LOL!  What’s her email address? Leverage like this should not be put to waste

Back to the creative process!  How many drafts or versions of a render do you do before you hit “Submit” to post a render? And how do you know that you’ve “got it right?”

It depends. There's at least two renders. There is ALWAYS something wrong with the first one. The lighting, the expression, I forgot to change an eye color or paint fingernails. Something is floating and not touching the ground. Eyelashes might look like crap or a costume might have ugly textures. The list goes on.

I know when I've got it right if I need very little Photoshop to fix issues. The best is no Photoshop at all, but that's pretty rare. In some extreme cases I've rendered a scene five to ten times. Maybe because I think of something to add or I want to hide a little Easter egg in a scene. I do that a lot actually, put little details in just to see if people comment on it. For instance, on Curia's most recent scene no one has commented on what the tubes in the background say. But I did get a comment on how cool her fingernails looked.

Let’s get a bit more serious now.  Last year, the French weekly Charlie Hebdo was attacked by extremists who objected to its irreverent tone and satire. There was a lot of debate after that attack on the rights of artists to freely express themselves.  Do you think artists should have carte blanche to create and post anything in the name of artistic expression?

Yes.

Of course you have to throw out the disclaimer about children and all of the truly horrifying exceptions.

Simply put I believe that time and history have proved that what is considered pornography or offensive today will, in the future, become the norm and accepted by society to one degree or another.

Will there always be religious zealots to stand in the way of progress, sure. In the end though, progress typically wins.

And here I thought you'd ask something about objectifying women or portraying them as victims to use and abuse. Instead you threw me up a softball. Charlie Hebdo? Wi wi! Viva la resistance and all that jazz.

We’ll get back to your propensity for objectifying women or portraying them as victims to use and abuse later. I promise! But right now, I want to stick to the theme of artists and their right to express themselves.

Are you really saying that artists do have carte blanche to create and post anything in the name of artistic expression but not if they create something offensive about children or something really horrifying?  That doesn’t sound like carte blanche to me. 

I suppose you can do whatever you want and claim it as a "right", right? There is the law though and generally breaking that is a bad idea. What I am against is censorship and the religious moral authority telling any artist, or anyone in general, what is and isn't art.

I also don't agree with DA and their strange set of rules but this is the forum I choose to contribute to, so I'm mindful of their rules. Do I want a Jihadist hit squad knocking on my door if I make fun of a religion or post naughty renders? No.

Should other countries allow a religious minority to bully them and affect policy changes? Well, I guess that's up to them but let's just say my borders are sealed and well protected.

As for “anything” being art? I'm okay with child pornographers getting ass raped in federal prison for downloading "art" depicting children in terrible situations. Fact.

If this makes me a bad person or anti-art well, I already admit to being not very nice.

Okay, let me clarify something from my last question and then we’ll move on. Child pornography is illegal and I totally agree that it’s not “art.” When I asked the question about something being offensive to children, I was speaking I terms of cartoons or anime depicting children, not where a real child was hurt or the subject of offensive “art.”

But, to continue the discussion about artistic expression and censorship, have you ever created a super-heroine in peril render that even you thought was too over the top or offensive so you didn’t post it, or at least toned it down. And, if so, what was it?

I appreciate the clarification, not that I needed one. I just thought you were trying to ruffle my feathers.

To answer the question about going too far, the answer is yes. I've gone over the top a few times. The very first time I did a render for a friend, totally as a joke. He knows me in real life and knows about my hobby. One of very few people. He's also a huge Batgirl fan and we were arguing about whether or not Catwoman liked dogs.

So, I was being stupid and I rendered a scene in which Batgirl was clothed but she was tied up and her leg was being humped by a dog while Catwoman looked on. "I like dogs just fine" was the caption I was going to use.

When the render finished, I was laughing my ass off and showed my wife who laughed, at first, then asked what was wrong with me.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Uhhh... joke?" I said.

I started to argue that it was a joke but she just made me feel dirty, I guess. I deleted it, but it was pretty funny. Honestly.

Another I started and never finished involved Little Red Riding Hood (in a red bondage hood) about to get pounced by a werewolf. I don't have an issue with monsters or fantasy creatures and fantasy women getting it on, per se. The werewolf just didn't sit well I guess.

There have been others, but those were the two more interesting things.

I wasn’t trying to ruffle your feathers. At least not with that particular question   I just find it curious that people, even here on DeviantArt, claim to be in favor of artists’ rights but, at the same time, get outraged if they find something an artist creates to be offensive. After all, even offensive speech is protected by the First Amendment (not that the First Amendment is applicable on DA of course).

And speaking of being outraged, I promised we’d get back to discussing your tendency to objectify women or portray them as victims to use and abuse, so here we go! Have you ever received notes or comments complaining that your art on DA (or wherever else you post it) is outrageous or offensive?

Well you won't find me outraged at content here on DA. More than likely you'll find that I'm tired of having my hands tied by their archaic rule set. But anyway...

As for receiving notes about how my art portrays women, the answer is yes. Absolutely. I even made a journal out of some of the things I collected in the way of posts and comments. It was actually a pretty funny post and it was well received. People are going to be turned off by certain things, sure. What I don't get is why, if you were say a religious feminist Christian, you would have your filters turned off so you could see artwork that offends you? I mean, filters exist for a reason. Basically, what I've figured out is this...

Religious zealot #1: "I'm offended by lesbians but I like seeing straight sex, so stop being naughty, RP!"

Feminist #1: "I like seeing images of women on women, but I like big ugly women and you only make pictures of heroines! Make more fat chicks!"

Gay dude #1: "Why don't you show any gay dudes, RP? WTF man! Girls are gross!"

Lesbian cosplayer #1: "RP, you are the best. God, if I wasn't a lesbian, I'd bang you and your wife!"

Are these all exaggerations? Maybe, but the first three, if people were being really honest with themselves, probably hits home the hardest. I'll keep the lesbian cosplayer thing in my fantasies, thanks.

Another great example was on a piece I did where a dark elf is force feeding another elf while she's in bondage and has a tube and funnel jammed in her mouth. The scene was really, really hot. A person here on DA took offense to it. "Would you want to see your mom in a situation like this?" he asked in the comments section. Those comments are still there. I love open debates and don't shy away from attacks.

My answer was, "No, but my mom isn't an elf either."

Neither is his mom, in case you were wondering. It's fake outrage, honestly. How do I know? Because he wasn't a watcher so the ONLY way he could have seen that image is if he had his adult filters turned OFF and he was into something I hashtagged in the description of that scene.

So, you see, if we're all being completely honest, everyone has a vice or kink, right? EVERYONE! So, being the neat little hypocrites we are, we rail on something we REALLY don't like but could TOTALLY avoid if we really, really wanted to.

As an example, I don't want to see two dudes making out. Guess what? I can't remember the last time I accidentally saw two guys making out here on DA. Someone I used to watch was into gay Mutant Ninja Turtles and that was like, WTF man, unwatch... but anyway.

That isn't a challenge by the way. I really don't want to be spammed with notes showing two dudes making out. Thanks.

Bottom line, this is imagination land. I'll give you another example and then I'll wrap up this question, I promise.

I made a digital model of my wife. I spent hours and hours and hours making it look JUST like her. It was insane and, aside from a few little scars and imperfections she had that the model didn't, the model was her doppelganger. I then put that model into a cosplay outfit and then made an entire scene where that model was being deliciously tormented by a few ladies and gents.

She hated it! I couldn't understand it. What did I do wrong? She's into this kind of thing! She loves my artwork and even suggests that I do really horrible things to digital models because it turns her on when they have cosplay costumes on. I didn't get it.

So we got into a fight and I said, "Babe, seriously. What's wrong? It looks just like you, she's perfect, just like you. She's your size, weight, measurements, and look at her face! She's a perfect ten! Seriously, what's up? Why do you love everything I do to every other model and hate this one?" Of course I probably didn't come across that nice and sweet, but this is my memory, deal with it.

She answered simple enough. "The others aren't real; they aren't real people; they're imaginary. But that one right there is a real person and worse, it's me."

I didn't think about it like that but to be honest she was just repeating what I'd said to her a million times before. These characters are imaginary. They aren't real. No real woman, or very few, look like these digital models, are proportioned like these models, or can bend like these models bend. Some of them might exist in comic books, but they aren't 'real'. That's the line and that's the objection I had used a hundred times to other people defending my "objectification" and "portrayal" and spoiler alert...

... That's exactly why I want them to still look like comic book characters and I'm not upgrading to make them look like real, actual people. Because I'm good enough now to do photorealism, but if I want that, I'll just become a fetish photographer.

Next question! I'm on fire!

Okay . . .  Many of your more recent renders now come labeled with the word “parody” or contain an actual disclaimer. Is the trend today of being “politically correct” killing artistic freedom in general and killing it on DeviantArt in particular? 

Well, I think I should be using the "parody" tag when I'm using someone else's property, like in the case of using DC characters. It is a lot easier than typing out, "So and so character is owned and copyrighted by blah blah blah company." Right?

Besides, parody is protected speech according to The Constitution and the Supreme Court here in the United States. So, you know, you probably want to mention that once in a while anyway.

Sometimes the disclaimer I use is that the model depicted, yes even a digital model made of pixels, is over the age of 18. I think that's important especially because while all of the characters I use are definitely adult they might have kiddy cartoon versions, like in the case of Teen Titans, just as one example.

A lot of things are killing artistic freedom, but I do not believe me using a disclaimer is one of them. I'm much more concerned with websites like DeviantArt that allow people to portray mutilated, disfigured, decapitated male and female figures as forms of art but somehow showing a dildo, a butt plug, or a tentacle penetrating a woman is indecent and against the TOS. Kind of silly if you ask me, but whatever. It isn't like getting off on dead people offends me, or even depicting it offends me. I just think there is a really stupid double standard going on with this website and others like it. That is what is really killing artistic freedom. Stupidity. Not disclaimers.

We’ll have to talk about the legalities of copyright and parody another time. Let’s talk a little now about DA.  First, you pretty much told us what you thought is the worst part of DeviantArt, but what do you see as its better aspects?

You, you are the best part of DA. Seriously though, it is pretty much the Facebook of artwork. There are other ways to show your artwork out there of course but as far as meeting, speaking to, and having fun with like-minded individuals, DA is pretty spot on.

Of course I'm frustrated with what I -can't- do and that tends to be the focus for most people. Those things they don't like about something. However, there are a lot of things I do like about DA. I like the stat tracking; I like the private notes system; I like how easy it is for people to run across my artwork.

My favorite part of DA is the interaction piece. The ability for people to easily leave comments on your artwork so you know that they like what you're doing. I'd like to think that I've even made more than a few internet friends because of this feature and certainly a lot of ideas I'm able to get the computer to spit out are because of people like you giving me suggestions, ideas, and requests.

You had to throw in that “Seriously though,” didn’t you?  I’ll remember that!

In less than three years, you have more than 1000 Watchers, more than 117,000 page views, and your art has been favorited more than 18,000 times. To what do you attribute that success

It's actually a lot closer to two years, not that I'm bragging though, because I'm not. That first year I created my DA account I barely posted anything. Maybe a render or two. I was trying to impress the people over at Renderotica instead of focusing my efforts here. That was a big mistake. I did pick up a really good friend or two over at Renderotica and without bashing the website itself, I'll just say that I didn't 'feel' like I was receiving much in the way of feedback, critical, helpful, or otherwise. I wasn't in the cool crowd, or the clique, or the elitist artist club, or whatever. There are a few notable exceptions, like Kristin F, another talented DA artist who spends a lot of time on Renderotica, but she's only one person and she deserves a lot of credit for helping people like me along. Apocalypse3D is another one, but again, an exception and not the rule.

Just a little over two years ago I decided to figure out how DA works. I got lucky and the Original Character (OC) community took a liking to some of my artwork early on, when it was really, really not artwork at all. My early stuff is pretty bad. I was learning though and it was comments and encouragement from people that watched and hit their favorites button and left comments that helped me learn. I received a lot of tips, tricks, compliments, and feedback over the last two years and along the way I started understanding who my core fans and friends were going to be. In some cases other artists, but mostly just people that enjoy a little Fantasy Land every now and again.

I also realized that to be successful I'd have to also use my favorite button, leave comments, encourage and help people out too. I wasn't, and still am not, talented enough to drive numbers AND sit back and give nothing in return. I think the OC community has really propped up my numbers and, as a thank you, I try to give back to that community. Season 8 is the second or third season of artwork here on DA dedicated exclusively to Original Characters.

I also take suggestions, requests, and do fan art for people I really like from time to time. Free of charge, can you imagine? My journal updates help drive views and so do my polls, which keep the content interactive and give people a say in what's going on with my artwork.

The people here have been good to me and because of them, and people like you, Rob, I have a lot of fun day in and day out.

Is there room for improvement? Yes. Only in the last month have I seen a sharp increase in visits to my page. I was averaging maybe 200 visits a day just a month or two ago but now I'm approaching 700+ visits a day on average. Selfishly, I'd like to see that average skyrocket, of course, who wouldn't? Mostly though I'd like to see more comments left on my artwork. When someone leaves a comment, I always comment back and I have about 20 people that comment very regularly. I'm sure this gets tedious for them, but I can't seem to get new people to comment on a regular basis.

I get jealous too, especially when I see artwork that maybe isn't as good as mine and there will be 75, 125, and in one case 368 comments and never once did the artist respond back to anyone. Why would you comment if the guy, or girl, can't even leave you a silly happy face or a simple thank you in return? I don't get it.

I've studied marketing, mass media, and my current employer pays me a lot of money to make them look really great on the internet and in mass media. I use a lot of those same techniques here, but I want to point out that here, I'm being genuine. I truly appreciate everything people have said, done, and helped me along with here. I really can't say enough kind words about the OC community either, because without them, I'd have given up on DA like I gave up on other websites. That's for sure.

Speaking of comments, I regularly check out the comments to your renders (yeah, I know, I need to get a life!), and I’m surprised to see that a lot of those who comment are female (or at least their profile page says they’re female). Why do you think females like seeing you take super-heroines, bind them, gag them, and put them completely at the mercy of whoever bound and gagged them?

Ah, if I had the answer to that, I'd be a billionaire. To know the intricacies of the female mind is to know complete and utter madness.

I had a girlfriend who was a religious woman, beautiful, smart and fairly wealthy. She was in charge of a production department at a pretty well-known company. Sexy girl, independent, and good natured.

We were talking one day about fantasies, the sexually explicit kind. She told me she had a fantasy while she was in college and it involved being gang-raped by a female motorcycle gang. Church girl, not a lesbian, never been with another girl.

Now to me? That's hot! She told me she was so into this fantasy that she'd actually go to biker bars and try to find lesbian bikers. That's crazy! Imagine all the trouble she could have gotten into of both the female and male variety.

I suppose for a certain type of woman, like my wife, my artwork brings out a part of their sexuality they'd like to explore but in a safe environment. Their own home. It's all a fantasy, pretend, make believe and I love my female watchers, friends, and fans for playing along. You know what? I just assume they are really female too. My wife and her girlfriend are big fans of my work, so why not believe that everyone that puts -female- on their DA profile is actually a girl? Life is more fun that way.

Of course there are cosplayers out there, again like my wife, that take it to the next level and roleplay these fantasies. That's hot too and my artwork relates to those people even more.

I'm just doing what I can to help all the heroines out there find sexual healing. That's it. RP, the heroine Love Doctor. My methods are extreme but so are the results, baby!

Since you brought up your wife and cosplaying, let me ask you this:  What do you think it is about costumes that give viewers of your art on DA and real life cosplayers like your wife a rise?

That's easy, in the case of cosplayers that act out these fantasies, it is pure escapism. "It wasn't me tied up and forced to orgasm; it was Wonder Woman!"

The costume is a blindfold, a mask, a way to shift guilt away. I have a theory about blindfolds that I apply to the cosplay phenomenon. Every girlfriend I've had wasn't into -something- I wanted to do or try. But, convince them to put a blindfold on and they were up for anything, no alcohol required. I think it's the same with costumes and cosplay. They get to be wild and crazy and guilt free!

My fans get it. They like the escape, the fantasy. Maybe they have similar fetishes to mine, maybe they just like to see hot girls taken advantage of. I think most people realize and understand that this is all pretend and don't take it seriously. I sure don't.

I recall from your “Saddle Up” contest last summer – which, by the way, I made a kickass entry to but still didn’t win – that you clearly stated about yourself, “it is all about me after all right?” and then, in a more recent journal, you wrote about yourself, “I'm pretty great you know!” So, let’s do a final series of questions about something you definitely like talking about – You!

First, do you really love yourself as much as several of your journals suggest? And how much of what you referred to earlier as the “RP persona” is just a persona as opposed to the real you?

Great question.

How refreshing is it to keep tabs on someone on a social media site that isn't whining or crying about XYZ illness, or begging for money, or crying for attention?

A few months ago I was in a bad car accident involving a fatality. My wife almost lost her leg and I looked like The Hulk used me as a battering ram. Did I feel sorry for myself? Was my first instinct to reach out for support, love, and attention not just here but on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites I post to?

Yes.

But I didn't. I made a simple little post to let everyone know what happened and why I needed downtime. Out of respect to my friends and watchers. Nothing more.

I was driving a Porsche in that accident and it was totaled. My wife turned out okay. My brains are only slightly scrambled. And the accident and fatality is the other driver's fault. I bought a different sports car and my wife and I are closer than ever before. Her girlfriend moved into the guest house to help out too, bonus. Not in a sexy way. I needed physical and emotional help with my wife. She was down in the dumps bad and I don't do emotions really well.

Charmed life. I get it. I'm lucky and in real life I'm humble but charming, handsome but modest.  Things are good.

My RP persona, this Render Pretender is an antagonist. He's an arrogant asshole, but he's funny. The heroines aren't sure if they want to fuck him or kill him...

Question for you. Marry, Fuck, Kill! Batgirl, Catwoman, Supergirl. Go!

So you’re not a sexist or misogynist in real life.  Do you at least have the RP sense of humor and sarcastic attitude in real life?

Yes and yes. I have the RP sense of humor, which is dark and twisted admittedly and I am very sarcastic.

I love and respect my mother. I was raised right in a loving home, and my ass was kicked by the parents when it needed kicking. I treat my wife like a woman wants to be treated. I respect and love her very much, and I don't want to do anything to hurt her or any other woman in my life, or out of my life. I believe women are the fairer sex. I believe each person has a role to play in the universe regardless of their sex, race, or religion and I believe that as long as I can, Batgirl needs to be punished mercilessly by Catwoman to the end of days.

You still didn't answer my Marry, Fuck, Kill! Challenge. I'm waiting...

As I tell witnesses at depositions who try asking me questions, “I get to ask the questions, not you!”  But, to paraphrase Michael Corleone, this one time, I’ll let you ask – Definitely not “kill” and definitely not “Supergirl” but the other possible options are very appealing to me!  Happy now?

Next question! Professionally speaking, do you have an art and/or writing background?

My art career never took off like I wanted it to, no. I got to a certain point that no amount of practice was going to make my drawings or sketching get better. My cartoons still look decent, mostly, but I'm way out of practice. My writing career has been limited to writing a few technical journals and training programs over the years, some course work, and an employee handbook or two. I started to write a few novels, mostly naughty fiction, but my attention span is pretty short and I always get bored with the setup. I'd rather jump straight into the action, which I get to do with 3D art.

I know of at least one comic pro on DeviantArt and I bet there are others. Have any comic industry professionals -- artists or writers -- ever taken note of your work here?

I'm not sure anyone wants extra competition, even though in terms of competition, I'm not exactly up to the level of the pros. However, a few people have asked to commission me to do entire comic book series that they could sell on their websites. However, I was a little skeptical about the pricing models when I asked about things like distribution, number of books currently sold, etc. It isn't greed as much as it's if I'm going to throw in with a company and spend all of my free time, my hobby time, on a comic book that will be sold to people, then I want to be compensated fairly for my time. I guess deep down you can't remove that business savvy part of me that never wants to get ripped off.

I'd much rather keep this a hobby though. It is more fun that way. If I were going to do this for money it needs to be worth it and so far there hasn't been an offer that's piqued my interest. I'd rather work for free, do things for people I like for free, and keep as many people happy and having fun as possible. Now if a big publication came knocking, or an adult magazine or website was interested, I'd be an idiot to dismiss any fair offer outright.

So far I guess I just haven't heard what I would consider to be a fair offer.

Time for a softball.  Three quick answers:  Your favorite book; Your favorite movie; Your favorite stand-up comedian.

Favorite Book: Animal Farm. I learned about the dangers of liberalism and communism at a young age, thankfully. Unfortunately all the kids that couldn't read very well get to vote now apparently.

Favorite Movie: Man, of all time. Lame answer. Empire Strikes Back of course. Go Empire! Coming in a close, very close, second place is Fight Club and the original Die Hard.

Favorite Comedian: That has changed a lot over the years, but I'll tell you who cracks-me-the-hell-up nowadays. Aziz Ansari, that guy is the Indian version of me. He's pretty awesome.

I actually thought you’d go with Anthony Jeselnick, who always leaves me laughing and shaking my head with wonder.  My favorite book is Lonesome Dove and favorite movie is To Kill A Mockingbird.

Moving along . . . What one thing do you want people to know about you and your work that we have not covered in this conversation?

Yeah, Anthony Jeselnick is really funny too. He pops up a lot on Pandora on the comedy station I've created.

So, what one thing do I want people to know about me that we haven't covered?

That's easy. I want people to know that I want them to comment, a lot, on the things I post!

COMMENT! It is easy! Do it!

Another good segue opportunity! What is the one render you've done that you are most proud of and why?

That's easy. This one, because it has the most comments I've ever received.
Your Secret Admirer
I'm sure you can appreciate the character.

Also, I've been messaged privately that the story attached to the render is just as good as the render itself. So yeah, comments matter the most to me, above views.

In fact, it isn't even close. I have a render with almost twice as many views as the one listed above. Who cares how many times it is looked at? I care what people think!

At the time this interview posted another render actually received more comments than the scene mentioned above and it did so in the first 24 hours of posting.
Curia Gets Stoned

I definitely appreciate the character!  Interestingly, that first render above of yours was done right when you did the art for my Ms. Kent story “Obsession,” and of all my posts on DA, “Obsession” has garnered the most views, probably due to your artwork!

And on that note, I think we should end this interview/conversation on a classy note so here goes:  What do you think about your fans making use of your artwork for their own, umm, special fun?

If there's even one super hot chick using her Walmart "back massager" while sitting at her computer looking at my artwork, my life's work is complete.

Pictures or it didn't happen!