The Art of Bullethole
We love supporting gay artists, especially when their art contains hot burly bears! So we were very excited when we came across the artist known as Bullethole who is setting Instagram on fire with his amazing artwork of hot men!
We were excited to be able to interview Bullethole and learn more about him and his inspirations. Check out what he had to say and also a selection of his awesome artwork below.
Also, be sure to visit his Instagram and Redbubble to see all of his work.
Name: I go by Bullethole.
Age: Hitting the big 5-0 in February!
Where do you live? Dallas, TX, but I’m originally a Louisiana boy. I think my southern boy thing comes through in my artwork. I’ve always loved hairy bearded men.
How it all started:
I’ve been drawing since I could hold a pencil. I drew mainly comic book characters all through elementary school and took more serious art classes in high school (focused on portraiture) and continued my studies in college – eventually with a focus on graphic design. I also do photography and paint when I’m not doing work as a Creative Director. My paintings are completely different from my Bullethole style. One day I’d love to do a show of that work.
I also do traditional medium but my current work is all digital and done with an iPad Pro using an Apple pencil and a drawing app called Procreate. I began drawing Bullethole men a little over a year ago after my bf bought me an iPad Pro for Christmas and it surprised me how it took off and I just kept doing it. Plus I love drawing sexy hairy bearded men with big butts. I post a lot of process stuff on my instagram from sketch to finished work. I also will post time-lapse videos of the work evolving, which can be pretty interesting to watch.
Artistic influences:
Of course Tom of Finland is a big influence, one of my other big influences is Adam Hughes who is a comic book artist. On the gay end of the spectrum, I love Cauro Hige, JIRAIYA, Harry Bush, Gengoroh Tagame and Salem. Plus there are tons of great gay artists who I follow on instagram. I seriously love the gay Instagram artist community. Everyone is so talented and generous with their time.
Why Musclebears?
I suppose its like the saying “you are what you eat” except it’s “you are what you draw.” I really like drawing muscle bears but I also want to be more representative of the fuller figure man. I think some of my fantasy types (cowboys, cops, coaches) are definitely the same as most men. I hope my artistic take on them is fresh and fun for my followers.
How Bullethole came about:
I’ve always loved the genre of good girl art (Vargas girls) and loved the bit of humor in the work and wanted to do the beefcake equivalent of that. I like a bit of cheekiness (pun intended) in my work. Beefcake can be so serious and I wanted it to be fun but still sexy. Plus the idea of people wearing my artwork on t-shirts is a rush.
Bullethole came about while joking with my boyfriend, we were using it as a euphemism for the pink spot between a man’s cheeks lol. My logo is a graphic twist on that pink part. I decided to do artwork that focused on hairy, bearded muscly men who loved to show off their backsides and so Bullethole was born.
Inspiration:
The majority of my guys are from my imagination. And as you can see, I have a pretty good imagination. I do use various references for some poses or specific anatomy but the Bullethole men sort of “speak to me” as I’m drawing them and evolve all on their own. They tell me who they are and what they look like and their personality just kind of shows up. My style for the Bullethole man is ever-evolving but I wanted to combine the four B’s — bear, beard, burly and booty with my love of comic books and have them straddle the line between realism and fantasy.
I also do commissions for more realistic portraits and some examples of that work are Colby Janson, Tank Joey, Seth Fornea, Alex Marte and most recently Jack Mackenroth! But you don’t have to be a “Bearlebrity” for me to draw you — so people can and do DM me for commissions for birthday gifts or just because they want artwork of themselves done in my style.
Plans for the future:
Since I also do photography, I’d love to start photographing my own BH guys and doing reference from that as well. My plans for Bullethole in the future are to hit some of the bear events and sell teeshirts and artwork there. I’d also like to eventually do a coffee table book, coloring books and maybe even calendars. It all depends on public interest but I’m always excited when someone buys one of my shirts and tags me. I’ve had guys from all parts of the globe buy my stuff and to me that’s amazing to imagine someone across the world wearing my artwork. It’s really cool when I see people like my work, especially when there are so many talented artists around.
