1 - Welcome to our community (Gidiklama), how would you describe yourself to yourself and those who don't know you 😂
Well, I’m “The Ghost of Scavenger” -GhostOS for short- and I’ve been a semi-professional fetish artist for almost two decades now (starting in 2005), working under the previous pseudonyms “Scavenger” and “Will Georges” before. I say “semi-professional” because these days creating art is more of a side hobby to me due to other obligations in life. I think my favourite sort of art is foot-fetish and bondage themed, and it’s what I’m compelled to create, but for some reason, tickling feels like a natural extension to that. I think the element of tickle torture turns what is essentially a static pinup picture into an action piece. All of the sudden there’s something going on there, there’s a story there. It makes things far more interesting.
My initial art output started dwindling between 2012-2014, as other things in life started taking over. Work, starting a family of my own… but in recent times (2022) I’ve taken up creating art again, specifically fetish art. All those years something had been missing from my life - at least that’s how it felt to me - without me knowing exactly what it was. Perhaps this fetish aspect is more ingrained into my personality than I realised. Creating art definitely is a stress relieving activity for me, and (tickling) fetishism is the most compelling subject for me, which motivates me to actually complete these pieces.
In recent times I’ve started writing tickling fiction as well. Like I said, I like storytelling, and as the visual medium of comics is such a long and laborious process, I’ve started dabbling in the written medium. I’ve always been an avid reader, but somehow never thought myself skilled enough to write fiction myself. The fact that I’m not a native english speaker has always been a big hurdle, but I’ve been living and working in the UK for well over a decade now, and I’m much more confident now on that aspect. My first foray in combining fetish illustration with the written word was an experiment (which I did almost a year ago) named “Fantastickler Magazine”, a free e-zine of illustrated tickling fiction in the same vein as early MTJ Publications such as Tales from the Asylum. I think I can safely admit now that -apart from the one story entry by my long time art collaborator Khali- All other fiction in that first issue was written by myself, under various alternate pseudonyms. So, there really was no “Katie_The_Tickler”, or “ObsessiveSole”, or “Jean de Montparnasse”. Apart from me wanting to create the experience of reading through a multi-creator collaboration, it was also me trying to find out what my writing style and direction really would be. And perhaps to play a joke on the transient nature of one’s online persona(s).
And that’s also where my current pseudonym -GhostOS- comes from. We tend to assume that when a creator stops posting online, they simply walk away, they vanish.
But most likely - just like it was the case for myself- they don’t. They probably lurk quietly and invisible in the background, watching the online world go by, like a ghost wandering the digital corridors of an ever changing community. And also, ten years is a long time in a person’s life; as a person I’m very different from the earlier “Scavenger” who first started out back in 2005. So maybe only the bare essence, the “ghost” of my Scavenger persona is left in my current online incarnation. Hence, the name “Ghost Of Scavenger" seems fitting. Plus, “GhostOS” has a cyberpunky ring to it, which is cool.
2 - Do you have a special technique in your work? What emotions do you like to bring out when making your art? What is your source of inspiration?
Oh, man, this is going to be a long answer, three questions in one!
My way of drawing/painting is probably special because it’s all over the place. Of course I started out using traditional materials, pen on paper, acrylics, but I went pretty much entirely digital after buying my first Wacom pen tablet (an entry level model called a Wacom Bamboo One) and I went from there.
As to what “technique” or approach I use… A lot of times, I tend to start off by putting a rough image together; using photographs, 3D DAZ Studio figure renders, models (either physical, photographed models or made digitally in Blender), etc… almost like photobashing, until I have a composition I like. Then, in Krita (an art software I frequently use) I use the blending tool to roughly start blending everything together. Most detail at this point gets wiped out, leaving only patches of colour and light, and this becomes the rough “underpainting”. On top of this underpainting I then start painting in detail, refining and rendering the image -this by far takes the longest of the entire process. It’s also the most boring part. After that, it’s detailing work, and that’s a lot of fun. It's also where I add background details like graphics on computer screens and special effects and such. But it really depends on the individual piece, sometimes it can be as simple as scanning a ballpoint pen sketch from my sketchbook, and painting digitally on top of that.
Emotions in my work really tie in with the storytelling aspect. One favourite element I like to convey in my art is the notion of a ‘lee visibly suffering during the predicament (whether it’s the helplessness of being tied up, or the tickling torture -or any other erotic torment) but also secretly enjoying it. Maybe they’re conflicted about this, embarrassed, humiliated perhaps… and maybe that too is part of the torment. Maybe that is the real torment. These are definitely things at play in much of my work, especially in the machine-themed work I do. After all, the machine is a non-entity, it does not think and cannot be reasoned or pleaded with. The ‘lee has no choice but to endure.
With ‘ler-’lee pictures, there’s more of a power exchange going on, whether forced or voluntary (usually the former). But in and of itself that too can suggest a duality; perhaps the character upon whom the torment is enacted is discovering they actually have a hidden submissive side, and, reluctantly, have to admit this fact to themselves.
Of course, a whole spectrum of emotions can be explored within the medium of (tickling) fetish art. One of the best examples -from my own work- is probably my work on “Tickling in Space” (a series created and written by fellow veteran artist Bandito), in particular “The Veil of Qadesh”. Bandito really only wrote the most basic story outline for it, and I ended up adding several scenes in the actual comic, especially near the end. There’s a lot of passion between these space girls, and some tender relationships blossoming. “Qadesh” definitely seems to have been greatly infused with concepts of companionship and love, despite it being a tale of tickle torture.
There is so much that inspires me, both concept-wise and technical/artistic. I do a lot of reading (though probably more in the form of audiobooks rather than actual reading, these days), mostly fiction work of all genres (though Sci-Fi and Fantasy are my main interests). I also have a great interest in history, mythology and folklore; the obscurer, the better. Some of these subjects one discovers can be absolute goldmines for ideas. From an artistic point of view, there’s been many influences on my work. The classic painters such as Rembrandt, but also modern illustrators, such as Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, Luis Royo, and -largely subconsciously- H.R. Giger. Specifically to fetish art, probably the greatest, most lasting influence on my art has been the work of Franco Saudelli.
But, I would say anything can inspire me. Stories, videos, certain songs… Inspiration just seems to hit out of nowhere at times. Almost like lightning. My series of fetish model “Tributes” is such an example. I go through my list of followers on X to check out the work of one of the female models and it’s like BOOM, just like that. I just have to paint a picture of her. It’s the same when collaborating with another creator, art trades and such. Khali (A.K.A. Psylisiadragoon) is a good example of an artist I love collaborating with. She’s such an amazing character designer. She comes up with a concept for an OC, and I just go “Damn, I need to draw this one now!” It’s a kind of rush of excitement, a feeling of “This is awesome, I have to do this, and I can do this.”
Now it’s going to sound corny, but if there’s one single, ever-present source of inspiration, it’s probably my wife. Though she has never featured in any of my art (she’s not keen having fetish pics painted of her -though I hope she will change her mind in the future), I say she really is my greatest muse.
