JC Etheredge Feature

AG: What is your name?

JC: Jessy-Clyde Etheredge. When I was born my grandmother declared that Jessy-Clyde sounded too much like a western criminal, and called me JC. That's what stuck.

AG: Where are you from?

JC: Queens, New York. When I was 13, my family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. BIG culture shock. Moved back to NY for college and have been here since.

AG: How long have you been drawing?

JC: All my life. There's home video of me putting paper up to the TV tracing SuperTed.

AG: Is Art a chosen career choice or a hobby?

JC: Um... Haha. I dunno, um both. I have a dayjob in home textile design to pay the bills. I guess that's art, right? But, yeah, it isn't the type of art i'd like to make a career out of (even though I've been in it for 6 years- lol!) I'd much rather make my living solely off my personal art. I'm not quite there yet, but working on it!

AG: Do you possess any formal training i.e. college, workshops, through work experience etc?

JC: I was always encouraged by my art teachers in elementary and high school. For my Bachelor's, I went to Pratt Institute, which is an art school. My major was Communications Design with a concentration in Illustration. I learned a lot of relevant art history and some of my professors were pretty helpful when it came to improving my technique. Shortly after, I had an internship coloring TMNT model sheets (my boss was such a hottie) and I'd say it was there that I learned digital coloring.

AG: What media do you most enjoy? Least enjoy?

JC: I really like just a simple mechanical pencil with white paper. I also enjoy inking, which I do by hand with microns. I least like digital coloring. It's tedious for me-- that's why Ive outsirced it for my books! ^___^ I'm also not an amazing painter, so I shy away from paints and brushes, although I'm recently forcing myself to tough it through.

AG: What is your creative process? Do you have one?

JC: I have a vivid imagination, so ideas are coming to me all day, every day. I try to jot them down on my phone when they come to me. Or if I'm at the dayjob, sometimes I'll sneak and sketch them out. I usually go though 1 or 2 sketches before I come across a layout I'll like. (a layout that gets me hard-- hehe!) Then I ink and scan and play with it Photoshop for a little bit, asking my partner for input during the process, just to get another artist's viewpoint before I make the piece live on the Internet.

AG: What is your main source of inspiration?

JC: Life. Hot boys. Sexy men. My bf-- hehe! Like I said, I have a vivid imagination, so it's not hard for me to stick hot naked cartoon boys in anything that comes to mind.

AG: Do you have any favourite artists?

JC: Charles Shultz, creator of Peanuts, is my all-time favorite. In terms of more historical, I'm into Michelangelo, Caravaggio, & Norman Rockwell. My contemporary idols are comic artists, Dave Cockrum, Marc Silvestri, Jim Lee, Joe Madureira, & Greg Capullo. And in terms of gay erotica, Tom of Finland, Etienne, Patrick Fillion, and a host of others I talk about on my blog.

AG: Are you currently working on any projects?

JC: Too frikkin' many. Right now, the next thing I want to put on my site is Persuasions Phase 2, which is almost done. Then I'm working on another erotic book, Omega Phi and of course, Anti-Heroes #4. In addition, I have a few other non-erotic titles I want to publish, and some new web projects.

AG: Has your work ever been published?

JC: Anti-Heroes 1, 2, and 3 I've self-published, although 1 & 2 are sold out and only available now as digital downloads. And I've had a few short excerpts in a few collections here and there.

AG: What is Anti-Heroes?

JC: Anti-Heroes is my first and only (presumably) ongoing comic series. It follows the sexploits of a trio of super-powered former badguys: Caleb, a cyborg powerhouse, Tai, a bulging martial artist, and Zeke, a psychic giggolo. Anti-Heroes also generally refers to all the gay erotica I draw. My characters all tend to have a bad boy / superhero edge. So my main erotic website is called Anti-Heroes.net.

AG: What is Persuasions?

JC: Persuasions is the first and only illustrated gay erotic web soap opera! Like any soap, we have the super-couple, the mega-villian, the psycho, and a bunch of other pawns who somehow entangle themselves in the drama. Unlike Anti-Heroes, this series has a clear ending in sight.

AG: What is Omega Phi?

JC: Omega Phi is a series of hot characters I drew a while back that were so popular with fans, I decided to make a story out of it. It'll be about a fraternity of gay studs who are all reincarnated Greek deities. I'm writing this a a one-shot comic book.

AG: Any advice you would like to offer to our aspiring artists out there?

JC: Stay outta my way! Haha! Nah, psyke. The best advice I never got is practice. The more you practice, the better you get. Explore different techniques and styles. Seek feedback from other artists.

AG: Cake or Pie?

JC: Apple pie is my favorite dessert ever.

AG: Any other comments?

JC: Thanks for the interview, Adam! I hope whomever reads it gleans a little more about what we porn artists are like-- hehe. Now I'm off to an orgy.Haha-- j/k!

AG: I'll bring the cream ;) Thanks JC ^^

Check out more of JC Etheredge and his work at:

His Blog
His website

Art©JC Etheredge
Do not redistribute without prior permission!