears are racists. It's a global problem.
Hakujin Bara Takeover Collection
Maybe that I'm not too social... Especially at work. When I've started in animation, I made a bunch of friends and most of them failed me when I needed them... So now I don't make efforts to develop friendship or camaraderie with the teams. Having done it too much, I now invest myself just enough. Or it takes more time. It's not even premeditated, it's a mechanism of defense.
Don't hide to yourself who you are, accept yourself as you are. If people really care for you, they will like you as you are, regardeless of your sexual orientation, skin color, religion...
Waking up around 8 a.m., breakfast, shower, then on to the drawing board or computer to work on my own projects. When I'm on the computer, I watch series on the second monitor or listen to music. Lunch around 1 p.m, a nap or reading a book. Back to the drawing board around 3 p.m. 'til 6 p.m., sometimes chatting on skype with my friends. Then I go to my boyfriend's and spend the evening together (or going to the theater, or whatever). Back home around 10.30 or 11 p.m. Hosing the garden in spring/summer, drawing a little bit on the computer or reading. Going to bed around 11.30 p.m.
An open mind.
I want to be remembered as a good person, I guess. I've talked a lot about art, but what is more important to me are my friends, and being a better person.
You gotta be optimistic when you see how the world goes. So yeah, being optimistic is important, necessary. Despite all that is happening around us, I believe in the human being (yeah, I love Star Trek). Is it realistic... ?
Where no one has gone before (laughs) ! Still drawing I hope, but only things I want to draw (bara, porn and other). I think I won't work in animation anymore because it's becoming more and more difficult to get assignments. I'm at a turning point in my life/career and begin to think of a steadier job that will pay the bills and allow me to draw in the evening and week-end. And living a good life.
Special Thanks
I'd want to express my gratitude to hakujin for allowing me to interview him and learn more about his art and life.
