Walrus Porn!

Um, ok, maybe not. But it is one of the cutest things I’ve seen in a while. Seriously, if naked breasts don’t cause you to blow a gasket, this not-safe-for-work pic by Fredrik K.T. Andersson will probably put a smile on your face. There are six new pics on that page, ranging from the charming to the disturbing. It’s all what we’ve come to expect from Mr. Andersson. While some of the pieces look a touch sketchy, they’re all infused with the character and expressiveness we’ve come to expect from his work. There's also the sense of continuing story, of lives actually being lived. I continue to look forward to his updates.

Håkan Ackergård has also updated his Playelf Gallery. Again, not safe for work, but rather sweet. And again, no surprise. In fact, this is classic Ackergård, with a cute, scantily-clad girl in nature. The clothing is especially daring in this one, and a touch bondagy. (Are those roses around her right ankle? With thorns? OUCH!) But there’s a touch of the whimsical and the mystical about it. The expression is great. And Mr. Ackergård proves once again you can be sexy without screaming SEX!

One thing I find interesting is my reaction to Mr. Ackergård’s more anachronistic pieces. They really rub me the wrong way. The Underdark sketch series is a good example of what I’m talking about. At first, I was thrilled to see the title, as it promised a fun romp through traditional D&D territory. And while the drow babe’s armour was silly, it was an excellent display of talent, juxtaposing the hardness of the metal with the softness of her flesh. I even appreciated the pieces with Syline, though I’m not really in to piercings.

But “Orc Leatherboy” really rubbed me the wrong way. Why? Because the anachronism really blindsided me. If you go back to my review of Larry Elmore’s work, you’ll notice that one of the things I really appreciate about his art is the sense of verisimilitude. The people look real, the clothing looks real, even the monsters look like they could be real. The landscapes, the rigorous anatomy, and the equipment in Mr. Elmore’s art all look like they belong to a real world, a place you could actually visit. It’s the same thing that really helped to set the LotR movies apart from most fantasy film.

Mr. Ackergård usually delivers this in spades. His anatomy may not be as exacting as Mr. Elmore’s, but it rarely offends or looks completely wacky. It often has a softer, more cartoon-like feel, but that only heightens the sense of the fantastic in his work, and it’s exacting enough to draw you in, rather than shutting you out of his art. As I’ve mentioned before, the clothing, backgrounds, and characters all have a sense of the real to them. You could wear that clothing, fight with those weapons, sit on the chairs and drink ale in the taverns. But that only makes things like “Orc Leatherboy” or “Hell – Moe’s Tavern” (NSFW either) feel more like a smack in the face. It would be like Mr. Elmore slipping Prince Valiant into the background of the Inn of the Last Home, or seeing one of the puppet Feebles characters at the Battle of Helm’s Deep. Which in the end, I think, says more about me, as a viewer, than it does about Mr. Ackergård or his art. Mr. Ackergård has an appreciation for the absurd, for juxtaposing our expectations of the “high” fantastic with the coarser, more commercial fantastic of store-brand fetish and prime time television. I turn to the “high” fantastic to escape such things, which is why my reaction to their inclusion is so strong. Very much a “you got your peanut butter on my chocolate” thing.