As someone who draws, I don't care which gender you draw. As an artist, whatever you draw is art. You decide what you draw. It's YOUR art.

Also I love how he chose to paint Hobie for this, cause Hobie and the spider verse animated movie series in general did a great job at depicting a more liberating view point for atractivo men. Hobie is just so beautiful.

Interesting. As a female artist who mostly draws men, I find your perspective on this to be very valid and interesting. And yes, I have been inspired by KPop to draw men the way I do. Till date, I hear some of my friends ask “Is that a woman” when I draw a man with long hair and long eyelashes. It’s this stereotype around men and women in general that is a big hurdle to be crossed. Honestly, I’m grateful that as an artist I have the freedom to express the way I draw both genders from my perspective. No wonder I agree with Hobie a lot - I ain’t good with consistencies 😂 Thank you for expressing yourself in such an authentic way, Josh. You’re doing an amazing job. Keep going ❤

The male expression thing seriously needs to change. Let the dudes wear nice things, for god's sake! I went to see Barbie, and half the males in the room were exited to wear pink stuff. Looked great on most of them, too.

acceptable. i draw mostly men. I avoid drawing women since I'm having a hard time on drawing their female features unlike with men that i have expertise with. It's just preference.

As an blackman who was Goth in my youth, an artist, loves Rock and Metal, the color pink and so on, I so appreciate this video.~

Lately I’ve been confused and frustrated by some online people calling certain men “queer baiters” for wearing things not stereotypical to their gender, yet i don’t really see that for women? Maybe some of those men are doing more to “bait” than just clothing, but in terms of JUST clothing alone, i think it’s so ridiculous that “both” sides play into gender stereotypes in such weird ways. Men wearing tight short shorts used to be such a popular thing in the 80s by everyone, and now it’s either seen as queer by one side or HORRIBLE and emasculating by the other lol? As a straight female growing up in the late 90s, we were just called tomboys for wearing boys clothes. Generally I agree that women can really get away with wearing anything from experience. No doubt for some people it’s deeper than just clothes and I don’t want to dismiss real gender dysphoria, but for me and many people it’s just…clothes and hobbies we enjoy and don’t want to be seen in ways that have to have some deep or personal reason behind it.

I think it’s important to look at art history for a second: more specifically, how artists have criticized societal standards since forever. We’ve made comments on society, government, politics, etc. We’ve seen beauty captured in men by the Greek and Roman sculptures (and later when Da Vinci made a “too attractive” Lucifer statue and then his brother made an even more attractive one😂) and we’ve also seen more masculine women (think of propaganda from WW1 and WW2). Art is all about human expression so whichever gender/sex you use to express what you think or feel doesn’t really matter, most people won’t get the point anyway. I personally like to use men when it comes to the softer more “feminine” emotions and situations and women for tougher “masculine” emotions. I like giving women a “masculine” rage and drawing men hugging each other and loving each other since it’s not “proper” in our society (which is really jank to me cuz like??? Everyone is gonna cry sometimes? Everyone is gonna get mad and want to destroy the world??). I also like conveying the stuff that should be behind closed doors for each gender 🤷‍♀️

That makes sense. Sincerely, a Lesbian.

as a sensitive man that does art and is devoted to it. this video spoke to me on so many levels and i needed it. thank you bro

As a straight man who draws both men and women, I usually like to add heavy fantasy traits like crazy outfits or even some body horror elements to make the gender irrelevant in my pieces. That gives me so much freedom - to just be able to make any gender look cool and extremely pleasing to look at by adding more detail where it is 'missing'.

i like men

Hobie was the perfect guy to chose for this drawing.

As someone that's aroace and primarily draws men, I get it. 5:40 yoo actually I feel like that's the reason I gravitate towards men in my drawings and writing. It's like there are more possibilities cuz nobody ever does them.

Word of advice; If their not paying your bills, making love to you, related by blood or by your own choice, who cares what they think of you or what you do.

I've wondered about this for a very long time, in my work and other artists' work . And everything you're saying is so valid. Thank you for not holding anything back

Thank you so much for calling out the black community's extensive homophobia, like its BAD depending where you live and it sucks when you feel like you have to be careful the MOST around your own race.

as someone who draws mainly men because he feel like he cant express himself in real life, all that you've just said hits incredibly close to home. You explained it so well! Keep doing what you're doing dude, you're an inspiration, truly

This was a very different video compared to what I've seen before, but nonetheless I felt this conversation was very authentic! You're certainly right about people working hard to invalidate themselves. Something that helped me massively was letting go of perfectionism and instead embracing my flaws. As I grew up, I started to realize that keeping facets of myself hidden wasn't smart or anything, it was cruel. Cruel to myself. Once I started to branch out and open up about myself in a more healthy manner, the more I started to learn about myself and enjoy life. Whenever I used to look at my art, I'd always say "I hate this" but now I say "I can do better", since I've always seen art as an extension of myself, I internalized that as me saying "I hate myself", but now, I say "I'm not there....yet".

“Dude you out here drawing all these bitches but you ain’t fuckin any of em?” As a black male artist who grew up in a predominantly black area. I can confirm. This is exactly how it is lol. I draw women because it’s just more appealing to me. I’ve learned not to neglect my responsibilities and also learn the human anatomy, but I choose to draw women. Besides, me personally, I don’t work in the industry. Art is a hobby for me. I should be able to draw whatever I want 🤷🏽‍♂️also, I think this gave me inspiration for a video of my own 🤔

This video hits way too close to home for me. I'm both a straight black American writer and and digital artist, so when it comes to masculinity and the arts in the black community, I've had two black adverse identities my entire life. I played football growing up, and I'll be the first to tell you that being black and gifted in something other than sports or rap can be a handicap. Being a big black dude who played ball all my life, I was seen as crazy for wanting to go to art college rather than playing football at university. I had more support than conflict though, so for me being black and creatively gifted was something that made me feel completely alienated. It's incredibly rare to see well established black writers or artists really out in the world to identify with. In fact the only one who comes to mind is Jean-Michel Basquiat (and him dying young and tragically didn't help). Seeing you out there being a KZfaqr is actually a great source of inspiration for me personally. I think one of the things you touched on that I've discovered is that black men just aren't allowed to be weird, to like something cute, to want beauty, to want to be heartfelt, or to be anything that will read as not 'hard'. I'm super lucky to have come from a rich white suburbs that was very progressive and not judgmental, but the moment I stepped outside into the real world I caught all of what you illustrated. Everything comes through the filter of bro armor. Everything has to be 'bro this, bro that', 'no homo', all this coded bravado without any of that nurturing intimacy. It's through this that as a writer I find it far easier to express my own feelings through female characters, and often times it will read as far more believable as well. It certainly doesn't help we also live in a climate where calling out these things is somehow synonymous with tearing down women, or not listening to women, or not supporting women. It's no wonder to me why the manosphere and sites like OnlyFans, and all these other communities and companies are popping up, because you have whole scores of young men worldwide who are becoming lost and disenfranchised by this nonsense, and when it gets to that point, they become like Alfred said in Dark Knight; 'they just want to watch the world burn.' I think like anything the tides will begin to change, real positive masculinity can begin to emerge, and fathers and sons can begin to pick up the pieces of the wrong things that were taught to them and relearned through a more healthy lens. Talking about it is the first step, and you Mr. Ergo Josh, just helped with that. So thanks for making this video!

When you started with "I wont be nice, I wont be politically correct" I got scared, that some big redpill bomb will explode here, but the overall message turned out to be impossibly based! Also your art is amazing, especially color palettes you choose for your renders!

Its so rare to see such a raw expression of emotions and thoughts in a youtube video of all places. I really enjoyed it.

Thanks for this talk! As a mother of two girls and a baby boy, a lot of what you mentioned here has been on my mind lately. Always wonderful to listen to you while working on art.

This is such a healthy conversation to have!! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. Also, I love your voice and artworks, your anatomy knowledge is admirable!

I love how real you are LMAO Respect 😂😂😂

this painting is stunning geeze

As someone who was born with a couple of features that are considered feminine, I completely relate to you Josh! I’m more gravitated to clothing styles that would be considered feminine, and I am as Heterosexual as they come 😂… thanks for speaking up about this.. Making sure your expression is yours is very solid advise!! Welldone Josh!!!

On my art journey I've learnt a lot, not just about art but things regarding life in general. And the thing about drawing freely and not caring what others think is really important. Even besides art learning to truly be yourself is really hard for a lot of people. And art has helped me do that. I'm still not where I want to be but I'm definitely in a better place than I was a year ago. And if we start restricting/policing art, the very thing that gives a lot of people a sense of freedom then what even is the point. Now there could be exceptions to this but generally speaking art is about freedom of expression to a lot of people. One thing that would be really good to do is to take a break from social media at least once a week. Forget about all the drama for a while. But I imagine for professionals like that wouldn't be an option as you really a lot on engagement from social media I imagine. Anyway just keep drawing and as long as we enjoy what we do we'll be fine.

big respect for expressing yourself and being honest; I think a lot of people feel the same way and will continue to explore these ideas with time. Cheers Josh, you're continually a legend

My man, everything you said here resonates with me so much! All my life, I've had people tell me I'm feminine, womanish, a sissy, or gay for the dumbest shit. I've literally had a woman tell me she thought I was gay because I wear eyeliner, the way I talk (no idea what she even meant), and because I didn't wanna have sex with her specifically. Even when I was performing masculinity my very hardest, it wasn't good enough for others. Nowadays, I just don't have the energy to care anymore. I fully embrace my femininity, and I feel my masculinity is empowered through it! It's also how I realized I'm nonbinary. Going goth went a long way to helping me be who I really am, and that is why I appreciate Hobie so much. He is one of the few Black characters who has made me feel seen. He's an absolute rebel, he doesn't care what anyone else thinks, he's gonna be himself and do what he feels is right no matter what. I love this gradually growing wave of men who are challenging patriarchal definitions of masculinity and no longer being afraid of being seen as weak. My hope is that other men will join this wave.

Josh, this was an immaculate explanation. Appreciate you even more bro. Love the raw authentic narration. Also, I agree with most of the comments here, whatever you draw and whomever you draw, I'll always enjoy. Keep creating Fam! 🔥

It's great to draw men, and even better, OLD men! Why ? Because it's much easier, as a beginner, to learn how to draw a portrait with wrinkles, imperfections etc. than a beautiful woman's face straight out of the Pre-Raphaelite era. Planes of the face are also clearly more defined on men. If I could go back 10 years, I'd draw a lot more old men like Rembrandt... And now I understand why.

I feel so much of this. I appreciate you being so candid! This is important.

As a female artist, I have always enjoyed more to draw women too. On the other hand It's really good to see more and more men to realize that a toxic model of masculity ultimately hurt themselves. No matter how much feminism pushes for a change, things can only be better when men themselves work on a healtier self image and a healthier relationship to women.

I’ve been looking for this take. Thank you.

I really love hearing you talk about your experiences and your perspective, it's not quite the direction I thought it was eye opening and I appreciate it. I'm a quite shy individual and have been really timid about expressing myself, both in person and in my artwork; overly conscious of what I produce for fear of others disapproval. I shouldn't but it's so easy to psych yourself out, or give into the pressure of others. So in a round about way, I can really relate to this talk.

i draw men because they're hot + i have no idea how to draw women thanks for coming to my ted talk

Great, high quality video, as always! A very mature analysis of today's society. It's hard to break out of the role you are "supposed to be in", growing up in a toxic environment or society that judges you permanently. As long as it is not harmful to anybody, people should just be allowed to live their life the way they want to, without having to justify themselves for each and every "off-role" thing they do. Just for the record - I don't know if it has been mentioned before in the comments - the video you were referring to talking about the press conference is a satire video from years back, published by The Onion. So it's not a "real" video, just trending right now. I fell for it too, until I saw a comment on that video mentioning it and doing some research myself. Doesn't change the message of your video by any bit, however! Keep up the good work Josh!

Dude watching you draw just showed me the gap in my art abilities and a true professional. There's like 7 times I thought u were done with the piece and you just kept going!💀 Adding more and more creative and intricate detail. AND IM ONLY 11 MINUTES IN!! Its also very fitting you chose to draw Hobbie while discussing the topic you discussed. I dont know if it were intentional or just because Hobbie is popular at the moment and u wanted to capitalize on that fact, but Hobbie as a character, represents sticking it to the man. He kinda-- more so than miles, represents being yourself, not giving into societies ways of limiting you or controlling you, and sticking up for what right despite all the politics behind it. A true Rebel

Do you find yourself, as a black male, getting scrutinized for certain subject matters aside from perceived male masculinity/feminity? I drew a portrait with horns and conservatives came out of the woodwork to criticize and claim I was feeding into "devil worship". Like damn, can't a brother just make aesthetically pleasing art?

nah bru your impressions are crazy good.

This video commentary had me shocked as I was rollin' in laughter and provocative thought. Thanks Josh!

I love how well thought out your talk was! Just subbed

I've started trying to learn how to draw in the past year or so and I 100% get where you're coming from in the beginning when it comes to drawing men. I want to draw men, but I struggle to make masculinity aesthetically pleasing. Finding other artists for inspiration is also a bit challenging. Most artist who draw men in a sexualized/aesthetic way often draw men with abs or men in suits. Other artists who draw men regularly draw them in... not so aesthetically pleasing ways and it sucks. But I still try because I refuse to give up on depicting masculine men as aesthetically pleasing (and not just with abs and in suits).

thanks man, I'm feeling so good after this podcast

Often people and artists want you to be authentic and be true to yourself… that is until your views conflict with theirs. Create what you want. Thanks for the video

You Ate This ! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 🪷

Seriously people… if you have nothing nice to say just don’t say anything. As an artist tired of all these standards set by society and industry I’m actually happy to listen and hear what my fellow artist has to say

for me it came down to 2 things 1. I'm a woman so I'm more familiar with my own body 2. men's bodies are more "difficult" to draw. pecs, abs, muscles on the arms, legs, back. They tend to require much more referencing for me to get right.

This was a great and accurate assessment. Yes, please continue to share your musings. You have me up before the sun with my brain working overtime. ❤ it! Thank you 😊

Loved how raw and real this was. You the one bro!!!

A lot of what he said about the societal expectations of men are very true. The same forces that oppress women, also imposes this crap on men. Being "unemotional" and not being able to freely express yourself outside masculine stereotypes is about as "un-artistic" as you can get. With male visual expression, you reach the end of the rope rather quickly. You even have some men *finally* complaining about this, too.

It is precisely because of this rules , limitations and perceptions of male's sexuality and expressions i enjoy drawing men so much, not only because of my sexuality , althougjt It is the main reason why i enjoy the Male body. I dont like the Taboo around males being percieved as sexy and i personally decided to use this preference as a statement

Hope to see you make more stuff you enjoy in the future! I always love watching you draw. The podcast on top of the painting was really nice too. I would 110% watch it if you did another one like this!

That artwork is badass; I love it. Amazing video and amazing artwork as always.

I think this video is incredibly valuable! thank you for sharing all this with us, very interesting and surprising to hear your side of how life has treated you as everything you are (male/artist/straight/Nigerian/etc) I personally knew people who were discouraged to pursue their art careers (like a Turkish/straight/muslim young man wanting to become a fashion designer for women's wear was brutally discoureged to go for his dream because they believed it will make him gay) it's sad to think how other people's immature/limited world views can put so much pressure on others' dreams. People are cruel 😔 on another note, another amazing art work! absolutely beautiful! 💖

This is fantastic, man. Thanks for sharing. It resonates deeply.

would be amazing if you do more of these i was studying anatomy and it was really calming to listen

I really love the fact you're talking about this since me as a female sometimes feel sad about both men and women and how they have to act a certain type of way without showing any emotions into art by drawing hobie like this video is beautiful for me of course

Men's genitalia changes S they are present, descending and ascending, shrinking, and lengthening. Woman round bits and genatils are fairly static unless in motion

I'm bi, but very rarely draw men (trying to change that though😭) I think you're right on women being more socially acceptable to draw in more creative and expressive ways. Whenever I think of drawing a man, my mind kind of draws a blank on how I could draw a man in a way that is as interesting as I can draw women, especially when it comes to hair, clothing, and poses. But I guess I just need to be more creative and seek out more inspiration so I can build on that visual library, maybe push a few boundaries etc.

Dude, this was so good! You're killin it with these vids.

this is one of the best videos ive ever seen

10/10 video 👏🏾👏🏾 I know it took alot of courage to talk about these topics

Amazing video man, made some really good points 🙏🏽

Thank you for making me think! You're awesome ❤

i can’t agree more with you. lovely video ❤️❤️❤️

This video feels like one of the better videos regarding this topic, it talks about the problems men face without putting women down, or pushing the same stuff onto everyone, this video rocks.

I'm stoked that you are putting the spotlight on characters like Ekko and Hobie and why they are so amazing and cool. The world can't abandon these toxic ideals fast enough P.s. love your accent

This man right here was born with 2 gifts, first, his hands which he uses to express the beauty that is art, and his voice, man oh man this man has such a damn good voice.

This goes hard.

idc i love both woman and men 🗿

As a black male American you hit the nail on the head with this...plenty of the experiences you've mention I've also gone through while studying illustration in University and even life. Down to the "no homo" or "pause." I love watching your vids and this was one of my favs. Keep up the good work bro

Authenticity 101 ❤ Thank you Josh

You drew hobie so well! :D I wish I could draw him as well as you can, he’s my favorite from the movie.

You make an important point about expressing yourself authentically. Appreciated. In my personal experience, the first person (celebrity) I really understood to challenge our societal (and historically toxic) view of masculinity was Prince. He basically said this IS masculine. Heels and all. I don't know anyone that doesn't like or respect Prince. I'm getting more 80s hair metal vibes from Hobie. Motley crew maybe haha. It's is a purple vest though. Noticed the link to paperlike... Do you have a screen lamination comparison/review? The paperlike ones I have are the first ones I've tried so far. Glad they were available at best buy when i impulsively purchased my second hand ipad and needed the pencil etc asap. Has me thinking the good stuff might not be on the shelf like that though. Cheers bro keep making hits

I really appreciate this video. I relate so much to the black experiences you mentioned, I really did. I'm genuinely surprised to have this talked about. and I can tell you put a lot of thought into this. You've opened up a lot in this video and that's pretty significant. I super remember the bullying I endured for liking anime and my art was so devalued that when I left my sketchbook in class on accident once, some girl decided to color them in. And she just didn't understand how that could matter to someone. Hell it's been years and as an adult I'm still sometimes scared to *like* things because I grew up with sisters and peers that just shamed me for being "too white" or weird for liking anime like I did. I'm only now, at 25, sort of learning to let go. In recent years I'm having to open my mind back up to art as well. I had a long hiatus because I kept having people tell me what I should be drawing to be better and all it did was make me feel bogged down. I have to relearn being myself and just doing what I want. (Ironically people were complaining to me that I draw too many women as well, despite being a woman myself and just wanting to, y'know, relax. I can draw men I just didn't)

Yoshitaka Amano really helped me to try and get out of that gender box when trying to draw. Also when I started listening to punk rock and its really had a freeing effect and i love having it influence me

This is such an insightful take. I've felt myself slowly drawing less and less men as my work became focused around feeding my audience with aesthetically pleasing prints. But this video made me really want to add men to my work and see the opportunity to showcase them in a softer light.

He droppppsss I’m kinda upset you didn’t record this with a British accent the whole time 😂

Artists and people on socials really be wilding these days. You can't draw anything, or not draw something, without being called out for doing so. Draw what you want, it's your art and should be about you only. Sharing your art online shouldn't be a reason for people to judge it or, worse, judge who you are. Touch grass, people, and enjoy art ! It's always gonna be a part of you so yeah, do what you want.

Have you ever considered sharing line drawing files of some of the art you do? I’d buy a file so that I can print it out and do some additional lining. Especially if you made some available for across the universe characters :)

I know so many women who are desperate to see men who express themselves more freely.

I think we just need to leave everyone alone and let them express themselves safely, but I know that's too optimistic Edit: you also mentioned art being seen as feminine: which is so odd because in all of my art history classes the scene is dominated by men. Did men historically so dislike having women take over another one of their fields that they demeaned art to such a point that it's now associated with women? That's a genuine question that I'd love to hear someone answer insightfully!!

You're Nigerian! 🎉 Me too. You said you were African and I was wondering, could he be Nigerian? Very informative video. I remember going to school in Nigeria, and one of my classmates (Nigerian like myself) said to me: Nigerians raised abroad are usually good at drawing. I thought that was an interesting comment.

I think putting irl sociopolitical views on what *can* be anything in art is a limiting angle to begin with. art is art, regardless of gender, you can put heels or anything else on ANYONE in art and that is why art is magical. It’s SUPPOSED to be able to go beyond reality.

I want you to know, your accents at the end really made me laugh and smile :) 10/10

Well said, Brother.

This has been an experience lots to think about

Great discussion

You are so real for this video. I know you said in the beginning that you may be politically incorrect or harsh, but I don't think you were at any point, nor did I think you were being offensive for talking about men's lack of self-expression in today's society. You are completely spot on with that, and only the most radical, tunnel-visioned, and out of touch feminists would disagree with you. I haven't finished watching the whole video yet, but you've made so many absolutely excellent points so far. I am just like you in only really wanting to draw women, but I have branched out with some male characters. I do, however, make these male characters very self-expressive, due to my vision of what men should be able to do and how they should be able to look :D

Josh its your art, you draw what you want to. Also consult with your friend "Hands" and get his input on this foray into the issue. I enjoy drawing females and I can draw males. It just is preference. You make even your sketch lines look like a finished artwork (I guess I just enjoy sketch and gesture lines more than perfect lines as they have energy to them or something.

I appreciate this video from ur perspective. I don't like it when people start speaking to you like if ur a video game like its not choose ur own adventure, why why why don't you do this...like wtf. I wanted to say why don't you start drawing what your telling me what to do, why don't you learn how to do art then you can draw all the men or animals. I got this same complaint from people I knew it was frustrating. I painted comic book-style monsters since childhood, in my sketchbook I drew whatever and got really good at drawing women, I am a woman. I got commissioned work for not the monsters but drawing women. So I tried to perfect it. I got a lot of sh**t for it. Well ur not alone and just keep doing you. I think it's hard however, you have ur community and were here for each other.

when "last touches" is 95% of your time drawing xD love the art and your ideas dude. you're right to follow your own path is the only way forward.

Completely agree with you, one of my favourite book series is The vampire chronicles by Anne rice, in straight but a lot of people would think that indicates otherwise. I do think we are moving in the right direction though.

Fun round bits. Lol

This is amazeballz.

Also, really interesting video and thoughts.

Thank you for posting this. I know I’m just some internet stranger, but I am genuinely proud of you for taking the time to reflect on and process and unpack all these things. I’m a transgender woman and that’s made me reflect a lot on the differences in how men and women are expected to act and what all the societal expectations are. It was really surprising to me experiencing how women just regularly compliment each other and are open about their feelings by default. And it’s wild looking back at men’s clothing sections in retrospect. The variety of “choice” is just “hey which of these thirty shades of blue do you want your shirt in?” And even with so few clothing options you can’t even pick between like different cuts or styles of shirts, it’s all the same. Guys have it rough in a lot of ways. Anyway, this is all to say: thank you for candidly sharing your thoughts on this. And good job on working to unpack all this stuff, society fills us with so much deep-seated expectations and junk that takes a really long time to work through and unlearn.